1 Instructions to code your own VLC Lua scripts.
7 Lua documentation is available on http://www.lua.org . The reference manual
8 is very useful: http://www.lua.org/manual/5.1/ .
10 All the Lua standard libraries are available.
15 Several types of VLC Lua scripts can currently be coded:
16 * Playlist (see playlist/README.txt)
17 * Art fetcher (see meta/README.txt)
18 * Interface (see intf/README.txt)
19 * Extensions (see extensions/README.txt)
20 * Services Discovery (see sd/README.txt)
22 Lua scripts are tried in alphabetical order in the user's VLC config
23 directory lua/{playlist,meta,intf}/ subdirectory on Windows and Mac OS X or
24 in the user's local share directory (~/.local/share/vlc/lua/... on linux),
25 then in the global VLC lua/{playlist,meta,intf}/ directory.
27 3 - VLC specific Lua modules
28 ============================
30 All VLC specifics modules are in the "vlc" object. For example, if you want
31 to use the "info" function of the "msg" VLC specific Lua module:
32 vlc.msg.info( "This is an info message and will be displayed in the console" )
34 Note: availability of the different VLC specific Lua modules depends on
35 the type of VLC Lua script your are in.
39 local a = vlc.acl(true) -> new ACL with default set to allow
40 a:check("10.0.0.1") -> 0 == allow, 1 == deny, -1 == error
41 a("10.0.0.1") -> same as a:check("10.0.0.1")
42 a:duplicate() -> duplicate ACL object
43 a:add_host("10.0.0.1",true) -> allow 10.0.0.1
44 a:add_net("10.0.0.0",24,true) -> allow 10.0.0.0/24 (not sure)
45 a:load_file("/path/to/acl") -> load ACL from file
49 config.get( name ): Get the VLC configuration option "name"'s value.
50 config.set( name, value ): Set the VLC configuration option "name"'s value.
54 local d = vlc.dialog( "My VLC Extension" ): Create a new UI dialog, with a human-readable title: "My VLC Extension"
55 d:show(): Show this dialog.
56 d:hide(): Hide (but not close) this dialog.
57 d:delete(): Close and delete this dialog.
58 d:set_title( title ): set the title of this dialog.
59 d:update(): Update the dialog immediately (don't wait for the current function to return)
60 d:del_widget( widget ): Delete 'widget'. It disappears from the dialog and repositioning may occur.
62 In the following functions, you can always add some optional parameters: col, row, col_span, row_span, width, height.
63 They define the position of a widget in the dialog:
64 - row, col are the absolute positions on a grid of widgets. First row, col are 1.
65 - row_span, col_span represent the relative size of a widget on the grid. A widget with col_span = 4 will be displayed as wide as 4 widgets of col_span = 1.
66 - width and height are size hints (in pixels) but may be discarded by the GUI module
67 Example: w = d:add_label( "My Label", 2, 3, 4, 5 ) will create a label at row 3, col 2, with a relative width of 4, height of 5.
69 d:add_button( text, func, ... ): Create a button with caption "text" (string). When clicked, call function "func". func is a function reference.
70 d:add_label( text, ... ): Create a text label with caption "text" (string).
71 d:add_html( text, ... ): Create a rich text label with caption "text" (string), that supports basic HTML formatting (such as <i> or <h1> for instance).
72 d:add_text_input( text, ... ): Create an editable text field, in order to read user input.
73 d:add_password( text, ... ): Create an editable text field, in order to read user input. Text entered in this box will not be readable (replaced by asterisks).
74 d:add_check_box( text, ... ): Create a check box with a text. They have a boolean state (true/false).
75 d:add_dropdown( ... ): Create a drop-down widget. Only 1 element can be selected the same time.
76 d:add_list( ... ): Create a list widget. Allows multiple or empty selections.
77 d:add_image( path, ... ): Create an image label. path is a relative or absolute path to the image on the local computer.
79 Some functions can also be applied on widgets:
80 w:set_text( text ): Change text displayed by the widget. Applies to: button, label, html, text_input, password, check_box.
81 w:get_text(): Read text displayed by the widget. Returns a string. Applies to: button, label, html, text_input, password, check_box.
82 w:set_checked( bool ): Set check state of a check box. Applies to: check_box.
83 w:get_checked(): Read check state of a check box. Returns a boolean. Applies to: check_box.
84 w:add_value( text, id ): Add a value with identifier 'id' (integer) and text 'text'. It's always best to have unique identifiers. Applies to: drop_down.
85 w:get_value(): Return identifier of the selected item. Corresponds to the text value chosen by the user. Applies to: drop_down.
86 w:clear(): Clear a list or drop_down widget. After that, all values previously added are lost.
87 w:get_selection(): Retrieve a table representing the current selection. Keys are the ids, values are the texts associated. Applies to: list.
