Why have the raise your hand feature?
Being able to raise your hand is a "handy" feature to have during video calls. On larger calls, it's almost a requirement if you plan to have interactivity between a host and participants. Here are a few examples taken from my own experiences of the "raise hand" feature in action.
During a class session or fireside chat with an expert
- There was limited time for Q&A. If students had questions to address to the speaker they would raise their hand and unmute when called on.
In webinars that are attended by many with one or a few moderators
- In these calls, everyone except for the moderator was muted with cameras off. Raising a hand was the only way to get the moderator's attention. Chat moves too quickly to monitor.
If you are hosting a call with many in the audience and you want some way for them to quietly grab your attention, you probably need the raise hand feature in your video conferencing app.
Raise your hand isn't a feature that comes out-of-the-box with the Daily.co pre-built call interface. Luckily, the Daily-js front-end library exists and you can build out this feature with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. No backend required.
Building the sample app with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
What you'll need to complete this project:
- A text editor
- A Daily.co room URL. You can grab or create one from a free account.
TL;DR? Check out the forkable, working demo with source code on Repl.it
This blog post is focused on implementing the raise your hand features with a custom app and the Daily.co prebuilt call interface dropped in.
HTML structure
Include daily-js in <head>
I added Bulma for easy styling and I put the custom code in its own .css and .js files.
<head>
...
<script defer src="./script.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@daily-co/daily-js"></script>
<link
rel="stylesheet"
href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/bulma@0.8.0/css/bulma.min.css"
/>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="./style.css" type="text/css" />
</head>
The important line of code here for our raised hand feature is:
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@daily-co/daily-js"></script>`
The daily-js library will do some heavy lifting for us. (Thanks Daily.co ❤️)
Create the call UI
Three UI elements are needed demonstrate the Raise Your Hand feature in our sample app.
- The Join Call button
- The list of participants
- The Daily.co call frame
1. Join Call UI
<div class=" welcome-box box ">
<p class="subtitle">
Click the button below to join the call
</p>
<button
class="button is-fullwidth is-link is-medium"
onclick="run()"
>
Join Call
</button>
</div>
We need a way to start the call. A button works for that. We hook up the Join Call button to run() from the script.js file.
<button
onclick="run()"
>
Join Call
</button>
2. The current participants list
The local user is counted as a participant and is always shown. As more people join the call, their name and hand raised status will populate the list. When participants leave, they will be removed from the list on exit. This part of the page also contains the raise/lower hand button, so the local user can broadcast their hand state to the rest of the participants.
The local-participant-info <div> shows your call status (user name and if your hand is up). When callers join, their info will populate the participant-list <ul> as list items.
<div class="participants-section">
<p class="title">Participants</p>
<p class="subtitle">
Raise your hand to get the moderator's attention
</p>
<div class="box local-participant-info ">
<img
id="hand-img"
class=" is-pulled-right hidden"
src="assets/hand.png"
alt="hand icon"
/>
<p class="name-label"><strong>You</strong></p>
<button
class="button is-primary hidden raise-hand-button"
onclick="raiseOrLowerHand()"
>
raise your hand
</button>
<p class="hand-state has-text-right"></p>
</div>
<ul class="participant-list"></ul>
</div>
3. The call frame
For this app, the call frame has a designated space in the user interface. It's set up in the code below. In the JavaScript portion, we will reference this iframe to wrap the Daily-js call frame.
<div class="call-panel tile is-child notification is-light">
<iframe
class="is-overlay"
id="call-frame"
title="daily.co call frame"
allow="camera; microphone"
></iframe>
</div>
The example app has a cute illustration behind the
call-frame<iframe>. It gets covered up once a call starts.The full sample app source code is viewable on repl.it
JavaScript time! Working with Daily-js
We're using the daily-js front-end library to capture and respond to call events and implement our custom raise a hand feature.
Using the sendAppMessage() method allows our sample app to respond to events that happen during the call.
Here are the steps we will follow in psuedocode:
Initialize the
localParticipantandhandStatevariablesOn Click of Join Call button call
run()In
run()Initialize the
roomvariableCreate the call frame (we use
.wrap()in this example)Listen for call events
When the
localParticipantjoins a call, or another caller joins, updates, or leaves the call broadcast their current hand state withcallFrame.sendAppMessage()Join the call at the
room.urlwithin the sample app UI
Once in a call, the
localParticipantcan raise and lower their hand regardless of in-call events and see it reflected in the sample appWhen a message is received with other callers' handState, update the
handStateand reflect it in the participants list UI
The localParticipant object
We initialize the localParticipant with { handRaised: false }. That's the only property we need to initialize for our sample app because we will copy over the properties that daily-js provides in joinedMeeting()
let localParticipant = {
handRaised: false
};
The Custom handState object
let handState = {
list: [],
// sends the current hand state without raising
// or lowering the hand
broadcastLocalHandState() {
let data = {
handRaised: localParticipant.handRaised,
session_id: localParticipant.session_id
};
window.callFrame.sendAppMessage(data, "*");
},
addHandToList(e) {
this.list = [...this.list].concat([
{ session_id: e.fromId, handRaised: e.data.handRaised }
]);
updateParticipants();
},
removeHandFromList(e) {
this.list.splice(this.list.indexOf(e.data.session_id), 1);
updateParticipants();
},
// gets called when a message is received, adds
// the session id and the hand state to this list
updateList(e) {
e.data.handRaised
? handState.addHandToList(e)
: handState.removeHandFromList(e);
},
// raise or lower the local hand
toggleState() {
localParticipant = {
...localParticipant,
handRaised: !localParticipant.handRaised
};
}
};
Bring in the call frame
When a caller clicks the Join Call button, run() is called and a Daily.co call is started and joined.
