How to write Remote-Control program for mplayer?

Question

I need to create a NPAPI-Browser plugin to control mplayer, I found one way to control mplayer is its slave mode [link], Is there any other better way?

Answer 1

I am developing android phone remote control + VB.NET TCP server - mplayer. I am using mplayer in slave mode. I send command from android app to VB.NET TCP server. Then the command will send to mplayer.

I will show some code that control and send the mplayer desired commands, but the server part is not finished yet. The coding is no finished yet but I hope it is useful for you.

Imports System.ComponentModel
Imports System.IO
Imports System.Data.OleDb
    Public Class Form1
      Private bw As BackgroundWorker = New BackgroundWorker
      Dim i As Integer = 0
      Dim dbFile As String = Application.StartupPath & "\Data\Songs.accdb"
      Public connstring As String = "Provider=Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0; Data Source=" & dbFile & "; persist security info=false"
      Public conn As New OleDbConnection(connstring)
      Dim sw As Stopwatch
      Dim ps As Process = Nothing
      Dim jpgPs As Process = Nothing
      Dim args As String = Nothing
      Private Sub bw_DoWork(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As DoWorkEventArgs)
         Dim worker As BackgroundWorker = CType(sender, BackgroundWorker)

         If bw.CancellationPending = True Then
             e.Cancel = True
             Exit Sub
         Else
        ' Perform a time consuming operation and report progress.
        'System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(500)
        bw.ReportProgress(i * 10)
        Dim dir_info As New DirectoryInfo(TextBox1.Text)
        ListFiels("SongList", TextBox2.Text, dir_info)
    End If

 End Sub

   Private Sub bw_RunWorkerCompleted(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs)
    If e.Cancelled = True Then
        Me.tbProgress.Text = "Canceled!"
    ElseIf e.Error IsNot Nothing Then
        Me.tbProgress.Text = "Error: " & e.Error.Message
    Else
        Me.tbProgress.Text = "Done!"
    End If
End Sub

  Private Sub bw_ProgressChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As ProgressChangedEventArgs)
       Me.tbProgress.Text = e.ProgressPercentage.ToString() & "%"
  End Sub

  Private Sub Form1_FormClosing(sender As Object, e As FormClosingEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosing
        Try
           ps.Kill()
        Catch
            Debug.Write("already closed")
        End Try
    End Sub


Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
    Windows.Forms.Control.CheckForIllegalCrossThreadCalls = False 'To avoid error from backgroundworker
    bw.WorkerReportsProgress = True
    bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = True
    AddHandler bw.DoWork, AddressOf bw_DoWork
    AddHandler bw.ProgressChanged, AddressOf bw_ProgressChanged
    AddHandler bw.RunWorkerCompleted, AddressOf bw_RunWorkerCompleted
    funPlayMusic()
End Sub

Private Sub buttonStart_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles buttonStart.Click
    If Not bw.IsBusy = True Then
        bw.RunWorkerAsync()
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub buttonCancel_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles buttonCancel.Click
    If bw.WorkerSupportsCancellation = True Then
        bw.CancelAsync()
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub btnSearch_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnSearch.Click
    If Not bw.IsBusy = True Then
        sw = Stopwatch.StartNew()
        bw.RunWorkerAsync()
        sw.Stop()
        Label1.Text = ":   " + sw.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds.ToString() + " ms"
    End If
End Sub
Private Sub ListFiels(ByVal tblName As String, ByVal pattern As String, ByVal dir_info As DirectoryInfo)
    i = 0
    Dim fs_infos() As FileInfo = Nothing
    Try
        fs_infos = dir_info.GetFiles(pattern)
    Catch ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(ex.ToString())
    End Try


    For Each fs_info As FileInfo In fs_infos
        i += 1
        Label1.Text = i
        insertData(tblName, fs_info.FullName)
        lstResults.Items.Add(i.ToString() + ":" + fs_info.FullName.ToString())
        If i = 1 Then
            Playsong(fs_info.FullName.ToString())
        Else
            i = 0
            lstResults.Items.Clear()
        End If
    Next fs_info
    sw.Stop()
    Label1.Text = ":   " + sw.Elapsed.TotalMilliseconds.ToString() + " ms"
    fs_infos = Nothing

