LibVLC Tutorial

LibVLC Tutorial

This code is written for LibVLC version 1.1.0 or later. It cannot be compiled with older versions.

Note that VLC binary installers for Windows do not include the LibVLC SDK (it would be a waste of bandwidth and space for most users). See LibVLC_Tutorial_086c for some instructions on getting the build working.

Linking against LibVLC

cc example.c -lvlc -o example

Sample LibVLC Code

 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <vlc/vlc.h>
 
 int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 {
     const char * const vlc_args[] = {
               "-I", "dummy", /* Don't use any interface */
               "--ignore-config", /* Don't use VLC's config */
               "--plugin-path=/set/your/path/to/libvlc/module/if/you/are/on/windows/or/macosx" };
     libvlc_instance_t * inst;
     libvlc_media_player_t *mp;
     libvlc_media_t *m;
     
     /* init vlc modules, should be done only once */
     inst = libvlc_new (sizeof(vlc_args) / sizeof(vlc_args[0]), vlc_args);
  
     /* Create a new item */
     m = libvlc_media_new (inst, "http://mycool.movie.com/test.mov");
        
     /* Create a media player playing environement */
     mp = libvlc_media_player_new_from_media (m);
     
     /* No need to keep the media now */
     libvlc_media_release (m);
 
 #if 0
     /* This is a non working code that show how to hooks into a window,
      * if we have a window around */
      libvlc_media_player_set_xdrawable (mp, xdrawable);
     /* or on windows */
      libvlc_media_player_set_hwnd (mp, hwnd);
     /* or on mac os */
      libvlc_media_player_set_nsobject (mp, view);
  #endif
 
     /* play the media_player */
     libvlc_media_player_play (mp);
    
     sleep (10); /* Let it play a bit */
    
     /* Stop playing */
     libvlc_media_player_stop (mp);
 
     /* Free the media_player */
     libvlc_media_player_release (mp);
 
     libvlc_release (inst);
 
     return 0;
 }