92 deactivate(): Deactivate current extension (after the end of the current function).
96 http( host, port, [cert, key, ca, crl]): create a new HTTP (SSL) daemon.
98 local h = vlc.httpd( "localhost", 8080 )
99 h:handler( url, user, password, acl, callback, data ) -- add a handler for given url. If user and password are non nil, they will be used to authenticate connecting clients. If acl is non nil, it will be used to restrict access. callback will be called to handle connections. The callback function takes 7 arguments: data, url, request, type, in, addr, host. It returns the reply as a string.
100 h:file( url, mime, user, password, acl, callback, data ) -- add a file for given url with given mime type. If user and password are non nil, they will be used to authenticate connecting clients. If acl is non nil, it will be used to restrict access. callback will be called to handle connections. The callback function takes 2 arguments: data and request. It returns the reply as a string.
101 h:redirect( url_dst, url_src ): Redirect all connections from url_src to url_dst.
105 input.is_playing(): Return true if input exists.
106 input.add_subtitle(url): Add a subtitle to the current input
107 input.item(): Get the current input item. Input item methods are:
108 :uri(): Get item's URI.
109 :name(): Get item's name.
110 :duration(): Get item's duration in seconds or negative value if unavailable.
111 :is_preparsed(): Return true if meta data has been preparsed
112 :metas(): Get meta data as a table.
113 :set_meta(key, value): Set meta data.
114 :info(): Get the current input's info. Return value is a table of tables. Keys of the top level table are info category labels.
115 :stats(): Get statistics about the input. This is a table with the following fields:
119 .average_input_bitrate
123 .average_demux_bitrate
138 md5( str ): return the string's hash
139 md5(): create an md5 object with the following methods:
140 :add( str ): add a string to the hash
141 :end_(): finish hashing
142 :hash(): return the hash
146 msg.dbg( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Output debug messages (-vv).
147 msg.warn( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Output warning messages (-v).
148 msg.err( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Output error messages.
149 msg.info( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Output info messages.
153 misc.version(): Get the VLC version string.
154 misc.copyright(): Get the VLC copyright statement.
155 misc.license(): Get the VLC license.
157 misc.datadir(): Get the VLC data directory.
158 misc.userdatadir(): Get the user's VLC data directory.
159 misc.homedir(): Get the user's home directory.
160 misc.configdir(): Get the user's VLC config directory.
161 misc.cachedir(): Get the user's VLC cache directory.
163 misc.datadir_list( name ): FIXME: write description ... or ditch function
164 if it isn't useful anymore, we have datadir and userdatadir :)
166 misc.action_id( name ): get the id of the given action.
168 misc.mdate(): Get the current date (in microseconds).
169 misc.mwait(): Wait for the given date (in microseconds).
171 misc.lock_and_wait(): Lock our object thread and wait for a wake up signal.
173 misc.should_die(): Returns true if the interface should quit.
174 misc.quit(): Quit VLC.
176 misc.timer(callback): Create a timer which call the callback function
177 :schedule(relative, value, interval): schedule the timer
178 :getoverrun(): number of time the timer got overrun (normally 0)
182 net.url_parse( url, [option delimiter] ): Parse URL. Returns a table with
183 fields "protocol", "username", "password", "host", "port", path" and
185 net.listen_tcp( host, port ): Listen to TCP connections. This returns an
186 object with an accept and an fds method. accept is blocking (Poll on the
187 fds with the net.POLLIN flag if you want to be non blocking).
188 The fds method returns a list of fds you can call poll on before using
189 the accept method. For example:
190 local l = vlc.net.listen_tcp( "localhost", 1234 )
192 local fd = l:accept()
194 net.send( fd, "blabla" )
198 net.connect_tcp( host, port ): open a connection to the given host:port (TCP).
199 net.close( fd ): Close file descriptor.
200 net.send( fd, string, [length] ): Send data on fd.
201 net.recv( fd, [max length] ): Receive data from fd.
202 net.poll( { fd = events }, [timeout in seconds] ): Implement poll function.
203 Returns the numbers of file descriptors with a non 0 revent. The function
204 modifies the input table to { fd = revents }. See "man poll".
205 net.POLLIN/POLLPRI/POLLOUT/POLLRDHUP/POLLERR/POLLHUP/POLLNVAL: poll event flags
206 net.read( fd, [max length] ): Read data from fd.
207 net.write( fd, string, [length] ): Write data to fd.
208 net.stat( path ): Stat a file. Returns a table with the following fields:
217 net.opendir( path ): List a directory's contents.
221 object.input(): Get the current input object.
222 object.playlist(): Get the playlist object.
223 object.libvlc(): Get the libvlc object.
