Live stream HTML5 video draw-to-canvas not working

Question

I use ReactJS to display a live stream (from my webcam) using the HTML5 video element. The OpenVidu media server handles the backend. I would like to use the canvas element to draw the video live stream onto the canvas using the drawImage() method.

I have seen other examples, but in them the video element always has a source. Mine does not have a source - when I inspect the video element all I see is: <video autoplay id="remote-video-zfrstyztfhbojsoc_CAMERA_ZCBRG"/>

This is what I have tried, however the canvas does not work.

export default function Video({ streamManager }) {
  const videoRef = createRef()
  const canvasRef = createRef()

  useEffect(() => {
    if (streamManager && !!videoRef) {

      //OpenVidu media server attaches the live stream to the video element 
      streamManager.addVideoElement(videoRef.current)

      if (canvasRef.current) {
        let ctx = canvasRef.current.getContext('2d')
        ctx.drawImage(videoRef.current, 0, 0)
      }
    }
  })

  return (
    <>
      //video element displays the live stream 
      <video autoPlay={true} ref={videoRef} />

      // canvas element NOT working, nothing can be seen on screen 
      <canvas autoplay={true} ref={canvasRef} width="250" height="250" />
    </>
  )
}

UPDATE: after further investigation I realised I needed to use the setInterval() function and therefore provided the solution below.

Answer 1

The solution is to extract the canvas logic in a self contained component, and use a setInterval() so that it will draw the video element on the canvas, every 100 ms (or as needed).

Video Component

import React, { useEffect, createRef } from 'react'
import Canvas from './Canvas'

export default function Video({ streamManager }) {
  const videoRef = createRef()

  useEffect(() => {
    if (streamManager && !!videoRef) {

      //OpenVidu media server attaches the live stream to the video element 
      streamManager.addVideoElement(videoRef.current)
    }
  })

  return (
    <>
      //video element displays the live stream 
      <video autoPlay={true} ref={videoRef} />

      //extract canvas logic in new component
      <Canvas videoRef={videoRef} />

    </>
  )
}

Canvas Component

import React, { createRef, useEffect } from 'react'

export default function Canvas({ videoRef }) {
  const canvasRef = createRef(null)

  useEffect(() => {
    if (canvasRef.current && videoRef.current) {
      const interval = setInterval(() => {
        const ctx = canvasRef.current.getContext('2d')
        ctx.drawImage(videoRef.current, 0, 0, 250, 188)
      }, 100)
      return () => clearInterval(interval)
    }
  })

  return (
    <canvas ref={canvasRef} width="250" height="188" />
  )
}