This a documentation for writing extensions in lua for vlc 3, as parts of the lua readme provided by Video Lan is deprecated. So I made this guide to supplement the readme for any questions and confusion others may have.
to download the source code for VLC-3.0 visit the git lab page
callback functions that you use to communicate to VLC:
activate
deactivate
input_changed
playing_changed
meta_changed
trigger_menu(id)
read more in detail about these functions here template-plugin.lua
The minumim vlc requires for extension to work is descriptor (needed to show up in menu) and activate funcitons.
Custom callbacks through add_callback() is deprecated, so you cannot add functions to the event loop. Creating your event loop is possible,but you'll have to do it through a vlc interface which will communicate to your extension. See the "Time extension and interface" in videolan's adddon page to learn more
For debugging run vlc with the verbose argument v ex: vlc -v
In vlc 3 the player object is deprecated, so to get the current media object use input instead.
manipulating the player can be done through the vlc.var
vlc.var.get(vlc.object.input(),"time") returns in microseconds,for seconds use ms*10^-6
vlc.var.set(vlc.object.input(),"time",3243)
vlc.var.set(vlc.object.input(),"time-offset",-300)
vlc.var.get(vlc.object.input(),"position")
vlc.var.set(vlc.object.input(),"position",3240)
vlc paths are all handled in URI
to create a uri path use vlc.strings.make_uri(path).
In windows use backslashes \ in your path, if you use / foward slashes your path will be appended to vlc's config directory.
Example of a correct path:
vlc.strings.make_uri("C:\User\bob\Desktop\man eating burger.mp4")
make_uri output:
win "file:///C:/User/bob/Desktop/man%20eating%20burger.mp4"
unix/linux "file:///home/bob/Desktop/man%20eating%20burger.mp4"
NOTE: when parsing for a path with windows you need to remove "file:///" 3 forward slashes. While with unix/linux you need to remove 2, "file://"
| VLC Objects acessible via vlc.object (modules/lua/object.c) |
|---|
| input |
| playlist |
| libvlc |
| find |
| vout |
| aout |
| VLC Sub Modules (modules/lua/extension.c): |
|---|
| config() |
| dialog() |
| input() |
| msg() |
| object() |
| osd() |
| playlist() |
| stream() |
| strings() |
| variables() |
| video() |
| vlm() |
| volume() |
| xml() |
| vlcio() |
| errno() |
| rand() |
| rd() |
| gettext() |
| equalizer() |
| vlc.input methods: |
|---|
| is_playing() |
| item() -> returns an item obj |
| add_subtitle() |
| add_subtitle_mrl() |
| item obj methods |
|---|
| is_preparsed |
| metas |
| set_meta |
| uri |
| name |
| duration |
| stats |
| info |
| vlc.var methods: |
|---|
| inherit() |
| get() |
| get_list() |
| set() |
| create() |
| trigger_callback() |
| libvlc_command() |
| inc_integer() |
| dec_integer() |
| count_choices() |
| toggle_bool() |
| Valid String Argument for Var(inputObject,arg): |
|---|
| state |
| rate |
| position |
| time |
| time-offset |
| bookmark |
| program |
| title |
| chapter |
| audio-delay |
| spu-delay |
| video-es |
| audio-es |
| spu-es |
| record |
| frame-next |