225 object.find( object, type, mode ): Find an object of given type. mode can
226 be any of "parent", "child" and "anywhere". If set to "parent", it will
227 look in "object"'s parent objects. If set to "child" it will look in
228 "object"'s children. If set to "anywhere", it will look in all the
229 objects. If object is unset, the current module's object will be used.
230 Type can be: "libvlc", "playlist", "input", "decoder",
231 "vout", "aout", "packetizer", "generic".
232 This function is deprecated and slow and should be avoided.
233 object.find_name( object, name, mode ): Same as above except that it matches
234 on the object's name and not type. This function is also slow and should
235 be avoided if possible.
239 osd.icon( type, [id] ): Display an icon on the given OSD channel. Uses the
240 default channel is none is given. Icon types are: "pause", "play",
241 "speaker" and "mute".
242 osd.message( string, [id], [position], [duration]: Display the text message on
243 the given OSD channel. Position types are: "center", "left", "right", "top",
244 "bottom", "top-left", "top-right", "bottom-left" or "bottom-right". The
245 duration is set in microseconds.
246 osd.slider( position, type, [id] ): Display slider. Position is an integer
247 from 0 to 100. Type can be "horizontal" or "vertical".
248 osd.channel_register(): Register a new OSD channel. Returns the channel id.
249 osd.channel_clear( id ): Clear OSD channel.
250 osd.menu.show(): Show the OSD menu.
251 osd.menu.hide(): Hide the OSD menu.
252 osd.menu.prev(): Select previous/left item.
253 osd.menu.next(): Select next/right item.
254 osd.menu.up(): Move selection up.
255 osd.menu.down(): Move selection down.
256 osd.menu.activate(): Activate/validate current selection.
260 playlist.prev(): Play previous track.
261 playlist.next(): Play next track.
262 playlist.skip( n ): Skip n tracks.
263 playlist.play(): Play.
264 playlist.pause(): Pause.
265 playlist.stop(): Stop.
266 playlist.clear(): Clear the playlist.
267 playlist.repeat_( [status] ): Toggle item repeat or set to specified value.
268 playlist.loop( [status] ): Toggle playlist loop or set to specified value.
269 playlist.random( [status] ): Toggle playlist random or set to specified value.
270 playlist.goto( id ): Go to specified track.
271 playlist.add( ... ): Add a bunch of items to the playlist.
272 The playlist is a table of playlist objects.
273 A playlist object has the following members:
274 .path: the item's full path / URL
275 .name: the item's name in playlist (OPTIONAL)
276 .title: the item's Title (OPTIONAL, meta data)
277 .artist: the item's Artist (OPTIONAL, meta data)
278 .genre: the item's Genre (OPTIONAL, meta data)
279 .copyright: the item's Copyright (OPTIONAL, meta data)
280 .album: the item's Album (OPTIONAL, meta data)
281 .tracknum: the item's Tracknum (OPTIONAL, meta data)
282 .description: the item's Description (OPTIONAL, meta data)
283 .rating: the item's Rating (OPTIONAL, meta data)
284 .date: the item's Date (OPTIONAL, meta data)
285 .setting: the item's Setting (OPTIONAL, meta data)
286 .url: the item's URL (OPTIONAL, meta data)
287 .language: the item's Language (OPTIONAL, meta data)
288 .nowplaying: the item's NowPlaying (OPTIONAL, meta data)
289 .publisher: the item's Publisher (OPTIONAL, meta data)
290 .encodedby: the item's EncodedBy (OPTIONAL, meta data)
291 .arturl: the item's ArtURL (OPTIONAL, meta data)
292 .trackid: the item's TrackID (OPTIONAL, meta data)
293 .options: a list of VLC options (OPTIONAL)
294 example: .options = { "fullscreen" }
295 .duration: stream duration in seconds (OPTIONAL)
296 .meta: custom meta data (OPTIONAL, meta data)
297 A .meta field is a table of custom meta categories which
298 each have custom meta properties.
299 example: .meta = { ["Google video"] = { ["docid"] = "-5784010886294950089"; ["GVP version"] = "1.1" }; ["misc"] = { "Hello" = "World!" } }
300 Invalid playlist items will be discarded by VLC.
301 playlist.enqueue( ... ): like playlist.add() except that track isn't played.
302 playlist.get( [what, [tree]] ): Get the playlist.
303 If "what" is a number, then this will return the corresponding playlist
304 item's playlist hierarchy. If it is "normal" or "playlist", it will
305 return the normal playlist. If it is "ml" or "media library", it will
306 return the media library. If it is "root" it will return the full playlist.
307 If it is a service discovery module's name, it will return that service
308 discovery's playlist. If it is any other string, it won't return anything.
309 Else it will return the full playlist.
310 The second argument, "tree", is optional. If set to true or unset, the
311 playlist will be returned in a tree layout. If set to false, the playlist
312 will be returned using the flat layout.
