VLC ActiveX 2.07 => R.I.P. ?

[KingKebab]

Hi,

I'm playing with VLC Web Plugin and ActiveX (release VLC 2.0.7) this morning on my Windows XP computer.

In IE browser :

. VLC ActiveX is known as 2.0.6 and date file 07/06/2013 in IE plugins list
but document.getElementById('player_vlc').VersionInfo; return undefined

. and all other JS command looks dead with syntax : document.getElementById('player_vlc').%VLC_ACTIVEX_COMMAND%
JS error message is : document.getElementById('player_vlc').playlist à la valeur Null ou n'est pas un objet

All of this VLC/JS command are working great with VLC 2.0.2 to 2.0.6 ActiveX plugin

What's wrong with this new VLC 2.0.7 release ?

[KingKebab]

Same problem with IE10 in Windows 8 and Windows 7 ... error message is :
Impossible d'obtenir la propriété d'une référence null ou non définie

Here is a VLC ActiveX sample : http://www.revolunet.com/static/downloa ... anced.html

[KingKebab]

I got a new clue ... VLC ActiveX works perfectly in IE10 on a Windows 7 x64 computer !!
But all my x86 Platform don't ?!

In IE10 Win7 x64 plugin list, VLC is tagged as 2.0.6 version too

I hope this will be solved with VLC 2.0.8

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

THere seems to be a bug in the idl generation.

[funman]

I take it you installed the x64 version of VLC?

Did you try both? (edit: x86 and x64 versions)

x64 activex was always broken in previous releases, so for next release we could indeed have both working if I understand better what happened.

Thanks for the feedback

[KingKebab]

Hello Funman

I installed vlc-2.0.7-win32.exe on Win XP/7/8 x86 and Win 7 x64.
. ActiveX won't work on Win XP/7/8 x86
. ActiveX work on Win 7 x64

I can't install VLC x64 on x86 platform
But I run VLC x86 on Windows x64

[da2424]

I have found that x64 activex isn't really broken. It is only not registered.

This command in Command Prompt (as Administrator) fixes this manually:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\axvlc.dll"

[funman]

Hello Funman

I installed vlc-2.0.7-win32.exe on Win XP/7/8 x86 and Win 7 x64.
. ActiveX won't work on Win XP/7/8 x86
. ActiveX work on Win 7 x64

I can't install VLC x64 on x86 platform
But I run VLC x86 on Windows x64

I tried vlc 2.0.7-win32 on XP (Virtual Machine) => works fine in IE8 : I tried the official test.html

No idea why it didn't work for you.

I have found that x64 activex isn't really broken. It is only not registered.

This command in Command Prompt (as Administrator) fixes this manually:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\axvlc.dll"

I have tried this already, but I still can't use the plugin inside IE (still using the official test.html).

So far I am a bit lost on both issues..

[funman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utJs8qP ... e=youtu.be

2.0.7 on a freshly installed Windows 7 SP1 x86 VM -> works fine

[da2424]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utJs8qP ... e=youtu.be

2.0.7 on a freshly installed Windows 7 SP1 x86 VM -> works fine

Have you tried to play anything? This does not work, IE will report "'playlist' is null", "'video is null'", etc.

I have found that x64 activex isn't really broken. It is only not registered.

This command in Command Prompt (as Administrator) fixes this manually:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\axvlc.dll"

I have tried this already, but I still can't use the plugin inside IE (still using the official test.html).

I have tried it using the official test.html, and it works for me with Win7x64.
You really use the x64 version of IE in Win x64?

[funman]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utJs8qP ... e=youtu.be

2.0.7 on a freshly installed Windows 7 SP1 x86 VM -> works fine

Have you tried to play anything? This does not work, IE will report "'playlist' is null", "'video is null'", etc.

You're right, it doesn't work.. And it's hard to debug as VLC 2.1 outputs debug that can be read with DbgView but not 2.0.

So I decided to test the 2.1 Nightly Build and it works.

