New Unified APIs for ActiveX and Mozilla plugins for 0.8.6

[Spellcoder]

ecastsw: The problem you describe is probably the one I reported in this ticket:
Ticket #908: Firefox crashes when reloading page while VLC plugin plays video

On the iMac version it (reloading while playing a video) almost allways causes a crash, on Windows I seem to have a 30% chance on a lockup or crash/exit. Firefox seems to be affected most, but Safari and Opera also crash. For me going back to 0.8.5 is not an option though, I need the new possibilities in the 0.8.6 plugin.

Maybe stopping the video on the unload event would help to prevent the lockup? (havn't tried that yet)
Something like: <body onunload='document.getElementById('vlc').playlist.stop()'>

Siger: I usually copy the Mozilla plugin from the non-installer version (.zip or .7z) . Under the map mozilla there's the npvlc.dll file which you need to copy to the Firefox/plugins map.
To get the 0.8.6 plugin working you also need to either have VLC fully installed or have copied libvlc.dll and all files from the vlc/plugins map to the firefox/plugins map.
You can find the non-installer versions here:
http://downloads.videolan.org/pub/vlc/0.8.6/

[ecastsw]

Thanks for your response:

Now I can consistently get it to freeze/crash:

All you have to do is to create two browser tabs and load a plugin on each of them and then reload one of the tabs while the mpg is still playing...

[ecastsw]

Stopping on unload sounds like a great idea. Let me try that...

In the meantime: Do you have an answer for me on streaming via the plugin?

Today, I tried the activeX as well and it doesn't seem to be streaming or saving to local disk.

[remmeier]

There seems to be a problem when it is used with Java/SWT and Windows:

frame = new OleFrame(parent, SWT.NONE);
OleControlSite controlSite = new OleControlSite(frame, SWT.NONE, "VideoLAN.VLCPlugin.1");
controlSite.doVerb(OLE.OLEIVERB_INPLACEACTIVATE | OLE.OLEIVERB_HIDE);

doVerb(...) shows a modal console window saying that content is stored in
vlc-help.txt. After closing the console the complete application exits.
It works fine with 0.8.5, but not with 0.8.6. Using "VideoLAN.VLCPlugin.2" does not help either. Any ideas?

By the way I also tried to use JVLC. However, the version from June crashes the complete system after a few minutes There seem to be some improvements (e.g. on crash bug fixed), but there is no new release. I tried to compile it myself, but it seems to be way beyond my
c++ & linux skills... Does anybody has a working build? In this case I would require neither SWT nor ActiveX

Thanks, Remo

[zvona]

Maybe stopping the video on the unload event would help to prevent the lockup? (havn't tried that yet)
Something like: <body onunload='document.getElementById('vlc').playlist.stop()'>

I've implemented this idea in other way: I don't append the VLC object into document until the whole document and it's other objects are properly initiated. This reduced the amount of crashes both in IE and FF in cases where document is refreshed.

[Allclone]

Thanks for all the updates, Just started to play with the java script and create something I can use on all my platforms, which are the top 3, and its going great.

One odd question and I'm not sure if it should be handled inside the plug-in or externally, is there a way to list content in the current vlc.playlist? I know there is the itemCount but that will only tell me how many are in the list.

Thanks so much to you and the VideoLAN team, its always being improved, and I love being able to use one application on all my platforms, Thank You.

[ecastsw]

I do remember seeing a getPlayListItem, however could not find a function that is exposed...

I am sure its there, need to dig some more. I will let you know if I figure it out.

In the meantime: I have been managing my own playlist object and keep it in sync based on play, next previous.. button clicks...

[Allclone]

I would love to hear back with what ever you find, I two was thinking about creating a java based mirrored list that would keep track of the playlist outside the plugin, as a way to manipulate the list later. What is yours written in? And if nothing turns up in the plugin itself or is not added to the API later. Could you share with me what you have I'm always looking to improve code/scripts?

I too in my free time will look threw some of the code and documentation to see if I can find anything.

Thanks.

[divx118]

Correct me if i am wrong but it is not there in the new activeX only in the old 0.8.5 .
I think we just have to wait until an update or like ecastsw keep track of the playing item ourselfs.

