View source for Interfaces

Interfaces are the way you interact with {{VLC}}. Like anything else in VLC, they are modules, which allows for their interchangeability (see below).

== Main interfaces ==
VLC has four main graphical interfaces:
* The [[wxWidgets Interface]] (wx) is the default interface on [[Linux]] and [[Windows]].
* The [[Qt Interface]] (qt) will be the default interface on [[Linux]] and [[Windows]] starting with version 0.9.0.
* The [[Skins|skins2 Interface]] is an interface where you can customize VLC's look (works on Linux and Windows).
* The [[Mac OS X Interface]] is the default (and only) graphical interface on Mac OS X.
* The [[BeOS Interface]] is the default (and only) graphical interface on BeOS.

== Full list ==
Besides the above main interfaces, VLC contains many more:
{|
|'''wx'''
| Current (<0.9.0) default [http://www.wxwidgets.org/ wxWidgets] interface on [[Linux]] and [[Windows]].
|-
|'''qt'''
| Future (0.9.0 onwards) default [http://www.trolltech.com/qt Qt4] interface on [[Linux]] and [[Windows]].
|-
|'''skins2'''
| Load VLC with a [[Skins|skin]]. (Linux and Windows only)
|-
|'''macosx'''
| Default [[Mac OS X]] interface.
|-
|'''beos'''
| Default [[BeOS]] interface.
|-
| '''http'''
| [[Web Interface]], used for controlling VLC from over a network.
|-
| '''gestures'''
| [[Mouse Gestures]], where you can control VLC by moving the mouse
|-
| '''rc''', '''ncurses''', '''telnet'''
| [[Console|Console Interfaces]], non-graphical interfaces.
|-
| '''showintf'''
| Show interfaces module.
|-
| '''hotkeys''' and '''joystick'''
| Control VLC with the keyboard/joystick.
|-
| '''dummy'''
| Don't use an interface.
|}

== Listing the available interfaces ==

To get a list of available interfaces, running VLC with the -l option:
 vlc -l
This also displays the [[muxers]] and [[encoders]]/[[decoders]] and puts it in a file called "vlc-help.txt". On Linux, run
 vlc -l | grep -i interface
to display the interfaces.

== Using an interface ==

To run VLC with a different primary interface, use the following command:
 vlc --intf ''name''
You can also use
 vlc -I ''name''
You can also change the default in the [[Preferences]].

However, you can also launch more than one interface:
 vlc --intf wx --extraintf sap,telnet,http
This will launch VLC with the default wxWidgets interface, but will also launch the sap, telnet and web interface in addition to the wxWidgets one. The default for this can also be changed in the preferences.

Note that if you only use the dummy interface, you won't be able to tell vlc to quit - you may have to break it manually with Ctrl+C; or use vlc:quit as the last item on the playlist.

== See also ==
* '''See also [[:Category:Interfaces]]'''

[[Category:Interfaces]]