charonn0/rb-libvlc

A Realbasic and Xojo binding to libvlc

RB-libvlc

libvlc is the open-source multimedia library that powers VLC Media Player. RB-libvlc is libvlc binding for Realbasic and Xojo ("classic" framework) projects.

This screen shot depicts the RB-libvlc demo running on Windows 10

Highlights

• Play any media type supported by VLC.
• Transcode one media format to another.
• Embed video output in any window, container, or control.
• Works in console applications (video output will display in a window).
• 64-bit ready.
• Read and write media metadata (IDv3 tags, etc.)
• Open, create, play, and save playlists.
• Sound equalization controls.

Synopsis

There are two main modes of operation: using the VLCPlayer class to play media without a GUI and the VLCMediaPlayer which provides a GUI. libvlc also supports playlists through a separate PlayList interface.

Object Class	Comment
VLCPlayer	A media player session.
VLCMediaPlayer	A media player session embedded in a Canvas control.
Medium	A media resource such as a file or internet stream.
Equalizer	An audio equalizer.
PlayList	A list of Medium objects.
ListPlayer	A specialized player for playing PlayLists.

To play a media file or stream, create an instance of the Medium class by converting from a URL(as string) or a FolderItem.

Example

 Dim vlc As New VLCPlayer
 vlc.Media = GetFolderItem("C:\example\music.mp3")
 vlc.Play()

Playback occurs asynchronously on a separate preemptive thread. You can determine the player state by querying the CurrentState property and/or by handling the ChangedState event.

How to incorporate libvlc into your Realbasic/Xojo project

Import the libvlc module

1. Download the RB-libvlc project either in ZIP archive format or by cloning the repository with your Git client.
2. Open the RB-libvlc project in REALstudio or Xojo. Open your project in a separate window.
3. Copy the libvlc module into your project and save.

Ensure the VLC shared libraries are installed

Most systems do not have VLC (or libvlc) installed by default. You will need to ship the all the necessary files with your application. On Windows, these are libvlc.dll, libvlccore.dll, and the desired plugins in the plugins directory. For macOS refer to this forum thread for how to properly bundle the dylibs with your app.

RB-libvlc will raise a PlatformNotSupportedException when used if all required DLLs/SOs/DyLibs are not available at runtime.

rb-libvlc's Issues

VLCInstance.Constructor(Integer,String) can't actually use its parameters

The argv As String parameter is an array of command line arguments, but since arrays can't be passed to declares only using zero parameters is currently possible. Given that many libvlc features may require passing command line arguments to a new instance, this limitation is quite... limiting.

Cannot get to run under Windows. Have not tested other OS.

Tried as 32bit and 64bit with respective dlls. Built the example and copied libvlc.dll and libvlccore.dll to the Libs folder. Gets the error "Unable to construct a VLC instance". Have monitored the system and it is opening the .dll files.

Have you tested on windows? If so x86 or x64 and what version of the .dll did you use?

VLCLog event is fubar and incorrect

The VLCLog event is currently raised only on the original VLCInstance instance, and never on other instances. This is wrong; VLCLog events should be raised on the appropriate instance of VLCInstance according to the Context parameter of the callback.

VLCLog parameters are not interpreted correctly

The VLCInstance.VLCLog event is defined as follows:

Event Sub VLCLog(Level As Integer, Context As Ptr, Format As String, Args As String)

Format and Args are supposed to be passed to a printf-like function, but printf is variadic and Args is a var_args structure of variable composition. The practical upshot is that Args is not properly processed, and the replacement tokens in Format are untouched.

Media Plays in Aeperate Window Instead of Within Application

System: Debian 11 KDE 64-bit (X Display)
VLC: 3.0.18
When playing a video using the example app the video plays in a new window. The new window is sized to the media and has the VLC logo in the header and launcher.

Setting the EmbedWithin to Window instead of RectControl made no change.