Here's where you need that Daily.co room URL. Initialize the room variable using this line:
let room = { url: "https://popschools.daily.co/qOrbXQ3zJZC7o7aH8ycI" };
If you have a free account, you can use the 'yoursubdomain.daily.co/hello' room that is created for you without modification.
Now we use the iframe we created in HTML. The .wrap() method of the DailyIframe takes the DOM element of the iframe and an object for properties you'd like to alter. I wanted a leave button on the call interface, so I set showLeaveButton: true
window.callFrame = DailyIframe.wrap(document.getElementById("call-frame"), {
showLeaveButton: true
});
The final line of this function joins the room specified earlier.
await callFrame.join({ url: room.url });
Here's the complete run(). We'll talk about the on events in the next section.
async function run() {
// setting up for conditional rendering
const welcomePrompt = document.querySelector(".welcome-box");
welcomePrompt.classList.toggle("hidden");
let room = { url: "https://popschools.daily.co/qOrbXQ3zJZC7o7aH8ycI" };
window.callFrame = DailyIframe.wrap(document.getElementById("call-frame"), {
showLeaveButton: true
});
callFrame
.on("joined-meeting", joinedMeeting)
.on("left-meeting", leftMeeting)
.on("participant-joined", participantJoined)
.on("participant-left", updateParticipants)
.on("app-message", messageReceived);
// join the room
await callFrame.join({ url: room.url });
}
Listening for call events
The only way to respond to in-call events is to use event callbacks. We set these up in run() to listen for messages (the way we raise or lower a hand) and to respond when other people leave or join (so that everyone sees everyone else's hand state)
callFrame
.on("joined-meeting", joinedMeeting)
.on("left-meeting", leftMeeting)
.on("participant-joined", participantJoined)
.on("participant-left", updateParticipants)
.on("app-message", messageReceived);
The local hand state - raising a hand
We have to write custom code to show hands raised or lowered during the call. Also, when a new person joins, we need them to be able to see who in the call had their hands raised before they got there.
Remember, we communicate between the sample app and the callFrame using callFrame.sendAppMessage() and the .on event callbacks.
Every message sent sends the localParticipant.handRaised property value. The messages go out to all other participants and that's how they know if the local participant has raised or lowered their hand.
The setTimeout()s are used to make sure that the message doesn't send before the new caller has joined and can receive it. Messages are only delivered to participants currently in a call.
async function raiseOrLowerHand() {
handState.toggleState();
// Let other users see my hand state by sending a message
handState.broadcastLocalHandState();
updateParticipants();
// Update the UI to show my own hand state
document.getElementById("hand-img").classList.toggle("hidden");
document.querySelector(".raise-hand-button").innerText = `${
localParticipant.handRaised ? "lower your hand" : "raise your hand"
}`;
document.querySelector(".hand-state").innerText = `${
localParticipant.handRaised ? "your hand is up" : "your hand is down"
}`;
}
// Send a message to update everyone's hand state
async function messageReceived(e) {
handState.updateList(e);
}
async function joinedMeeting(e) {
localParticipant = {
...e.participants.local,
handRaised: false
};
let localParticipantInfoBox = document.querySelector(
".local-participant-info"
);
localParticipantInfoBox.innerHTML = `
<img
...
/>
<p class="name-label"><strong>${localParticipant.user_name ||
"You"}</strong></p>
<button
class="button is-info hidden raise-hand-button"
onclick="raiseOrLowerHand()"
>raise your hand
</button>
<p class="hand-state has-text-right">your hand is down</p>
`;
await updateParticipants()
setTimeout(handState.broadcastLocalHandState, 2500)
}
async function participantJoined() {
localParticipant = { ...localParticipant };
await updateParticipants()
setTimeout(handState.broadcastLocalHandState, 2500)
}
See everyone else's hands up
The way our sample app knows if another caller's hand goes up is by receiving a message. When that message is received with the call participant's hand state, we update the UI in updateParticipants().
updateParticipants() gets the current list of particpants from callframe.participants(), goes through each caller, checks if their hand is raised, and updates the UI accordingly.
function updateParticipants() {
// the local user has their own hand state. Other callers raised hands are saved in the handState list
let raisedHands = handState.list.map(caller => caller.session_id);
let ps = callFrame.participants();
// will append the li elements (call participants) to this list
let list = document.querySelector(".participant-list");
// clear so the list shows current info when participants enter or leave
list.innerHTML = "";
Object.keys(ps).forEach(p => {
let participant = ps[p];
let callerHandUp = raisedHands.includes(participant.session_id);
// This li will display the single participant info
let li = document.createElement("li");
// Don't list the local user again. Their info is in the first box.
if (participant.local) {
return;
}
let handStateLabel = callerHandUp ? "hand up" : "";
li.innerHTML =
`<div class="box">
${raisedHands.includes(participant.session_id)
? `<img
id="hand-img"
class=" is-pulled-right"
src="assets/hand.png"
alt="hand icon"
/>`
: ""
}
<p>${participant.user_name || "Guest"}</p>
<p class="hand-state has-text-right">${handStateLabel}</p>
</div>`;
list.append(li);
});
}
The full sample app source code is viewable on repl.it
Thanks for reading!
Check out a quick demo of hand raising in the gif below. Or try the live demo yourself. 