How to make mp4’s in WP File Download play when they are clicked

Ok, go to the WP File Download tab on the left side of the main edit page of the website and when you highlight this tab, choose the sub-tab option of: WP-File Download

Inside WP File Download, go to the file that you want to be available as an mp4 for people to watch.

Click on that file and look to the right to see the shortcode for that file. Copy the Single file shortcode, this code should start with this symbol: [ and this shortcode should end with this symbol: ] Copy all of the shortcode including these [ and ] symbols.

Go to your page that you are working on and choose a block. Inside this block paste the shortcode you just copied. Then Update the page.

Then choose to preview this page in a new window

When you preview it, there should be displayed a choice option item. It is a block of color light black. Inside this block is a word area named Preview. Place your mouse pointer over this word Preview and right click. You should be given the option to: copy link address and you should copy this.

This link address contains the code that will make your WordPress system open up your mp4 and play it. Of note, it will not play just any mp4 because this link address that you copied was generated from the shortcode that you pasted in. This shortcode was generated by WP File Download and is specific for the mp4 file that WP File Download assigned to this mp4.

So, now, since you copied the code phraseology attached to the Preview button, then inside your webpage create a block and inside that block choose to insert a link. When you do this, WordPress will ask you,

so…what link address do you want connected to this new link you are creating??

At this point, paste in the code phraseology that you copied from the Preview button. This will make the playing of that specific mp4 become what this new link you are creating will do.

You will see that if you update your page, then choose to preview this page as a new window, that your just created link should show and if you click on this link, then your WordPress should start playing that exact mp4 that was associated by WP File Download to that exact shortcode.

Now with this link you just created, there should be (if you are using the block system of editing option in WordPress) then there should be with the block on the right a set of three dots arranged vertically. If you click on these three dots, then your WordPress with show some options.

The option you want to choose is Edit as HTML. You will then be displayed a set of coding commands, and these are what gets your mp4 to display and start playing. This is coding so be very careful with it, if you change the wrong area, either your link will not work or it will cause something weird to happen to your WordPress site.

You should be looking for the place where there is this symbol > after this symbol should be the url of your mp4. But this area is just being used by the coding as the default opinion of the coding as to what words you want displayed for this link.

You can take all that is displayed between the > and the < and remove them and add here whatever normal keyboard type characters you want.

For example, for one of my WP File Download shortcodes, this is what the link address was for the Preview button:

https://pistonrobot.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=frontviewer.display&view=frontviewer&id=6362&catid=107&type=video&ext=mp4>https://pistonrobot.com/then-a-whole-bunch-of-words-that-ends-with-;ext=mp4<then-a-bunch-of-other-stuff

So if you look at this the part before the > is telling your WordPress what to display and the part after the < is also some command/coding stuff.

But if you wanted to, you could in this “show as HTML” option, you can go into: https://pistonrobot.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=frontviewer.display&view=frontviewer&id=6362&catid=107&type=video&ext=mp4>https://pistonrobot.com/then-a-whole-bunch-of-words-that-ends-with-;ext=mp4<then-a-bunch-of-other-stuff

and you can select: if you’ll look below I selected this and made it bold and italic. Then you can take all of this and replace it with whatever text you want, so look below:


https://pistonrobot.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=frontviewer.display&view=frontviewer&id=6362&catid=107&type=video&ext=mp4>https://pistonrobot.com/then-a-whole-bunch-of-words-that-ends-with-;ext=mp4<then-a-bunch-of-other-stuff

So we changed the italicized words to: https://pistonrobot.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php?juwpfisadmin=false&action=wpfd&task=frontviewer.display&view=frontviewer&id=6362&catid=107&type=video&ext=mp4>Here’s a video I made<then-a-bunch-of-other-stuff

And if you update and then open the page as a real page by choosing to view it as a new window, what should happen is at the spot where your new link was created should be just the words:

Here’s a video I made

….and these words “Here’s a video I made” should be bluish so that if you clicked on these words, your WordPress would then open up your mp4 that was associated with that shortcode and start playing it. Whew!

Finally, if you chose to do this new link in the WordPress block choice of Media plus text, then you can put this link at the text area and then get inside the link with the show as HTML option, and re-write just the stuff in beween > and <. This should make that block display as a media image file with your specific text next to that media image file. My suggestion, since people read from left to right (at least in America), choose a small size for your image and choose the image to be place to the left. The effect is the image is to the left and the clickable text is to the right of the image….not required, but I like the way that formatting choice looks. (Looks to me, anyway)

Here’s the cool part about this, you can put whatever image you want in there. So it looks for all the world like a thumbnail and a clickable text to show the mp4. But that image is one of your media image files and it can be of whatever quality that you want it to be, it does not have to be a thumbnail. The effect of this is that you have (if you want) truly beautiful images showing as your “thumbnails” and then clickable text to make your mp4 play right next to that image. Pretty cool. 🙂

Of note, I like to “see” if any of my content is being downloaded. I understand that WP File Download has this capability, but I wanted to be able to make clickable text where it was the text that I wanted to be there, and only that text. I also wanted my (what appear to be) thumbnails to be really pretty, so I use this system that I discussed above. I have the plugin named Download Monitor, and so just below the clickable text that I have present to make the mp4 start playing, I can put another clickable text that will cause the mp4 to be downloaded. OF note, with this Download Monitor plugin, I have control of what the clickable text for downloading looks like, at least that I can specify which words are there. And Download Monitor prepares statistics for me. For example, with the mp4 I gave above as an example,

I could place the clickable text: Download (40mb, mp4) Here’s a Movie I made.

Here’s a page on my website where I did this process about a topic that I created. I gave the name Amazonburgh to this topic.

https://pistonrobot.com/discussions-not-related-to-pistonrobot/amazonburgh-com/