It would also be great if the get/setVariable returns in the new activeX

By the way i love the new activeX it works great and is very stable.
My thanks to the developer Quovodis for the good work on this

Maurice

[Quovodis]

There seems to be a problem when it is used with Java/SWT and Windows:

frame = new OleFrame(parent, SWT.NONE);
OleControlSite controlSite = new OleControlSite(frame, SWT.NONE, "VideoLAN.VLCPlugin.1");
controlSite.doVerb(OLE.OLEIVERB_INPLACEACTIVATE | OLE.OLEIVERB_HIDE);

doVerb(...) shows a modal console window saying that content is stored in
vlc-help.txt. After closing the console the complete application exits.
It works fine with 0.8.5, but not with 0.8.6. Using "VideoLAN.VLCPlugin.2" does not help either. Any ideas?

this sounds like a bug in the VLC plugin, i've heard of other related issues. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to reproduce this problem, so i'm guessing this problem is specific to your machine. Can you give me some details about your locale, VLC install path, app working directory, etc..

ideally, you should try to enable logging on VLC preferences panel and post the result.

to use message logging:

input a file name:
Preferences -> Advanced -> Logging: Log filename

enable logger (With advanced options)
Preferences -> Interface : Log to file

Save and restart your SWT app

[remmeier]

Unfortunately logging don't seem to be working either. (It works with the VLC UI and with SWT & 0.8.5).

I'm using Windows XP SP2 (german), AMD X2, Eclipse as Java IDE, the german version of VLC, installed in C:\Programme\VideoLAN\vlc (default), settings are saved in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\remo\Anwendungsdaten\vlc. App working directory is d:\ma\player.ui.

Really odd is that I yesterday used Exe4J to create a windows executable (.exe) from all the jar files. This is working again (same working directory).

[francescoIT]

Ho can I send options to th plugin like:

:access-filter=timeshift

Thanks !!

[divx118]

You can only do it before the item starts playing so you can't timeshift in the activeX only if you go fullscreen you can use the hotkeys.

if you use the old activeX 0.8.5 then you could use set/getvariable.

The following example only enables the timeshift to use by hotkey.

vlc.playlist.add(mrl,name,options)

example:

vlc.playlist.add("c:\\test.avi",null,":access-filter=timeshift")

if you want to add multiple options make an Array of options

Maurice

please correct me if i am wrong.

[hihi]

Hi all,

I've used the example form the first post with the plugin for EI7 and it works fine. I'm very interested in the Advanced information of the tream I've selected, is it possible to recall these settings from the plugin with for ex. a button. I want to view the used Aspect Ratio, with the example from the first post it is possible to sellect the AR ... but it doesn't tell me what the actual AR from the incomming stream is ... Any help?

regards,

PTO

[abregar]

Quovodis: you have said that overlay is todo for 0.9.0 - pse tell me where those todos are listed (trac?) and also what is the current progress status of the issue? I have tried a trick (using vlc 0.8.6a) with z-index and overlay <embed> and <iframe>. It works - ifram is on top, but not with the desired effect in mozilla - no transparency on iframe.


Also q for Quovodis - is there any doc on changed functionality and/or test page for 0.9.0 (would be great for sandbox - it is easier to test, if you know what the possibilities are)


chairman: me too, hardly wait this functionality

regards

[tchristensen]

Hello

Great work on the plugin and 0.9 sounds promising.

Regarding the new 0.8.6 api, I'm having problems with even the simplest scripts. In the sample page below, calling document.video1.versionInfo() fails and btw autostart of the multicast being available in the network doesn't seem to work. Any hints?

I fail to access any of the sub objects input, video, log, etc. I get "vlc has no properties"

Env: Mac osx 10.4 ppc, Firefox 1.5 and Safari. Plugin installed in /Library/Internet Plug-Ins/VLC Plugin.plugin from http://download.videolan.org/pub/videol ... owerpc.dmg

<html>
<title>VLC Mozilla plugin test page</title>
<script type="text/javascript">
function play() {
var vlc = document.getElementById("vlc");
vlc.playlist.add("udp://@239.1.1.101:5501");
vlc.playlist.play();
document.getElementById("play_status").innerHTML = vlc.versionInfo();
}
function fullscreen() {
var vlc = document.getElementById("vlc");
vlc.video.toogleFullscreen();
}
</script>
<body>

<EMBED pluginspage="http://www.videolan.org" type="application/x-vlc-plugin" progid="VideoLAN.VLCPlugin.2" width="400" height="315" name="vlc"></EMBED>
<span id="play_status">Unknown</span>
<input type="button" name="chewa" value="Play" onclick="play();"/>
<input type="button" name="chewa" value="Fullscreen" onclick="fullscreen();"/>
</body>
</html>

Thomas

[Quovodis]

you need to make sure that you have the 0.8.6 version installed correctly on OS X; there is a bug in 0.8.5 plugin installer which prevents over-install.

to guarantee that the install works, first remove the previous plugin manually by removing the 'VLC Internet Plugin' package from /Library/Receipts, then remove the plugin from '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins'.
second, install the plugin again from the image.

[ddod]

I have imported some scriptaculous scripts in order to get a simple slider control for the volume of the VLC plugin. It works great. However in explorer 6 and 7 (at least), one of the VLC API methods calls breaks.