Then I tried 2.0 Nightly Build and it works as well... so I recommand using 2.0 nightly build (I tested the last one labelled 2.0.7, next ones will be labeled 2.0.

I have found that x64 activex isn't really broken. It is only not registered.

This command in Command Prompt (as Administrator) fixes this manually:
regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\axvlc.dll"

I have tried this already, but I still can't use the plugin inside IE (still using the official test.html).

I have tried it using the official test.html, and it works for me with Win7x64.
You really use the x64 version of IE in Win x64?

I am semi-sure I tried the correct version, but I will do more tests with 2.1 so I can watch the debug log

[KingKebab]

Hi

On my side, I use VLC 2.0.7 from win32 build installer on Windows XP/7/8 x86

Funman => on your VLC Web Plugin test page i can see VLC ActiveX player loaded but when I click on the Version button I get this error message in IE10 debug script console :
Unable to get the property "items" of a null reference or undefined

Da2424 => regsvr32 "C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\axvlc.dll" command don't fix the problem for me on Windows 7 x86 + VLC 2.0.7 win32

I hope VLC 2.1.x could be release soon

[KingKebab]

new note : VLC 2.1.0 ActiveX (win32) works like a charm in IE8 (Windows XP)

[funman]

So I tested again activex on XP64 and it seems to work fine...

Next 2.1.0 Nightly builds should now register the axvlc.dll properly at install, no need to run regsvr32 manually.

When it's confirmed working I will backport the change to 2.0.

Thank you all for your help and I hope I can find/fix what was wrong with 2.0.7 binary

[da2424]

Next 2.1.0 Nightly builds should now register the axvlc.dll properly at install, no need to run regsvr32 manually.

The Activex-Plugin in the newest x64-nightly-build (http://nightlies.videolan.org/build/win ... 0620-0404/) is broken for me. When the installer starts regsvr32.exe to register axvlc.dll, regsvr32 crashes with the following message: "Microsoft(c) Register Server has stopped working". When I try to register the file manually, it crashes, too.

The x86-nightly-builds (2.0.x and 2.1) work for me.

[Bob10]

new note : VLC 2.1.0 ActiveX (win32) works like a charm in IE8 (Windows XP)

Also works in MS VS 2008, whereas 2.0.7 did not. However, I wanted to get VLC ActiveX working in VB6. I know this has been broken since 1.0.6, but I thought I'd try using a reference to it & load it at run time instead of design time:

Dim ax_vlc As New AXVLC.VLCPlugin2
ax_vlc.visible=True
ax_vlc.playlist.Add "file:///c:\test.mpg"
ax_vlc.playlist.play

No errors, but no video either.

Then I tried loading it as a control:

Dim ax_vlc As Object
Set ax_vlc = Controls.Add("Videolan.VLCPlugin.2", "ax_vlc")

ax_vlc.Left = 100
ax_vlc.Top = 100
ax_vlc.Height = 3200
ax_vlc.Width = 5000
ax_vlc.Visible = True

OK, so far so good - I see the control on the form. However, there are no "playlist" or other VLC-specific properties available. If I try

ax_vlc.playlist.add "file:///C:\test.mpg"

I get "Run-time error '438': Object doesn't support this property or method". I later discovered that to access these properties I had to use the "object" property:

ax_vlc.object.playlist.add "file:///C:\test.mpg"
ax_vlc.object.playlist.play

In reading through the VB6 documentation, I came across the "VBControlExtender" option, & found that declaring the VLC control as this type lets you see the "generic" properties in the VB6 editor (including the "object" property, though the VLC-specific properties don't show up):

Dim ax_vlc as VBControlExtender

So the 2.0.6 ActiveX control works in VB6. Haven't checked if the 2.1.0 works as well; will try that tonight if I have time. Also thanks to RSATom for pointing out the 3rd backslash in "file:///"; that one threw me for a while as I thought only 2 were needed (like "http://").

