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.
178 net.url_parse( url, [option delimiter] ): Parse URL. Returns a table with
179 fields "protocol", "username", "password", "host", "port", path" and
181 net.listen_tcp( host, port ): Listen to TCP connections. This returns an
182 object with an accept and an fds method. accept is blocking (Poll on the
183 fds with the net.POLLIN flag if you want to be non blocking).
184 The fds method returns a list of fds you can call poll on before using
185 the accept method. For example:
186 local l = vlc.net.listen_tcp( "localhost", 1234 )
188 local fd = l:accept()
190 net.send( fd, "blabla" )
194 net.connect_tcp( host, port ): open a connection to the given host:port (TCP).
195 net.close( fd ): Close file descriptor.
196 net.send( fd, string, [length] ): Send data on fd.
197 net.recv( fd, [max length] ): Receive data from fd.
198 net.poll( { fd = events }, [timeout in seconds] ): Implement poll function.
199 Returns the numbers of file descriptors with a non 0 revent. The function
200 modifies the input table to { fd = revents }. See "man poll".
201 net.POLLIN/POLLPRI/POLLOUT/POLLRDHUP/POLLERR/POLLHUP/POLLNVAL: poll event flags
202 net.read( fd, [max length] ): Read data from fd.
203 net.write( fd, string, [length] ): Write data to fd.
204 net.stat( path ): Stat a file. Returns a table with the following fields:
213 net.opendir( path ): List a directory's contents.
217 object.input(): Get the current input object.
218 object.playlist(): Get the playlist object.
219 object.libvlc(): Get the libvlc object.
221 object.find( object, type, mode ): Find an object of given type. mode can
222 be any of "parent", "child" and "anywhere". If set to "parent", it will
223 look in "object"'s parent objects. If set to "child" it will look in
224 "object"'s children. If set to "anywhere", it will look in all the
225 objects. If object is unset, the current module's object will be used.
226 Type can be: "libvlc", "playlist", "input", "decoder",
227 "vout", "aout", "packetizer", "generic".
228 This function is deprecated and slow and should be avoided.
229 object.find_name( object, name, mode ): Same as above except that it matches
230 on the object's name and not type. This function is also slow and should
231 be avoided if possible.
235 osd.icon( type, [id] ): Display an icon on the given OSD channel. Uses the
236 default channel is none is given. Icon types are: "pause", "play",
237 "speaker" and "mute".
238 osd.message( string, [id], [position], [duration]: Display the text message on
239 the given OSD channel. Position types are: "center", "left", "right", "top",
240 "bottom", "top-left", "top-right", "bottom-left" or "bottom-right". The
241 duration is set in microseconds.
242 osd.slider( position, type, [id] ): Display slider. Position is an integer
243 from 0 to 100. Type can be "horizontal" or "vertical".
244 osd.channel_register(): Register a new OSD channel. Returns the channel id.
245 osd.channel_clear( id ): Clear OSD channel.
246 osd.menu.show(): Show the OSD menu.
247 osd.menu.hide(): Hide the OSD menu.
248 osd.menu.prev(): Select previous/left item.
249 osd.menu.next(): Select next/right item.
250 osd.menu.up(): Move selection up.
251 osd.menu.down(): Move selection down.
252 osd.menu.activate(): Activate/validate current selection.
256 playlist.prev(): Play previous track.
257 playlist.next(): Play next track.
258 playlist.skip( n ): Skip n tracks.
259 playlist.play(): Play.
260 playlist.pause(): Pause.
261 playlist.stop(): Stop.
262 playlist.clear(): Clear the playlist.
263 playlist.repeat_( [status] ): Toggle item repeat or set to specified value.
264 playlist.loop( [status] ): Toggle playlist loop or set to specified value.
265 playlist.random( [status] ): Toggle playlist random or set to specified value.
266 playlist.goto( id ): Go to specified track.
267 playlist.add( ... ): Add a bunch of items to the playlist.
268 The playlist is a table of playlist objects.
269 A playlist object has the following members:
270 .path: the item's full path / URL
271 .name: the item's name in playlist (OPTIONAL)
272 .title: the item's Title (OPTIONAL, meta data)
273 .artist: the item's Artist (OPTIONAL, meta data)
274 .genre: the item's Genre (OPTIONAL, meta data)
275 .copyright: the item's Copyright (OPTIONAL, meta data)
276 .album: the item's Album (OPTIONAL, meta data)
277 .tracknum: the item's Tracknum (OPTIONAL, meta data)
278 .description: the item's Description (OPTIONAL, meta data)
279 .rating: the item's Rating (OPTIONAL, meta data)
280 .date: the item's Date (OPTIONAL, meta data)
281 .setting: the item's Setting (OPTIONAL, meta data)
282 .url: the item's URL (OPTIONAL, meta data)
283 .language: the item's Language (OPTIONAL, meta data)
284 .nowplaying: the item's NowPlaying (OPTIONAL, meta data)
285 .publisher: the item's Publisher (OPTIONAL, meta data)
286 .encodedby: the item's EncodedBy (OPTIONAL, meta data)
287 .arturl: the item's ArtURL (OPTIONAL, meta data)
288 .trackid: the item's TrackID (OPTIONAL, meta data)
289 .options: a list of VLC options (OPTIONAL)
290 example: .options = { "fullscreen" }
291 .duration: stream duration in seconds (OPTIONAL)
292 .meta: custom meta data (OPTIONAL, meta data)
293 A .meta field is a table of custom meta categories which
294 each have custom meta properties.
