Click Video To Toggle Pause/Play

[Eriatile]

Having a switch on advanced option that user could turn on to enable click to play/pause would not change actual behavior. It would be the same than using the extension but without having to install it or enable it sometimes after updating VLC. (Which is somewhat annoying)

If it was not an option but a default feature won't it be possible to automatically turn off the option if a DVD or blue ray is playing? It should be easier than to detect if you are invoking a menu or not.
It means click to play/pause wouldn't be supported for format with menu but would work for all others.

I think both solutions would be satisfying for all users.

[cheater]

You have the same problem with Bluray as with DVD, as with disk images. I think you are way underestimating the use of VLC for optical media playback in general anyway.

What you describe is feasible, but it's sure to cause massive support complaints and backlash. So guess what, the VLC developers who'd have to deal with those consequences, are not keen on it.

What are your statistics on bluray use in vlc? Also, how are you acquiring those usage statistics? I didn't realize vlc had usage statistics?

[nurupo]

If it was not an option but a default feature won't it be possible to automatically turn off the option if a DVD or blue ray is playing? It should be easier than to detect if you are invoking a menu or not.
It means click to play/pause wouldn't be supported for format with menu but would work for all others.

see:

Just a heads up that the new version of the plugin learned to work correctly in DVD menus - it won't pause/play if you mouse click while in the menu.

vlc-pause-click-plugin automatically deactivates when it detects a DVD/Bluray/whatever menu or an interactive. It activates back as soon as you exit the menu section and the DVD/Bluray/whatever starts playing the video. That way it doesn't interfere with the menu and you can still pause the video.

@Remi, does this pseudocode look about right?

Code: Select all

// VLC 3 input_title_t *title = ... if (title->i_flags & INPUT_TITLE_MENU || title->i_flags & INPUT_TITLE_INTERACTIVE) { deativate(); } // VLC 4 struct vlc_player_title *title = ... if (title>flags & VLC_PLAYER_TITLE_MENU || title->flags & VLC_PLAYER_TITLE_INTERACTIVE) { deativate(); }

Here is the full version.

That has been added a year ago in vlc-pause-click-plugin v2.1.0.

I haven't tested this as I don't own DVDs, but as long as VLC correctly reports to the plugin that the current input is a menu or interactive, it should work. So far no one has filed an issue regarding it, so I assume it works (or no one reads the release notes and doesn't know that it's supposed to work). Would be great to receive some explicit confirmation if it actually works or not. Can anyone test it?

If it works, then clearly VLC can have a built-in pause-click functionality without need to reply on an external plugin, e.g. built into the Qt interface plugin or by having vlc-pause-click-plugin in-tree and pre-activated.

[cheater]

If it was not an option but a default feature won't it be possible to automatically turn off the option if a DVD or blue ray is playing? It should be easier than to detect if you are invoking a menu or not.
It means click to play/pause wouldn't be supported for format with menu but would work for all others.

see:

Just a heads up that the new version of the plugin learned to work correctly in DVD menus - it won't pause/play if you mouse click while in the menu.

vlc-pause-click-plugin automatically deactivates when it detects a DVD/Bluray/whatever menu or an interactive. It activates back as soon as you exit the menu section and the DVD/Bluray/whatever starts playing the video. That way it doesn't interfere with the menu and you can still pause the video.

@Remi, does this pseudocode look about right?

Code: Select all

// VLC 3 input_title_t *title = ... if (title->i_flags & INPUT_TITLE_MENU || title->i_flags & INPUT_TITLE_INTERACTIVE) { deativate(); } // VLC 4 struct vlc_player_title *title = ... if (title>flags & VLC_PLAYER_TITLE_MENU || title->flags & VLC_PLAYER_TITLE_INTERACTIVE) { deativate(); }

Here is the full version.

That has been added a year ago in vlc-pause-click-plugin v2.1.0.

I haven't tested this as I don't own DVDs, but as long as VLC correctly reports to the plugin that the current input is a menu or interactive, it should work. So far no one has filed an issue regarding it, so I assume it works (or no one reads the release notes and doesn't know that it's supposed to work). Would be great to receive some explicit confirmation if it actually works or not. Can anyone test it?

If it works, then clearly VLC can have a built-in pause-click functionality without need to reply on an external plugin, e.g. built into the Qt interface plugin or by having vlc-pause-click-plugin in-tree and pre-activated.

1. it works on a normal video (play/pause works)
2. you can click menus (it disables itself on menus)
3. once you've clicked something on a menu, and started normal playback of a scene, play/pause doesn't work any more
4. in fact, it doesn't work on the dvd i tried at all. even if you set vlc to skip menus and play the main title directly.

[cheater]

You have the same problem with Bluray as with DVD, as with disk images. I think you are way underestimating the use of VLC for optical media playback in general anyway.