I lose my ability to pass options in the vlc.playlist.add(targetURL, null, options) call. If I pass "null" to the options parameter everything works fine (of course I lose my output formatting). Also, if I don't load the scriptaculous scripts then I can pass the "options" just fine. However with the scripts loaded I get the following error in explorer when I try to pass the "options":

invalid procedure call or argument

Keep in mind that there are no issues in firefox. I thought it might be a name space issue since scriptaculous uses the term "options" throughout. I went as far as to rename all instances of options in the scriptaculous scripts as well as in my own code. However that didn't seem to help. I am not sure what to try next (other than dumping scriptaculous altogether).

Any ideas?[/code]

[ddod]

you need to make sure that you have the 0.8.6 version installed correctly on OS X; there is a bug in 0.8.5 plugin installer which prevents over-install.

First off, did you mean the 0.8.6 installer has a bug? And what about the 0.8.6a installer?

to guarantee that the install works, first remove the previous plugin manually by removing the 'VLC Internet Plugin' package from /Library/Receipts, then remove the plugin from '/Library/Internet Plug-Ins'.
second, install the plugin again from the image.

I don't see any of these files in these directories you mentioned. I installed 0.8.6a from the dmg. Yet neither safari nor firefox can find the plugin. What else might we be missing?

[tchristensen]

Removing the installed plugin and the 'VLC Internet Plugin' package from /Library/Receipts makes 0.8.6a install correctly afterwards.

I guess that the install script should remove anything found in /Library/Receipts/VLC Internet Plugin.

Thank you for the help

Thomas

[RoKay]

@Quovodis

YOU made it!
I never would have managed, to distribute video if there was'nt your source code on page one and you kindly agreed tu use it
(how do you spell 'Java'?).
It helped me to understand how it works and to make my own page.

For your reference:
http://www.rulernet.de/video/

To see it as a visitor does:
http://www.rulernet.de/ 'Live Video' tab.

I know it's not live video yet, the 'foreign' language states, it's a test.

You might notice, I did not forget to mention, who really was bakeing the cake.

I (guess we all) owe you, thanks!
Ronie

[ddod]

Any ideas why this is not working in Opera. I get the audio but no video. I have tired both my own page and the demo page given in this post.

Also, it would be nice to control be able to control what the player displays when there is no video playing. In explorer you get the VLC logo on a white background. In mozilla you get a black page with the text "no video" centered inside. Just for the sake of consistency and/or customize-ability, it might be nice to either supply a default graphic or choose from several options (available on both plugin versions).

Just an idea.

Thanks again. We are loving the functionality these plugins provide us.

[ddod]

So it appears the video does show up in Opera, but only after you click on the player window. Is there a way to fix or get around this? I would prefer that users not have to figure this out.

[mrlitsta]

Quovodis,

I have been working on a web-based player using the plugins for 0.8.5, and later, 0.8.6 for about three months. I think I have discovered two irritating bugs, but I want to be sure no one has reported these before I post them to bugTraq. We stream H.264 from a Darwin Streaming Server, and I have been able to replicate these bugs on your test player in IE(Win), Firefox (Win and Mac), and Safari (MacIntel and PowerPC)

1. Audio disappears on repeated pause/unpause -
I can pause and unpause a video fine, but upon pausing using togglePause() the second or third time, the picture pauses, but the audio continues for 3 or 4 seconds before stopping. Upon unpausing, the video plays, but there is no audio. The only way to get it back is by reloading the page or calling stop(), then start().

2. The plugin does not always return the correct position when calling position() and time() -
This behavior appears when I load and play a video, seek almost to the end, then seek back to the beginning. The video will play to the end, but subsequent calls to time() and position() will almost always return a incorrect value (usually beyond the end of the stream). I am resorting to an internal position counter to maintain position coherence.

Please let me know if anyone is working on these bugs. I am using some pretty ugly hacks to get around them.

Also, great work on these plugins. Keep up the good work!

[mattisking]

Quovodis,

I need "stretch to fit" functionality (ignoring aspect ratio essentially). After alot of searching through the forums and google, the only thing I ran across that seemed to get the job done was by using the command line and launching VLC with the --aspect-ratio setting using a custom ratio to match the space I need filled. If there's a better way, please tell.

At any rate, this will be used in a web browser so after investigating I came across the new combined API set. It "seemed" to be the only way to get to the aspectRatio setting. Now it seems that I might have wasted my time because while I can use the ratio's you list, I can't seem to use any other kinds. VLC will take pretty much anything in the correct format. Is this a limitation of the API? I could sure use some help.

Thanks in advance,
Matt