vlc python bindings - how to receive keyboard input?

Question

I'm trying to use VLC's python bindings to create my own little video player. The demo implementation is quite simple and nice, but it requires all the keyboard commands to be typed into the console from which the script was run.

Is there any way I can handle keyboard input also when the video player itself has focus? Specifically, I care about controlling the video while in fullscreen mode.

Perhaps there's a way to keep the keyboard focus in the console (or maybe another window) while showing the video?

I'm using Windows XP, if that has any relevance.

Answer 1

The best way to control VLC from Python is to talk via the web interface. I tried to get the VLC Python bindings to work and it was more trouble than it's worth, especially for cross-platform stuff. Just use wireshark or something similar to see what the web interface commands look like(they're very simple). I'm using twisted to do the HTTP GETs but you could use the built-in urllib2.

Answer 2

looks like there's no native way. you could fake it by adding "global" key bindings or by capturing events like "MediaPlayerForward" and just remember "oh that means they probably hit the space bar" (or what not) and respond accordingly. GL! -r

Answer 3

The easiest solution I think is to make the tkinter window fullscreen rather then making the vlc instance fullscreen. So you embed it, and then when you want fullscreen, just removing everything else from the window, set the window to full screen, and set the frame with the video to match the size of the root window.

Here's the code, with some comments in between to explain it:

from tkinter import (
    Tk, Menu, Frame, Label, Button, Scale, Toplevel,
    BOTH, Entry, DISABLED, END, HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL
)
from vlc import Instance


class Test:
    def __init__(self):
        self.Instance = Instance()
        self.player = self.Instance.media_player_new()
        self.full_screen = 0
        self.root = Tk()
        self.defaultbg = self.root.cget('bg') #this line of code is to get the default background
        #colour for the purpose of changing it between black and default
        self.root.geometry("800x800")
        self.frame = Frame(self.root, width=700, height=600)
        self.frame.pack()
        #the above frame is for the purpose of embedding the video in non-fullscreen
        self.root.bind('<space>', self.toggle_pause)
        self.root.bind('<Escape>', self.toggle_FullScreen)
        self.button_frame = Frame(self.root)
        self.button_frame.pack()
        #the above frame is for the purpose of butting multiple widgets into
        #one frame that can be easily hidden and viewed again
        self.button1 = Button(
            self.button_frame, text="OK",
            command=self.play)
        self.button1.pack(side='left')
        #button to play the video
        self.button2 = Button(
            self.button_frame, text="Full Screen",
            command=self.toggle_FullScreen)
        self.button2.pack(side='left')
        #button to toggle fullscreen
        self.display = Frame(self.frame, bd=4)
        self.display.place(relwidth=1, relheight=1)
        #the above display is to adapt the size of the video to the frame
        #so that a bigger frame can hold a bigger video
        self.root.mainloop()

    def play(self):
        Media = self.Instance.media_new('/home/balthazar/test.webm')
        self.player.set_xwindow(self.display.winfo_id())
        #setting the xwindow is for embedding the video
        self.player.set_media(Media)
        self.player.play()

    def toggle_FullScreen(self, event=False):
        if self.full_screen == 0 and event==False:
            self.full_screen = 1
            self.button_frame.pack_forget()
            #pack forget removes the buttons from view
            self.display.config(background="black")
            self.frame.pack_forget()
            self.frame.place(relwidth=1, relheight=1)
            #to make the frame fulscreen it must be unpacked and then placed
            self.root.attributes("-fullscreen", True)
        elif event and self.full_screen==1:
            self.frame.place_forget()
            self.frame.pack()
            self.button_frame.pack()
            self.full_screen = 0
            self.display.config(background=self.defaultbg)
            self.root.attributes("-fullscreen", False)

    def toggle_pause(self, event):
        pause = self.player.is_playing()
        self.player.set_pause(pause)

def main():
    Test()


if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Answer 4

Ok here is their official answer:

http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=82807