What you describe is feasible, but it's sure to cause massive support complaints and backlash. So guess what, the VLC developers who'd have to deal with those consequences, are not keen on it.

@Rémi Denis-Courmont

ok, now that we've figured out how this can work, why it's a good idea, and that there actually isn't any data to support the claim that a significant portion of people use VLC to browse DVD and Bluray menues, can we please get this put on track towards being implemented?

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Guess what? Trolling devs is not conducive to getting what you want from them.

[ymca]

Are the users asking, demanding or trolling?
I thought trolling is something else...

[Eriatile]

Guess what? Trolling devs is not conducive to getting what you want from them.

Please do not take it badly. There is a lot of users, including me, which are happy with VLC.

On this topic I think people are eager for this feature. Especially when having it except if clicking would invoke a DVD menu would be a good compromise.
It will make happy users. Devs won't risk massive complaints and backslash because it wouldn't change a thing for DVD and Blu-ray.

Meanwhile there is still Nuro extension so all is good. We can wait for devs to have time to implement it someday.
I hope everybody would calm down and understand each others.

[syber]

can you add Click Video To Toggle Pause/Play by mouse like this plugin download by internet named "libpause_click_plugin.dll" please!
thank you for anything.

[Delcar1x]

Hello, still no mouse button play pause?

[confusednerd.com]

This has been mentioned before in this forum however i thought that i would let others know that the provided solution above does work.
my version of VLC: 3.0.11
Date that this worked: sep 16, 2020
i followed the instructions on the following webpage
https://github.com/nurupo/vlc-pause-click-plugin#usage
and i installed nurupo
This allowed me to click on the video image and to pause the video. After a short pause clicking on the video image a second time will then start the video playback.

[meameamea]

I used that plugin too. And should you switch from 32 to 64 bit and forget the plugin, your vlc will probably crash, like mine. Resolved now and hoping to restore most of my years old configurations and finally switching to 64.

Since I used middle click anyways with the plugin, I no longer need the plugin. Pity, there is no simple config button in the hot keys menu to assign a function (including pause) to middle click at least. The wheel actually can be assigned, including to pause or that dedicated play/pause functions , though it does not look like it, with those three options for volume, position and ignore.

Some stuff is very hard to find in vlc. Like the mere information that the left button cannot be natively assigned. A hint in the hot key menu would be nice. Or how you zoom. I spend hours googling that. And still did not find what I was looking for. Turns out, what is called zooming elsewhere is named scaling in vlc and has a default hotkey o and alt-o and shift-alt-o to zoom into the picture

I now use a section in my Authotkey script for mouse enhancements to make vlc do what I want.

Code: Select all

#IfWinActive, VLC media player MButton::Space ; Pause ~LButton & RButton::Space ; Rock from left to right for Space ~LButton & WheelUp::- ; slower ~LButton & WheelDown::+ ; faster ~RButton & WheelUp::^Up ; Volume ~RButton & WheelDown::^Down ; Volume ~MButton & WheelUp::o ; toggle scaling ~MButton & WheelDown::!o ; scale up aka zoom in #IfWinActive ; off VLC media player

Yes, you loose the ability to use the middle button in vlc this way. What does it do normally? I use right for gestures. Speaking of gestures. There is one for pause. Left Right / Right Left.

If you have no middle button you can use a rocker gesture to map it to a key that does what you want (pause).

And ofc I added more functions to the wheel while I were at it

Keyboard controls are fine, if you actually view stuff with a keyboard in front of you. Gestures help, but another one of those hard to find things. You can activate it, but I have never found an actual list inside the App to tell me what does what. Or better yet, a configuration menu like for keys. But this is another discussion.

And of course, if one still insists on pure left click for pause, that plugin seems to be the way to do it.

[MaestroKa]

Hey peeps,
> Just created this account to both post a solution and offer a suggestion (maybe?)
> If like me you tried the plugin and followed the steps to the T, then wasted at least 1 hour and a half trying to verify everything again and again, and it didn't work, even by uninstalling and installing again (64 bit version after I was using the 32 bits on Win10- 64bit),
Then I got a solution for ya (on Windows):

> Solution: using the Autohotkey program and adding the following script to one of your Autohotkey files (or create a new AHK file for VLC and make it run on startup):

;============= Script Start =============
; Description: Autohotkey Toggle Pause/Play with left mouse click
#if WinActive("ahk_class Qt5QWindowIcon")
; Left mouse click on a playing video causes a pause/play
~LButton::
MouseGetPos,XX,YY
WinGetPos,,,WW,HH, A
;if ((XX >= WW*0.20) and (XX <= WW*0.80) and (YY >= HH*0.20) and (YY <= HH*0.70))
if ((XX >= WW*0) and (XX <= WW*1) and (YY >= HH*0.05) and (YY <= HH*0.95))
if ((XX >= WW*0) and (XX <= WW*1) and (YY >= HH*0) and (YY <= HH*1))
Send {Space}
Return
#IfWinActive
;============= Script End =============