295 example: .meta = { ["Google video"] = { ["docid"] = "-5784010886294950089"; ["GVP version"] = "1.1" }; ["misc"] = { "Hello" = "World!" } }
296 Invalid playlist items will be discarded by VLC.
297 playlist.enqueue( ... ): like playlist.add() except that track isn't played.
298 playlist.get( [what, [tree]] ): Get the playlist.
299 If "what" is a number, then this will return the corresponding playlist
300 item's playlist hierarchy. If it is "normal" or "playlist", it will
301 return the normal playlist. If it is "ml" or "media library", it will
302 return the media library. If it is "root" it will return the full playlist.
303 If it is a service discovery module's name, it will return that service
304 discovery's playlist. If it is any other string, it won't return anything.
305 Else it will return the full playlist.
306 The second argument, "tree", is optional. If set to true or unset, the
307 playlist will be returned in a tree layout. If set to false, the playlist
308 will be returned using the flat layout.
309 Each playlist item returned will have the following members:
311 .flags: a table with the following members if the corresponding flag is
321 .duration: (-1 if unknown)
323 .children: A table of children playlist items.
324 playlist.search( name ): filter the playlist items with the given string
325 playlist.current(): return the current input item
326 playlist.sort( key ): sort the playlist according to the key.
327 Key must be one of the followings values: 'id', 'title', 'title nodes first',
328 'artist', 'genre', 'random', 'duration',
329 'title numeric' or 'album'.
330 playlist.status(): return the playlist status: 'stopped', 'playing', 'paused' or 'unknown'.
332 FIXME: add methods to get an item's meta, options, es ...
336 sd.get_services_names(): Get a table of all available service discovery
337 modules. The module name is used as key, the long name is used as value.
338 sd.add( name ): Add service discovery.
339 sd.remove( name ): Remove service discovery.
340 sd.is_loaded( name ): Check if service discovery is loaded.
341 sd.add_node( ... ): Add a node to the service discovery.
342 The node object has the following members:
343 .title: the node's name
344 .arturl: the node's ArtURL (OPTIONAL)
345 sd.add_item( ... ): Add an item to the service discovery.
346 The item object has the same members as the one in playlist.add().
347 Returns the input item.
348 sd.remove_item( item ): remove the item.
350 n = vlc.sd.add_node( {title="Node"} )
351 n:add_subitem( ... ): Same as sd.add_item(), but as a subitem of n.
352 n:add_node( ... ): Same as sd.add_node(), but as a subnode of n.
356 stream( url ): Instantiate a stream object for specific url.
357 memory_stream( string ): Instantiate a stream object containing a specific string.
358 Those two functions return the stream object upon success and nil if an
359 error occurred, in that case, the second return value will be an error message.
361 s = vlc.stream( "http://www.videolan.org/" )
362 s:read( 128 ) -- read up to 128 characters. Return 0 if no more data is available (FIXME?).
363 s:readline() -- read a line. Return nil if EOF was reached.
364 s:addfilter() -- add a stream filter. If no argument was specified, try to add all automatic stream filters.
368 strings.decode_uri( [uri1, [uri2, [...]]] ): Decode a list of URIs. This
369 function returns as many variables as it had arguments.
370 strings.encode_uri_component( [uri1, [uri2, [...]]] ): Encode a list of URI
371 components. This function returns as many variables as it had arguments.
372 strings.resolve_xml_special_chars( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Resolve XML
373 special characters in a list of strings. This function returns as many
374 variables as it had arguments.
375 strings.convert_xml_special_chars( [str1, [str2, [...]]] ): Do the inverse
377 strings.iconv( str1 to, str2 from, str ): use vlc_iconv to convert string
378 from encoding to another
382 var.get( object, name ): Get the object's variable "name"'s value.
383 var.get_list( object, name ): Get the object's variable "name"'s value list.
384 1st return value is the value list, 2nd return value is the text list.
385 var.set( object, name, value ): Set the object's variable "name" to "value".
386 var.create( object, name, value ): Create and set the object's variable "name"
387 to "value". Created vars can be of type float, string or bool.
389 var.add_callback( object, name, function, data ): Add a callback to the
390 object's "name" variable. Callback functions take 4 arguments: the
391 variable name, the old value, the new value and data.
392 var.del_callback( object, name, function, data ): Delete a callback to
393 the object's "name" variable. "function" and "data" must be the same as
394 when add_callback() was called.
395 var.trigger_callback( object, name ): Trigger the callbacks associated with the
396 object's "name" variable.
398 var.command( object name, name, argument ): Issue "object name"'s "name"
399 command with argument "argument".
400 var.libvlc_command( name, argument ): Issue libvlc's "name" command with
405 video.fullscreen( [status] ):
406 * toggle fullscreen if no arguments are given
407 * switch to fullscreen 1st argument is true
408 * disable fullscreen if 1st argument is false
412 vlm(): Instanciate a VLM object.
415 v:execute_command( "new test broadcast" ) -- execute given VLM command
417 Note: if the VLM object is deleted and you were the last person to hold
418 a reference to it, all VLM items will be deleted.
422 volume.get(): Get volume.
423 volume.set( level ): Set volume to an absolute level between 0 and 1024.
425 volume.up( [n] ): Increment volume by n steps of 32. n defaults to 1.
426 volume.down( [n] ): Decrement volume by n steps of 32. n defaults to 1.
430 xml = vlc.xml(): Create an xml object.
431 reader = xml:create_reader( stream ): create an xml reader that use the given stream.
432 reader:read(): read some data
433 reader:node_type(): return the type of the curret node: 'none', 'startelem', 'endelem' or 'text'.
434 reader:name(): name of the element
435 reader:value(): value of the element
436 reader:next_attr(): next attribute of the element
438 The simplexml module can also be used to parse XML documents easily.