LibVLC Media List Management

Global Description of the available objects

The atomic item that represent a media that you can play is a media_descriptor in LibVLC.

A media_list is an object that contains several media_descriptor. You can add items to that media_list.

A media_list_view is an object that provide a way to see/browse a media_list (Read-only). There are currently two kind of media_list_view:

• a flat media list view
• a hierarchical media list view

You can play a media_list using a media_list_player.

A media descriptor can contain a media list

A playlist downloaded from Google video has a corresponding media_descriptor. This media_descriptor has several subitems. You can access them through libvlc_media_descriptor_subitems() which returns a media_list.

This explains how a media_list can be hierarchical. To browse it you'll use libvlc_media_list_hierarchy_view(). To view the all the item without hierarchy use libvlc_media_list_flat_view().

Sample Code

void setup_media_list( libvlc_instance_t * p_vlc, libvlc_drawable_t window )
{
    libvlc_exception_t e;
    libvlc_media_list_t * p_ml;
    libvlc_media_list_player_t * p_mlp;
    libvlc_media_instance_t * p_mi;
    libvlc_media_descriptor_t * p_md1, *p_md2;

    libvlc_exception_init( &e );

    p_ml = libvlc_media_list_new( p_vlc, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );
 
    p_md1  = libvlc_media_descriptor_new( p_vlc, "http://mycool.com/movie1.avi", &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    p_md2  = libvlc_media_descriptor_new( p_vlc, "http://mycool.com/movie2.avi", &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    libvlc_media_list_add( p_ml, p_md1, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    libvlc_media_list_add( p_ml, p_md2, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    libvlc_media_descriptor_release( p_md1 );
    libvlc_media_descriptor_release( p_md2 );

    p_mlp = libvlc_media_list_player_new( p_vlc, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    p_mi = libvlc_media_instance_new( p_vlc, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    /* Use our media list */
    libvlc_media_list_player_set_media_list( p_mlp, p_ml, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    /* Use a given media instance */
    libvlc_media_list_player_set_media_instance( p_mlp, p_mi, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    /* Get our media instance to use our window */
    libvlc_media_instance_set_drawable( p_mlp, window, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    /* Play */
    libvlc_media_instance_play( p_mlp, &e );
    quit_on_exception( &e );

    /* Let it play forever */
    while(1) sleep(300);
}