Global Hotkeys?

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Oops, I haven't seen it.

[Ikemuwatashi]

It's such a pain to drop what I'm workin on and bring vlc into focus just to pause so I can hear someone say something irrelevant so global hotkeys would be awesome, I would be more productive then I previously was cause vlc would be slightly more efficient then it previously was.... I've had that song stuck in my head forever and I wish I could reallocate that bit of my brain for something more productive!

[Metshrine]

Is there any news on this being added? I would love to be able to not have to swap apps just to scroll through a video/song.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

I will work on that, but not now...

[Metshrine]

Can we get an eta? This thread has been open since March of 2006 (2 years) and if it isnt planned for the near future I am switching my company to another player. Thanks

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Pay me to do it quickly
Then, I might do it for next version, which is a matter of months

[funman]

I am willing to do it for €400 (because i usually don't do windows code, this will require me some work)

[starclaws]

It is sad that something as suggested as Global Hotkeys suggested OVER 2 YEARS AGO has yet to be added to VLC. To me vlc is a nice player that actually loads when you tell it to (Unlike winamp/windows media player/etc) Now if only it had the key features that made it more appealing to me and they were taken care of. You would get more suggestions for VLC from me.

It is honestly sad that I took the time to register just to complain about the lack of a simple feature that has already been suggested TWO YEARS AGO. Please address this soon.

Thank you,
sc

*Edit* After looking at the the front list of feature requests and seeing this being one of the only ones above 50 requests... *Edit* I will now bookmark this thread for future reference.

[ssbssa]

i wrote a plugin for Global Hotkeys (windows only, 0.8.6e), you can find it here: http://www.savefile.com/files/1451827

[Aschmodei]

Hello, I tried to use your plugin with 0.8.6e version but somehow I can't make it work.

I copied the dll file into plugins directory.
There was also a patch file, so I just copied it do plugins directory too.

Now there's a part of readme fille I can't quite understand:

to start vlc with Global Hotkeys enabled call 'vlc --extraintf=globalhotkeys' (with this way it's possible to control which vlc-instance has them enabled).
the automatic startup is enabled by adding globalhotkeys to "Preferences/Interface/Main Interfaces/Extra interface modules" (in this case only the first instance has them working).

Following these instructions I got this:


So then I determined the hotkeys, saved and restarted. But they dont seem to be working properly. Some (but not all) do when the player's window is active, but none does when something else is active - which is the very idea of global hotkeys ...

I also dont get this part of readme file:

usage:
set the Hotkeys in "Preferences/Interface/Hotkeys settings/Global Hotkeys", save and restart (all used ones need a key assigned in the standard Hotkeys settings).
all used ones need a key assigned in the standard Hotkeys settings?

I would really appreciate your help, I really want to get rid of Winamp once and for all.

EDIT: I'm using windows XP.

[ssbssa]

you misunderstood me a bit there. only write globalhotkeys into the Extra interface modules, save and restart.

[Aschmodei]

Thanks, I did that but it's still not working. Any idea why?

[Basiclife]

Hi all,

I have joined the forums just to post my opinion on this - I can't stress strongly enough how useful this feature would be for me. I listen to music at work and although I prefer VLC, I end up using winamp as I can use my shortcuts to pause/resume music when someone talks to me. with VLC that is simply too cumbersome.

Another advantage is that if I watch streaming TV (as I do at home most evenings) whilst playing a game (ditto), winamp cannot start playback of a new file without the 3d App havign lost focus (Error unable to open video output). VLC doesn't suffer from this but again, in a game if I need to pause VLC or turn the volume down to listen to a voiceover / etc... I can't. (Yes, I know I'm weird but I enjoy listening to TV as much as watching it - you miss very little...)

I love the ability to read a huge number of formats (even damaged files) and the endless functionality of VLC but this one missing feature is making me use something else. If you're worried about confusing the common user, add it as an option that is disabled by default, and in the additional GUI (or modified in the current one), you can: require the use to select at least one modifier/display a notice at the top of the "page" with a link to a help URL/display a warning if a user selectsd an unmodified or common shortcut key.

Please consider adding this feature - There does seem to be a number of people who would find this useful!

Thanks

P.S. As to the patch mentioned above - I currently have 0.8.6a and the version I can DL is 0.8.6 h. Will the patch still work the the "h" release? Thanks

[CloudStalker]

An idea that popped into CloudStalker's head: when using multiple instances of VLC, it might be useful to display a globe icon somewhere on the interface to show that it is currently using the global hotkeys, then when you want to switch global hotkeys over to another instance of VLC you can just click on the faded globe icon of that instance, it will become lit, and there you have it.

There will be no confusion as to which instance of VLC is holding onto the global hotkeys and there will be no conflicts between them. Make sense? Now if only it were possible to have a global hotkey that would cycle through all instances of VLC, applying this action.

[Metshrine]

Do we have any further news on this item being added?

[VLC_help]

Metshrine : Nightlies have global hotkey support as said earlier. Or do you mean some other feature?

[Tozzano]

i wrote a plugin for Global Hotkeys (windows only, 0.8.6e), you can find it here: http://www.savefile.com/files/1451827

ssbssa, I just installed your plugin into 0.8.6h Janus and it works a treat!

Thanks very much for this. This makes VLC my favorite all-around lean mean player machine.

Tozz

[thehum]

i wrote a plugin for Global Hotkeys (windows only, 0.8.6e), you can find it here: http://www.savefile.com/files/1451827

Hey thanks this actually works great but I'm using my MCE remote and it only has "Play Only" and "Pause Only". It also has "fast forward" and "rewind". Would it be too difficult to add this in? All other buttons you added worked.

[ssbssa]

Metshrine : Nightlies have global hotkey support as said earlier. Or do you mean some other feature?

Nightlies have global hotkey support?

Hey thanks this actually works great but I'm using my MCE remote and
it only has "Play Only" and "Pause Only". It also has "fast forward"
and "rewind". Would it be too difficult to add this in? All other
buttons you added worked.

vlc doesn't support them, so i can't either (but i didn't know they existed).

[Metshrine]

The nightlies have GHK support? Odd, I just tested every single one of them in global hotkey mode and it failed to work. But as is said when you install, no support is given to these so I guess I am going to have to wait until this becomes final to expect support for it. YEAY!

[VLC_help]

My bad. You can map any keys to hotkeys, but they aren't global (so you have to click VLC before keypresses go to right place).

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

My bad. You can map any keys to hotkeys, but they aren't global (so you have to click VLC before keypresses go to right place).

Weird, where did that patch go ?

[kroimon]

Yepp, another vote right here...
Would be a great step forward in becoming a true winamp replacement for me

[gitaarik]

and another vote!

global hot-keys are some of the most important things about an media player. VLC would be complete with it

[clettsome]

I vote for 'Global' HotKeys. Controlling VLC, even when it is not selected (or not in the foreground), with preset keys (or remotes) would be extremely useful. As i understand it now the hotkeys are not like this.