NEW VLC plugin

lambosprit · 05-06-2008, 02:42 PM

*******WARNING**********
Latest version of vlc I have tested this on is 0.8.6i. I know it doesn't work on the latest 0.9 versions of vlc.
************************************************** ********************************
I will update RRVLC in the near future.

Version 2.1 released.

Added debug setting. Add Debug=True under the [General] setting.
Added a vlcaction of NORMALSPEED. This allows you to reset to normal speed when running slow or fast.
Added new label CUSTOMVLC1SPEED which shows current play speed.
Added new variable CUSTOMVLC1STATUS -- shows screen 1's status. Values are 0 (PLAYING), 1 (PAUSED), 2 (Playin but not normal speed),3 (STOPPED).
usage:
Label code for showing differing symbols depending on status would be "Webdings:B","BYVAR;CUSTOMVLC1STATUS;=4<<=;<<=4<<= <","CENTER"
Button code to change what happens depending on status could be
B06,401,520,98,79,"BYVAR;CUSTOMVLC1STATUS;SETVAR;V LC1ACTION;PAUSE<<SETVAR;VLC1ACTION;PLAY<<SETVAR;VL C1ACTION;NORMALSPEED<<SETVAR;VLC1ACTION;PLAY",@SET VAR;VLC1ACTION;STOP@
this allows: pausing when playing at normal speed.
playing when paused.
resetting to normal speed when currently playin at not normal speed
Stopping when the button is pushed and held on.

Added variable CUSTOMVLC1VIDEOPOS -- Shows the current play position for slider use. Values are from 0 to 65535.

VERSION2 released.
I've been slowly working on this to get it where I want it to be and now I have everything I need so thought I would do another release.

My idea was to integrate VLC into RR so my Kids could watch video in the back while I controlled everything from the front.

What I've come up with is an exe that I think can be embedded as usual or used in dual monitor mode as I intended.

I have just used this cotinuously for a three week holiday and it worked flawlessly but I haven't heard if anyone else is actually using it or got it working. It would be great to hear if someone has because its quite depressing to just hear about it not working.

I am very willing to help anyone getting this working so please just contact me and i will give help.

I have seen that brandensin has embedded the vlc program into rr and used the hotkeys to control it. The problem I found with this is that its hard to load files and there is no playlist functionality. If these issues aren't a problem for you the I recommend this method instead of my plugin. see http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/road...73-mpc-rr.html post 10.

I have also posted skins for BMV and freedom ultimate in the thread. It would be good to know if anyone has these working.

version 2.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

the fast forward bug has been fixed.

Any video or audio format specified in RR can now be played.
Specific files or whole directories can be loaded and played.

Playlists added.
Loads default playlist on start up and plays first item in list.
Allows new playlist to be loaded at any time using the new VLC1PLAYLIST variable and VLC1ACTION variable set to "LOADPLAYLIST"

Multiple screens added
It is now possible to use and control two screens at the same time playing different movies or songs.
Different audio devices has been coded and can be set in the ini file but not been able to test yet as dont have two audio cards yet.
Multiple screens is set by changing the ini file setting to true. To control screen use the same variables and actions listed below but change the 1 to a 2 i.e. VLC1ACTION becomes VLC2ACTION.

Version1 has the following capabilites
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
RRVLC plugin
Button commands
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All buttons would just use SETVAR and one of the global variables described below.

Variables
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Set this via button commands e.g. "SETVAR;VLC1ACTION;PLAY" would set the movie playing.
VLC1MOVIENAME -- Name of the movie to add or append. Should include relative path (from path setting in ini file or full path if path not set)
, filename and extension. Once processed variable is set to "BLANK"
VLC1ADDMOVIE -- Values allowed are:
1) "ADD" where playlist is cleared and movie specified by VLC1MOVIENAME is loaded.
2)"APPEND" just adds the movie specified by VLC1MOVIENAME to the end of the playlist
VLC1ACTION -- this is the main way of controlling the plugin. Allowed values are:
1)"STOP" -- Stops the current movie.
2)"PLAY" -- Plays the current movie.
3)"PAUSE" -- Toggles pause for the current movie.
4)"NEXT" -- Moves to playing the next movie on playlist.
5)"PREV" -- Moves to playing previous movie on playlist.
6)"VOLUP" -- Increases volume by multiples of 5 if above 11 or 1's if below.
7)"VOLDOWN" -- Decreases volume by multiples of 5 if above 11 or 1's if below.
8)"MUTE" -- Toggles mute for the vlc player. Doesn't affect mastermute.
9)"FAST" -- Speeds up movie play rate.
10)"SLOW" -- Slows movie play rate. Note there is no backwards play available as vlc doesn't have it.
11)"QUIT" -- Closes the application.
12)"LOADPLAYLIST" -- Forces RRVLC to reload a playlist. The name of the playlist to reload is set using VLCPLAYLIST variable.

This variable is process once every half second and is then reset to "BLANK"

VLC1PLAYLIST -- Name of the playlist file to load when VLC1ACTION "LOADPLAYLIST" is sent.

Labels
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CUSTOMVLC1MUTE --shows the mute status of screen 1 ("TRUE" or "FALSE")
CUSTOMVLC1VOLUME -- shows the volume level in % of screen 1. Note can go to 200% because vlc can???
CUSTOMVLC1STATUS -- shows whether screen 1 is currently PLAYING, PAUSED or STOPPED.
CUSTOMVLC1ELAPSEDTIME -- shows the elapsed time of the current movie in milliseconds.
CUSTOMVLC1LENGTH -- Shows the length of current movie in milliseconds.

