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 } ): 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.
224 object.aout(): Get the audio output object.
225 object.vout(): Get the video output object.
227 object.find( object, type, mode ): Return nil. DO NOT USE.
231 osd.icon( type, [id] ): Display an icon on the given OSD channel. Uses the
232 default channel is none is given. Icon types are: "pause", "play",
233 "speaker" and "mute".
234 osd.message( string, [id], [position], [duration] ): Display the text message on
235 the given OSD channel. Position types are: "center", "left", "right", "top",
236 "bottom", "top-left", "top-right", "bottom-left" or "bottom-right". The
237 duration is set in microseconds.
238 osd.slider( position, type, [id] ): Display slider. Position is an integer
239 from 0 to 100. Type can be "horizontal" or "vertical".
240 osd.channel_register(): Register a new OSD channel. Returns the channel id.
241 osd.channel_clear( id ): Clear OSD channel.
242 osd.menu.show(): Show the OSD menu.
243 osd.menu.hide(): Hide the OSD menu.
244 osd.menu.prev(): Select previous/left item.
245 osd.menu.next(): Select next/right item.
246 osd.menu.up(): Move selection up.
247 osd.menu.down(): Move selection down.
248 osd.menu.activate(): Activate/validate current selection.
252 playlist.prev(): Play previous track.
253 playlist.next(): Play next track.
254 playlist.skip( n ): Skip n tracks.
255 playlist.play(): Play.
256 playlist.pause(): Pause.
257 playlist.stop(): Stop.
258 playlist.clear(): Clear the playlist.
259 playlist.repeat_( [status] ): Toggle item repeat or set to specified value.
260 playlist.loop( [status] ): Toggle playlist loop or set to specified value.
261 playlist.random( [status] ): Toggle playlist random or set to specified value.
262 playlist.goto( id ): Go to specified track.
263 playlist.add( ... ): Add a bunch of items to the playlist.
264 The playlist is a table of playlist objects.
265 A playlist object has the following members:
266 .path: the item's full path / URL
267 .name: the item's name in playlist (OPTIONAL)
268 .title: the item's Title (OPTIONAL, meta data)
269 .artist: the item's Artist (OPTIONAL, meta data)
270 .genre: the item's Genre (OPTIONAL, meta data)
271 .copyright: the item's Copyright (OPTIONAL, meta data)
272 .album: the item's Album (OPTIONAL, meta data)
273 .tracknum: the item's Tracknum (OPTIONAL, meta data)
274 .description: the item's Description (OPTIONAL, meta data)
275 .rating: the item's Rating (OPTIONAL, meta data)
276 .date: the item's Date (OPTIONAL, meta data)
277 .setting: the item's Setting (OPTIONAL, meta data)
278 .url: the item's URL (OPTIONAL, meta data)
279 .language: the item's Language (OPTIONAL, meta data)
280 .nowplaying: the item's NowPlaying (OPTIONAL, meta data)
281 .publisher: the item's Publisher (OPTIONAL, meta data)
282 .encodedby: the item's EncodedBy (OPTIONAL, meta data)
283 .arturl: the item's ArtURL (OPTIONAL, meta data)
284 .trackid: the item's TrackID (OPTIONAL, meta data)
285 .options: a list of VLC options (OPTIONAL)
286 example: .options = { "fullscreen" }
287 .duration: stream duration in seconds (OPTIONAL)
288 .meta: custom meta data (OPTIONAL, meta data)
289 A .meta field is a table of custom meta key value pairs.
290 example: .meta = { ["GVP docid"] = "-5784010886294950089", ["GVP version] = "1.1", Hello = "World!" }
291 Invalid playlist items will be discarded by VLC.
292 playlist.enqueue( ... ): like playlist.add() except that track isn't played.
293 playlist.get( [what, [tree]] ): Get the playlist.
294 If "what" is a number, then this will return the corresponding playlist
295 item's playlist hierarchy. If it is "normal" or "playlist", it will
296 return the normal playlist. If it is "ml" or "media library", it will
297 return the media library. If it is "root" it will return the full playlist.
298 If it is a service discovery module's name, it will return that service
299 discovery's playlist. If it is any other string, it won't return anything.
300 Else it will return the full playlist.
301 The second argument, "tree", is optional. If set to true or unset, the
302 playlist will be returned in a tree layout. If set to false, the playlist
303 will be returned using the flat layout.
