Using libvlc with Delphi

This is a sample code to play media files using libvlc with Delphi (test with Delphi XE2 VCL form, VLC 1.1.11).

Form design

Use a simple form with 3 control : Panel1 (TPanel) to display video, btnPlay (TButton) to play media, and btnStop (TButton) to stop playing

Full source code

Implementations

unit Unit1;
interface

uses
  Winapi.Windows, Winapi.Messages, System.SysUtils, System.Variants, System.Classes, Vcl.Graphics,
  Vcl.Controls, Vcl.Forms, Vcl.Dialogs, Vcl.StdCtrls, Vcl.ExtCtrls;

type
  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    btnPlay: TButton;
    btnStop: TButton;
    Panel1: TPanel;
    procedure btnPlayClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure btnStopClick(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
    procedure FormClose(Sender: TObject; var Action: TCloseAction);
  private
    { Private declarations }
  public
    { Public declarations }
  end;

  plibvlc_instance_t        = type Pointer;
  plibvlc_media_player_t    = type Pointer;
  plibvlc_media_t           = type Pointer;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.dfm}

var
  libvlc_media_new_path              : function(p_instance : Plibvlc_instance_t; path : PAnsiChar) : Plibvlc_media_t; cdecl;
  libvlc_media_new_location          : function(p_instance : plibvlc_instance_t; psz_mrl : PAnsiChar) : Plibvlc_media_t; cdecl;
  libvlc_media_player_new_from_media : function(p_media : Plibvlc_media_t) : Plibvlc_media_player_t; cdecl;
  libvlc_media_player_set_hwnd       : procedure(p_media_player : Plibvlc_media_player_t; drawable : Pointer); cdecl;
  libvlc_media_player_play           : procedure(p_media_player : Plibvlc_media_player_t); cdecl;
  libvlc_media_player_stop           : procedure(p_media_player : Plibvlc_media_player_t); cdecl;
  libvlc_media_player_release        : procedure(p_media_player : Plibvlc_media_player_t); cdecl;
  libvlc_media_player_is_playing     : function(p_media_player : Plibvlc_media_player_t) : Integer; cdecl;
  libvlc_media_release               : procedure(p_media : Plibvlc_media_t); cdecl;
  libvlc_new                         : function(argc : Integer; argv : PAnsiChar) : Plibvlc_instance_t; cdecl;
  libvlc_release                     : procedure(p_instance : Plibvlc_instance_t); cdecl;

  vlcLib: integer;
  vlcInstance: plibvlc_instance_t;
  vlcMedia: plibvlc_media_t;
  vlcMediaPlayer: plibvlc_media_player_t;

Get VLC installation path

Normally, the library libvlc.dll is in "C:\Program files\Videolan\VLC\". This function read registry to get the correct VLC installation path, stored in key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\VideoLAN\VLC.

// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Read registry to get VLC installation path
// -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
function GetVLCLibPath: String;
var
  Handle: HKEY;
  RegType: Integer;
  DataSize: Cardinal;
  Key: PWideChar;
begin
  Result := '';
  Key := 'Software\VideoLAN\VLC';
  if RegOpenKeyEx(HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Key, 0, KEY_READ, Handle) = ERROR_SUCCESS then
  begin
    if RegQueryValueEx(Handle, 'InstallDir', nil, @RegType, nil, @DataSize) = ERROR_SUCCESS then
    begin
      SetLength(Result, DataSize);
      RegQueryValueEx(Handle, 'InstallDir', nil, @RegType, PByte(@Result[1]), @DataSize);
      Result[DataSize] := '\';
    end
    else Showmessage('Error on reading registry');
    RegCloseKey(Handle);
    Result := String(PChar(Result));
  end;
end;