That's it! I Found the script for on the Autohotkey archived community forum and I tweaked the values slightly so that the click can work anywhere on the video display.
Hope it will save some time to some of you trying to fix the plugin etc.
Edit: The one downside I just noticed is that the mouse click wouldn't work on option menus, in that case just "Suspend Hotkeys" by doing a Right Click on the AHK script in taskbar: Suspend Hotkeys.
I use a script to suspend and unsuspend the Autohotkey hotkeys, the script below allows you to do that with a CTRL+F1 to toggle it On and Off:

;-------------------------------------------------------
; Toggle AutoHotkey script Suspended and unsuspended using CTRL+F1 keyboard combination (if you use a single key, then use #SingleInstance, Force)
^F1::
Suspend, Toggle
Return
; -------------------------------------------------------

Special message to the DEVs:
1. Thanks for creating VLC, it's an amazing player which I've been using since forever!
2. I guess talking about user experience and frustration (both for users and devs) may not serve any purpose other than the fact that fixing this very real user experience problem will relieve both parties.

3. Excuse my lack of dev knowledge (I'm not a programmer), but I want to suggest a solution (if ever possible) to implement the simple mouse click interaction:

I'd imagine using a simple variable or two:
> Condition: If no panel is open (options, DVD menu etc)
then
> Action: "MouseClickPauseVariable" is toggled ON (and the mouse can be used to pause the video)

> Condition2: If any problematic panel is open:
then
> Action: Toggle "MouseClickPauseVariable" state to OFF.

Use whatever number of variables and conditions necessary to group entities that do not play well together, for example to shift from "Panels" mode (where the mouse click for play/pause is deactivated temporarily) and the Non-Panel mode, where no other panel is open and thus there can't be any.

Again I know the project may be a lot more complicated than that, but I can't imagine such a simple interaction not being possible to implement, but again, I may be wrong, at least I tried

Hope the AHK solution will help someone! Take care

K.

[albertly]

#IfWinActive ahk_class Qt5QWindowIcon
~LButton::
MouseGetPos , , , , OutputVarControl
FoundPos := InStr(OutputVarControl ,"Window")
if ( FoundPos = 0 ) {
Send {Space}
}
#IfWinActive

[RichardVideoLAN]

. . .if you're still needing this functionality; I found this today:

https://bestofcpp.com/repo/nurupo-vlc-p ... ideo#usage

It works as advertised and is currently maintained.

Note: the plugin needs to be enabled in TWO places within the VLC's settings once you've placed the .dll in VLC's video_filter directory (steps 3 and 4 under 'usage instructions'). . .I overlooked this when I first installed it.

I installed this on Windows 10 Version 21H1, VLC Version 3.0.12. . .without issue.

[VLCMonster]

. . .if you're still needing this functionality; I found this today:

https://bestofcpp.com/repo/nurupo-vlc-p ... ideo#usage

It works as advertised and is currently maintained.

Note: the plugin needs to be enabled in TWO places within the VLC's settings once you've placed the .dll in VLC's video_filter directory (steps 3 and 4 under 'usage instructions'). . .I overlooked this when I first installed it.

I installed this on Windows 10 Version 21H1, VLC Version 3.0.12. . .without issue.

Link above does not work but I found this one.

https://github.com/nurupo/vlc-pause-click-plugin#usage

If link does not work then go to github dot com forward slash nurupo forward slash vlc-pause-click-plugin

Make sure to use proper .dll version..... 32-bit or 64-bit.

I can confirm working with VLC 3.0.10 64 bit and Windows 10.

I have been using VLC for many years.
Keep up the great work!!
Maybe someday this will be native in VLC.

[Fernst]

Registered to request click-to-play/pause as native feature. And.. to thank developers for this most excellent application.

[goddard2]

I've been using VLC for the last year and it works great in most ways.

Your failure to include an easy way to set up click to pause/play is unacceptable. I spent over an hour trying to get it to work in VLC but the add on is outdated. Youtube and MPC both support this natively.

I'm not using Windows so MPC wasn't an option so I decided to look for something better. SMPlayer may not have click to pause/play enabled by default, either, but I was able to go to an easy to find option in Preferences where I could assign the left mouse button to "pause/play" and the function works perfectly!! Installing it and doing that configuration took less than 5 minutes!

It is brutal that you stubbornly refuse to include this as an option. And then you change the functionality of the program so the add on to provide the ability is non-functional...That is beyond frustrating!

