View source for LibVLC Tutorial

== LibVLC C Tutorial ==

=== Installing the SDK ===
This code is written for [[LibVLC]] version 1.1.0 or later. It '''cannot''' be compiled with older versions.

==== Windows ====
VLC binary installers for Windows do not include the LibVLC SDK. It would be a waste of bandwidth and space for most users.

You can find the SDK files, i.e. development headers and import libraries, from the plain ZIP packages in the <code>sdk</code> directory. Alternatively, you can build VLC from source.

See [[LibVLC_Tutorial_086c]] for some more instructions on getting the build working.

==== Linux ====
You should find the necessary files (libvlc.so, libvlc.pc, header files...) in a binary package called libvlc-dev (Debian, Ubuntu...), libvlc-devel (RPM distros) or similar. Make sure that the version is recent enough before going forward.

=== Linking against LibVLC ===

<pre>
cc example.c -lvlc -o example
</pre>

On Linux/BSD, you may prefer to use pkg-config:
<pre>
pkg-config --print-errors 'libvlc >= 1.1.0'
cc -c example.c -o example.o $(pkg-config --cflags libvlc)
cc example.o -o example $(pkg-config --libs libvlc)
</pre>

=== Sample LibVLC Code ===
This sample code will (try to) play back an URL.
There is also an [[LibVLC SampleCode SDL|example using SDL for video output]].
<pre>
 #include <stdio.h>
 #include <stdlib.h>
 #include <vlc/vlc.h>
 
 int main(int argc, char* argv[])
 {
     libvlc_instance_t * inst;
     libvlc_media_player_t *mp;
     libvlc_media_t *m;
     
     /* Load the VLC engine */
     inst = libvlc_new (0, NULL);
  
     /* Create a new item */
     m = libvlc_media_new_path (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;
 }
</pre>