Wordpress audio player causing js error, mediaelementplayer is not a function

Question

I'm using the built in Wordpress audio player with my own skin, I needed to set the default volume to 100 so I put this into footer.php

<!--Change Wordpress Audio Player Default Volume-->
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function ($) {
    $("audio").mediaelementplayer({
        success: function (mediaElement, domObject) {
            mediaElement.setVolume(1.0);
        }
    });
});
</script>

Problem is I get the error Uncaught TypeError: $(...).mediaelementplayer is not a function on any page that doesn't have the [audio] shortcode because the wp-mediaelement.min.js and mediaelement-and-player.min.js JS files aren't loading on the pages without the shortcode, this in turn breaks other javascript on those pages.

What are my options here? Having the default volume at max is a must. Is my code written wrong?

Answer 1

I can think of two possible options - although I am not been able to test either right now.

Option 1

In theory the cleaner one, as you detect if the mediaelementplayer plugin has loaded itself in the jQuery namespace:

<!--Change Wordpress Audio Player Default Volume-->
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function ($) {
    if($.fn.mediaelementplayer) {
        $("audio").mediaelementplayer({
            success: function (mediaElement, domObject) {
                mediaElement.setVolume(1.0);
            }
        });
    }
});
</script>

Option 2

If Option 1 doesn't work, then this should; it tests the current jQuery object to see if it responds to the mediaelementplayer call:

<!--Change Wordpress Audio Player Default Volume-->
<script type="text/javascript">
jQuery(document).ready(function ($) {
    var audio_widgets = $("audio");
    if(audio_widgets.mediaelementplayer) {
        audio_widgets.mediaelementplayer({
            success: function (mediaElement, domObject) {
                mediaElement.setVolume(1.0);
            }
        });
    }
});
</script>

Hops this helps!