The reason you've answered this question "a thousand times" because it is a glaring omission on your part. I doubt most users even care about the DVD menus or special filters you use as an excuse. Look at the other full featured players like MPC. Why have they offered click to pause/play for more than a decade yet VLC is incapable of the same?

Get your head out of the sand!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

i didn't want to mess with more plugins in an already complex Linux desktop,just for a simple, basic, widespread, modern feature that should have been there FROM DAY ONE and people have been asking for YEARS.

So I have downloaded SMPlayer and your advice worked like a charm. Thanks again! Unstalling VLC as i write, feeling better already! Thanks again

[NoxX123]

I felt stupid searching for the click to pause option in VLC for the last 10 minutes. Now I now I would need a plugin for such a basic functionality, so I guess I'm going back to MPC instead

[true_wormball]

For the 1000th time, the reason is simple: having a click-to-pause breaks filters and DVD menus.

For the millionth time. Why can not you programmatically determine whether dvd menu is played and turn off the click-to-pause? Or at least make such checkmark in the settings and let the user decide whether he wants to watch dvds or pause with mouse button? I guess not that many people watch dvds now.

And there are extensions to do it.

So you are basically saying that some third party developers can add this function into your own player, and you, the developer, can not.

You are killing your own product. I'm going back to youtube instead.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

For the millionth time. Why can not you programmatically determine whether dvd menu is played and turn off the click-to-pause? Or at least make such checkmark in the settings and let the user decide whether he wants to watch dvds or pause with mouse button? I guess not that many people watch dvds now.

Note that this also affects some video filters and Blu-ray disks. It is certainly possible. It just takes time, time that nobody has volunteered.

So you are basically saying that some third party developers can add this function into your own player, and you, the developer, can not.

The third party extension will actually interfere with disk menus. It would not be difficult to include the extension in the official releases. It's just not up to the expected standard for that, so to speak.

You are killing your own product. I'm going back to youtube instead.

VLC is not a commercial product. (Neither Youtube, for which you are the product being sold to advertisers.)

[Eriatile]

The third party extension will actually interfere with disk menus. It would not be difficult to include the extension in the official releases. It's just not up to the expected standard for that, so to speak.

Wouldn't it be at least possible to include it disabled and offer a setting to turn it on which would be labeled as an experimental features which can break normal behavior. To toggle it on it could even be in advanced settings so normal user is not likely to turn it on.

I am sure it would satisfy a lot of people which are awaiting for this feature since several years.

[McThug]

PotPlayer works for HDR using SVP with a few setting mods:
https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/SVP:Daum_PotPlayer
I would prefer using VLC if they had these 2 options:
- Pause and Play video by clicking video part of the window.
- Click and Drag video by clicking and dragging the video part of the window.
It appears the programmers say things like "you can't expect us to add features like this, it is free software" ..... so is PotPlayer and everything else!
Cheers!

[VLCMonster]

PotPlayer works for HDR using SVP with a few setting mods:
https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/SVP:Daum_PotPlayer
I would prefer using VLC if they had these 2 options:
- Pause and Play video by clicking video part of the window.
- Click and Drag video by clicking and dragging the video part of the window.
It appears the programmers say things like "you can't expect us to add features like this, it is free software" ..... so is PotPlayer and everything else!
Cheers!

If you read my previous post in this thread I show you how to add pause and play with mouse click.
But since posting that I have switched over to PotPlayer for one simple reason..... DARK MODE.
VLC does not have this and trying to use a 'dark' skin just messes up the UI.
It seems nobody can just only change the color to dark without having to redesign everything.

It's a shame that the Devs for VLC can't keep up with the rest of the world.

Getting to really like PotPlayer now and it has become my goto for video/music playback.

VLC was great until the competition out paced them with newer features.

[isamu]

PotPlayer works for HDR using SVP with a few setting mods:
https://www.svp-team.com/wiki/SVP:Daum_PotPlayer
I would prefer using VLC if they had these 2 options:
- Pause and Play video by clicking video part of the window.
- Click and Drag video by clicking and dragging the video part of the window.
It appears the programmers say things like "you can't expect us to add features like this, it is free software" ..... so is PotPlayer and everything else!
Cheers!

If you read my previous post in this thread I show you how to add pause and play with mouse click.
But since posting that I have switched over to PotPlayer for one simple reason..... DARK MODE.
VLC does not have this and trying to use a 'dark' skin just messes up the UI.
It seems nobody can just only change the color to dark without having to redesign everything.

It's a shame that the Devs for VLC can't keep up with the rest of the world.

Getting to really like PotPlayer now and it has become my goto for video/music playback.

VLC was great until the competition out paced them with newer features.

Great post VLCMonster. Do you happen to know if there is a plugin that allows PotPlayer to support Bluray menus?