[funman]

Also thanks to RSATom for pointing out the 3rd backslash in "file:///"; that one threw me for a while as I thought only 2 were needed (like "http://").

Actually you need to separate the fields to understand how it works:

http:// http://www.example.com
file:// /c:/file.avi (it uses UNIX file hierarchy)

[funman]

Alright I found why x64 activex is broken, it's due to ongoing work in mingw-w64, I'll try to get a fix this week.

[funman]

x64 NBs should be back.

However the plugin loads but doesn't seem to play.
Using DbgView to view VLC log (on 2.1 only) doesn't help much.

[da2424]

The activex-plugin in the Nightly-Builds vlc-2.1.0-pre1-20130627-0403-win64, vlc-2.1.0-pre1-20130627-0003-win32 and vlc-2.0.8-20130627-0202-win32 work fine for me with Win7 x64 and WinXP x86. The Javascript-objects also work.

[Alfie]

new note : VLC 2.1.0 ActiveX (win32) works like a charm in IE8 (Windows XP)

Also works in MS VS 2008, whereas 2.0.7 did not. However, I wanted to get VLC ActiveX working in VB6. I know this has been broken since 1.0.6, but I thought I'd try using a reference to it & load it at run time instead of design time:

NEW VB6 TESTED SUGGESTION, NOV 2013...

As of Nov 17 2013, the latest update seem to break your (as ref above) code as well (or at least what you suggested didn't work for me), but the following does work (& probably works in VB.Net as well)..

Code: Select all

Dim ax2 As New AXVLC.VLCPlugin2 'In Form header. To load this, goto proj references, '..and load [C:\Program Files\VideoLAN\VLC\axvlc.dll] (or similar) using browse button. 'This will load itself as "VideoLAN VLC ActiveX plugin" Sub whatever() Debug.Print "ax_vlc.object.playing", ax2.VersionInfo ax2.Visible = True 'nb: '..if a video is playing, a window is created/displayed. Warning! No playable video, no window! ax2.Toolbar = True ax2.playlist.Add "file:///" & "C:\SANY0422.MP4" 'my eg (Nb "file:///" is crucial) ax2.playlist.play 'starts Debug.Print "buffering while not .isPlaying", ax2.playlist.isPlaying For n1 = 1 To 20 '2s check to see if found and playing WaitSecs 0.1 'care (ensure no timers interrupt) If ax2.playlist.isPlaying Then GoTo i___________ExitFor Else Debug.Print "buffering while not .isPlaying" End If Next If ax2.video.Width = 0 Then Spot.Msg "FAILED TO LOAD VIDEO", , , vbRed: qPlaySound: GoTo ExitSub i___________ExitFor: 'ok Debug.Print "ax_vlc PLAYING", ax2.video.Width, ax2.video.Height ax2.input.TIME = 0 'sets start position ax2.input.Rate = 1 'set playback speed (1 is normal) For n1 = 1 To 2000 'max vid secs /2 WaitSecs 0.5 ' /2 If ax2.playlist.isPlaying Then Debug.Print "ax_vlc_isPlaying", ax2.input.TIME Else '.isPlaying = False Exit For End If Next Debug.Print "ax_vlc playing complete.", ax2.VersionInfo End Sub Sub WaitSecs(Secs!) 'sample wait proc (tested) Dim tim# Static zGloballyAccessibleTmr# zGloballyAccessibleTmr = Timer tim = zGloballyAccessibleTmr + Secs Debug.Assert Das((tim - zGloballyAccessibleTmr) > Secs + 1) zGloballyAccessibleTmr = Timer Do While tim > zGloballyAccessibleTmr zGloballyAccessibleTmr = Timer If (tim - zGloballyAccessibleTmr) > Secs + 1 Then If InDesign Then Debug.Assert 0 Else Exit Do DoEvents Loop End Sub

Tips: This is surprisingly robust. For example. If you stop VB6 while playing, it will not crash. It is evident from this that you could implement quite a complete video player. I used it simply for frame grabbing. Hope this helps.