313 Each playlist item returned will have the following members:
315 .flags: a table with the following members if the corresponding flag is
325 .duration: (-1 if unknown)
327 .children: A table of children playlist items.
328 playlist.search( name ): filter the playlist items with the given string
329 playlist.current(): return the current input item
330 playlist.sort( key ): sort the playlist according to the key.
331 Key must be one of the followings values: 'id', 'title', 'title nodes first',
332 'artist', 'genre', 'random', 'duration',
333 'title numeric' or 'album'.
334 playlist.status(): return the playlist status: 'stopped', 'playing', 'paused' or 'unknown'.
336 FIXME: add methods to get an item's meta, options, es ...
340 sd.get_services_names(): Get a table of all available service discovery
341 modules. The module name is used as key, the long name is used as value.
342 sd.add( name ): Add service discovery.
343 sd.remove( name ): Remove service discovery.
344 sd.is_loaded( name ): Check if service discovery is loaded.
345 sd.add_node( ... ): Add a node to the service discovery.
346 The node object has the following members:
347 .title: the node's name
348 .arturl: the node's ArtURL (OPTIONAL)
349 sd.add_item( ... ): Add an item to the service discovery.
350 The item object has the same members as the one in playlist.add().
351 Returns the input item.
352 sd.remove_item( item ): remove the item.
354 n = vlc.sd.add_node( {title="Node"} )
355 n:add_subitem( ... ): Same as sd.add_item(), but as a subitem of n.
356 n:add_node( ... ): Same as sd.add_node(), but as a subnode of n.
360 stream( url ): Instantiate a stream object for specific url.
361 memory_stream( string ): Instantiate a stream object containing a specific string.
362 Those two functions return the stream object upon success and nil if an
363 error occurred, in that case, the second return value will be an error message.
365 s = vlc.stream( "http://www.videolan.org/" )
366 s:read( 128 ) -- read up to 128 characters. Return 0 if no more data is available (FIXME?).
367 s:readline() -- read a line. Return nil if EOF was reached.
368 s:addfilter() -- add a stream filter. If no argument was specified, try to add all automatic stream filters.
372 strings.decode_uri( [uri1, [uri2, [...]]] ): Decode a list of URIs. This
373 function returns as many variables as it had arguments.
374 strings.encode_uri_component( [uri1, [uri2, [...]]] ): Encode a list of URI
375 components. This function returns as many variables as it had arguments.
376 strings.resolve_xml_special_chars( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Resolve XML
377 special characters in a list of strings. This function returns as many
378 variables as it had arguments.
379 strings.convert_xml_special_chars( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Do the inverse
381 strings.iconv( str1 to, str2 from, str ): use vlc_iconv to convert string
382 from encoding to another
386 var.get( object, name ): Get the object's variable "name"'s value.
387 var.get_list( object, name ): Get the object's variable "name"'s value list.
388 1st return value is the value list, 2nd return value is the text list.
389 var.set( object, name, value ): Set the object's variable "name" to "value".
390 var.create( object, name, value ): Create and set the object's variable "name"
391 to "value". Created vars can be of type float, string or bool.
393 var.add_callback( object, name, function, data ): Add a callback to the
394 object's "name" variable. Callback functions take 4 arguments: the
395 variable name, the old value, the new value and data.
396 var.del_callback( object, name, function, data ): Delete a callback to
397 the object's "name" variable. "function" and "data" must be the same as
398 when add_callback() was called.
399 var.trigger_callback( object, name ): Trigger the callbacks associated with the
400 object's "name" variable.
402 var.command( object name, name, argument ): Issue "object name"'s "name"
403 command with argument "argument".
404 var.libvlc_command( name, argument ): Issue libvlc's "name" command with
409 video.fullscreen( [status] ):
410 * toggle fullscreen if no arguments are given
411 * switch to fullscreen 1st argument is true
412 * disable fullscreen if 1st argument is false
416 vlm(): Instanciate a VLM object.
419 v:execute_command( "new test broadcast" ) -- execute given VLM command
421 Note: if the VLM object is deleted and you were the last person to hold
422 a reference to it, all VLM items will be deleted.
426 volume.get(): Get volume.
427 volume.set( level ): Set volume to an absolute level between 0 and 1024.
429 volume.up( [n] ): Increment volume by n steps of 32. n defaults to 1.
430 volume.down( [n] ): Decrement volume by n steps of 32. n defaults to 1.
434 xml = vlc.xml(): Create an xml object.
435 reader = xml:create_reader( stream ): create an xml reader that use the given stream.
436 reader:read(): read some data
437 reader:node_type(): return the type of the curret node: 'none', 'startelem', 'endelem' or 'text'.
438 reader:name(): name of the element
439 reader:value(): value of the element
440 reader:next_attr(): next attribute of the element
442 The simplexml module can also be used to parse XML documents easily.