Indicators
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None.

Playlist
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Its is now possible to load a playlist. On startup RRVLC loads the default playlist set in the ini file. It expects this to be
found in the roadrunner directory. It will also store any changes made to th playlist file automatically.
You can also edit the playlist file and reload it using the new VLCACTION "loadplaylist".

The playlist can also be used for display in RR I hope.

To install:
Unzip to your rr directory the four files.
The vlc version tested on is vlc-0.8.6d-win32.exe. This installs the dll you need and should register it as well. If not then just register it yourself.

To run:
Either double click rrvlc. This will automatically open RR.
or add a button that runs the exe within rr. (I haven't tried this)
or start RR then start RRVLC.

This is my first Plugin so if I've missed anything please let me know......

Future features:

You tell me

EL CAMINO · 05-06-2008, 02:53 PM

wow, great stuff, downloading now.

JohnWPB · 05-06-2008, 02:59 PM

Very Nice, I know a lot of people have wanted VLC support for the longest time... Nice work!

Sal R. · 05-06-2008, 03:01 PM

Suggestion:
instead of defining the video folder in rrvlc.ini for the plugin, why not just pull the "videopath" variable from rr.ini via sdk?

Would make for a more seamless integration of rrvlc.

lambosprit · 05-06-2008, 04:54 PM

SAL R.
Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't do this because I dont know how to extract a relative path from an RR DLPATH or ALBUMART which is what I use in my skin to get name and location of my chosen video (I dont actually set the path variable). If you know how to do this I can easily add the VIDEOPATH as you suggest.

Sal R. · 05-06-2008, 05:32 PM

Create an object in your plugin like so.

i.e. AutoIT
$rr = ObjCreate("RoadRunner.sdk")

$dlpath = $rr.getinfo("DLPATH") <-Gets current value of "DLPATH" label
$videopath = $rr.getinfo("=$videopath$") <-Gets current value of "videopath" variable.

lambosprit · 05-07-2008, 05:22 AM

Thanks but thats not my problem. Heres an example

VLC can take a relative path like c:\my_videos and add to it so say kids\bambi.avi

Now as far as I know theres no way to get the path kids from rr without getting the c:\my_videos as well. So dlpath gives c:\my_videos\kids\ and albumart gives c:\my_videos\kids\bambi.jpg.

So I just take the easy route and use the whole path but I thought others might like the ability to set the relative path, and know how to get it from RR so I added it.

If you can tell me how to do this I can add videopath in minutes.

As an update I now have rrvlc working for two separate screens showing two separate videos all controled from rr. Just trying to find a way to set the audio output device now before releasing so both sound tracks don't overplay each other..

Sal R. · 05-07-2008, 10:40 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by lambosprit

Thanks but thats not my problem. Heres an example

VLC can take a relative path like c:\my_videos and add to it so say kids\bambi.avi

Now as far as I know theres no way to get the path kids from rr without getting the c:\my_videos as well. So dlpath gives c:\my_videos\kids\ and albumart gives c:\my_videos\kids\bambi.jpg.

So I just take the easy route and use the whole path but I thought others might like the ability to set the relative path, and know how to get it from RR so I added it.

If you can tell me how to do this I can add videopath in minutes.

As an update I now have rrvlc working for two separate screens showing two separate videos all controled from rr. Just trying to find a way to set the audio output device now before releasing so both sound tracks don't overplay each other..

Have to process the variable once they are passed from RR.

i.e. AutoIT (sorry...only one I know...)

Code:

;rr videopath variable
$path = $rr.getinfo("=$videopath$")

;determine videopath length
$pathlength = StringLen($path)

;checking for "\" at the end
$last = StringRight($path, 1)
If $last = "\" Then	;Added to follow your rrvlc.ini "path" format
	$path = StringLeft($path, ($pathlength - 1))	;reformat w/o "\" at the end if necessary
	$pathlength = StringLen($path)	;re-determine videopath length

EndIf

;get "DLPATH" from RR
$vidpath = $rr.getinfo("DLPATH")

;start processing "DLPATH" variable
$vidrel = StringRight($vidpath, Stringlen($vidpath) - $pathlength)

At this point you should have your two path variables:

Main Path ($path)
Relative video Path ($vidrel)

lambosprit · 05-07-2008, 12:49 PM

yeh. thats what I thought. So it doesn't make any sense to set a path and then send the whole path to reduce it to recombine it etc.....boy I'm confused. Anyway I think its best to leave as is , because its integrated better to the dlpath and albumart stuff. Thanks anyway.

Anybody using it? Cant believe its working perfecty for everyone. Must be some bugs.

pdegameplayer · 05-07-2008, 11:27 PM

ok this may sound dumb as hell but here goes...

can someone give a step by step to how to install this plugin because these are very doggy instructions and some of the non-technical people my get confused

lambosprit · 05-08-2008, 08:09 AM

ok. Here are the steps required.
1) Download VLC and install. This is the link
http://download.videolan.org/pub/vid.../0.8.6d/win32/
chose the file vlc-0.8.6d-win32.exe.
2) Unzip the rar file in the first post to your Road runner directory. Edit the rrvlc.ini file to your requirements.
3) Add commands to you skin to use.

I've attached a sample skin for BMV2. It changes the video player button to load RR_VLC.skin. You will need to edit rr_vlc.skin to change the path to a suitable video file and then you can run it.
Please note this is just a test skin. You could use it for the buttons but obviously you dont want to edit the path to the movie everytime.

I will be releasing a Freedom Ultimate skin soon for this plugin.

Hope this helps. Any more questions just ask.