304 Each playlist item returned will have the following members:
306 .flags: a table with the following members if the corresponding flag is
316 .duration: (-1 if unknown)
318 .children: A table of children playlist items.
319 playlist.search( name ): filter the playlist items with the given string
320 playlist.current(): return the current input item
321 playlist.sort( key ): sort the playlist according to the key.
322 Key must be one of the followings values: 'id', 'title', 'title nodes first',
323 'artist', 'genre', 'random', 'duration',
324 'title numeric' or 'album'.
325 playlist.status(): return the playlist status: 'stopped', 'playing', 'paused' or 'unknown'.
327 FIXME: add methods to get an item's meta, options, es ...
331 sd.get_services_names(): Get a table of all available service discovery
332 modules. The module name is used as key, the long name is used as value.
333 sd.add( name ): Add service discovery.
334 sd.remove( name ): Remove service discovery.
335 sd.is_loaded( name ): Check if service discovery is loaded.
336 sd.add_node( ... ): Add a node to the service discovery.
337 The node object has the following members:
338 .title: the node's name
339 .arturl: the node's ArtURL (OPTIONAL)
340 sd.add_item( ... ): Add an item to the service discovery.
341 The item object has the same members as the one in playlist.add().
342 Returns the input item.
343 sd.remove_item( item ): remove the item.
345 n = vlc.sd.add_node( {title="Node"} )
346 n:add_subitem( ... ): Same as sd.add_item(), but as a subitem of n.
347 n:add_node( ... ): Same as sd.add_node(), but as a subnode of n.
351 stream( url ): Instantiate a stream object for specific url.
352 memory_stream( string ): Instantiate a stream object containing a specific string.
353 Those two functions return the stream object upon success and nil if an
354 error occurred, in that case, the second return value will be an error message.
356 s = vlc.stream( "http://www.videolan.org/" )
357 s:read( 128 ) -- read up to 128 characters. Return 0 if no more data is available (FIXME?).
358 s:readline() -- read a line. Return nil if EOF was reached.
359 s:addfilter() -- add a stream filter. If no argument was specified, try to add all automatic stream filters.
363 strings.decode_uri( [uri1, [uri2, [...]]] ): Decode a list of URIs. This
364 function returns as many variables as it had arguments.
365 strings.encode_uri_component( [uri1, [uri2, [...]]] ): Encode a list of URI
366 components. This function returns as many variables as it had arguments.
367 strings.make_uri( path, [scheme] ): Convert a file path to a URI.
368 strings.resolve_xml_special_chars( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Resolve XML
369 special characters in a list of strings. This function returns as many
370 variables as it had arguments.
371 strings.convert_xml_special_chars( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Do the inverse
373 strings.from_charset( charset, str ): convert a string from a specified
374 character encoding into UTF-8.
378 var.inherit( object, name ): Find the variable "name"'s value inherited by
379 the object. If object is unset, the current module's object will be used.
380 var.get( object, name ): Get the object's variable "name"'s value.
381 var.get_list( object, name ): Get the object's variable "name"'s value list.
382 1st return value is the value list, 2nd return value is the text list.
383 var.set( object, name, value ): Set the object's variable "name" to "value".
384 var.create( object, name, value ): Create and set the object's variable "name"
385 to "value". Created vars can be of type float, string, bool or void.
386 For a void variable the value has to be 'nil'.
388 var.add_callback( object, name, function, data ): Add a callback to the
389 object's "name" variable. Callback functions take 4 arguments: the
390 variable name, the old value, the new value and data.
391 var.del_callback( object, name, function, data ): Delete a callback to
392 the object's "name" variable. "function" and "data" must be the same as
393 when add_callback() was called.
394 var.trigger_callback( object, name ): Trigger the callbacks associated with the
395 object's "name" variable.
397 var.command( object name, name, argument ): Issue "object name"'s "name"
398 command with argument "argument".
399 var.libvlc_command( name, argument ): Issue libvlc's "name" command with
402 var.inc_integer( name ): Increment the given integer.
403 var.dec_integer( name ): Decrement the given integer.
404 var.count_choices( name ): Return the number of choices.
405 var.toggle_bool( name ): Toggle the given boolean.
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, return -1 on error, 0 on EOF, 1 on start of XML
437 element, 2 on end of XML element, 3 on 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.