    Dim subdirs() As DirectoryInfo = dir_info.GetDirectories()
    For Each subdir As DirectoryInfo In subdirs
        ListFiels(tblName, pattern, subdir)
    Next

End Sub
Private Sub insertData(ByVal tableName As String, ByVal foundfile As String)
    Try
        If conn.State = ConnectionState.Open Then conn.Close()
        conn.Open()

        Dim SqlQuery As String = "INSERT INTO " & tableName & " (SngPath) VALUES (@sng)"
        Dim SqlCommand As New OleDbCommand
        With SqlCommand
            .CommandType = CommandType.Text
            .CommandText = SqlQuery
            .Connection = conn
            .Parameters.AddWithValue("@sng", foundfile)
            .ExecuteNonQuery()
        End With

        conn.Close()
    Catch ex As Exception
        conn.Close()
        MsgBox(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub


Private Sub btnClearList_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnClearList.Click
    lstResults.Items.Clear()
End Sub

Private Sub funPlayMusic()

    ps = New Process()
    ps.StartInfo.FileName = "D:\Music\mplayer.exe "
    ps.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
    ps.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True
    jpgPs = New Process()
    jpgPs.StartInfo.FileName = "D:\Music\playjpg.bat"
    jpgPs.StartInfo.UseShellExecute = False
    jpgPs.StartInfo.RedirectStandardInput = True
    'ps.StartInfo.CreateNoWindow = True
    args = "-fs  -noquiet -identify -slave " '
    args += "-nomouseinput -sub-fuzziness 1 "
    args += " -vo direct3d, -ao dsound "
    '    -wid will tell MPlayer to show output inisde our panel
    '    args += " -vo direct3d, -ao dsound  -wid ";
    '    int id = (int)panel1.Handle;
    '    args += id;
End Sub
Public Function SendCommand(ByVal cmd As String) As Boolean
    Try
        If ps IsNot Nothing AndAlso ps.HasExited = False Then
            ps.StandardInput.Write(cmd + vbLf)
            'MessageBox.Show(ps.StandardOutput.ReadToEndAsync.ToString())
            Return True
        Else
            Return False
        End If

    Catch ex As Exception
        Return False
    End Try
End Function

Public Sub Playsong(ByVal Songfilelocation As String)

    Try
        ps.Kill()
    Catch
    End Try
    Try
        ps.StartInfo.Arguments = args + " """ + Songfilelocation + """"
        ps.Start()

        SendCommand("set_property volume " + "80")
    Catch e As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(e.Message)
    End Try

End Sub

Private Sub lstResults_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles lstResults.SelectedIndexChanged
    Playsong(lstResults.SelectedItem.ToString())
End Sub



Private Sub btnPlayJPG_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnPlayJPG.Click
    Try
        ' jpgPs.Kill()
    Catch
    End Try
    Try
        'ps.StartInfo.Arguments = "–fs –mf fps=5 mf://d:/music/g1/Image00020.jpg –loop 200" '-vo gl_nosw
        'jpgPs.Start()
        Shell("d:\Music\playjpg.bat")

        ' SendCommand("set_property volume " + "80")
    Catch ex As Exception
        MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
    End Try
End Sub


Private Sub btnPlayPause_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnPlayPause.Click
    SendCommand("pause")

End Sub

Private Sub btnMute_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnMute.Click
    SendCommand("mute")
End Sub

Private Sub btnKaraoke_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnKaraoke.Click
    'SendCommand("panscan 0-0 | 1-1")
    SendCommand("af_add pan=2:1:1:0:0")


End Sub

Private Sub btnStereo_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnStereo.Click
    SendCommand("af_add pan=2:0:0:1:1")
End Sub

Private Sub btnStop_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnStop.Click
    Playsong("d:\music\iot.mp4")
End Sub

Private Sub Button2_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
    'SendCommand("loadfile d:\music\iot.mp4")
    'SendCommand("pt_step 1")

End Sub

End Class

Answer 2

Found that mplayer slave mode is the only way, ftp://ftp2.mplayerhq.hu/MPlayer/DOCS/tech/slave.txt

Answer 3

not your question, I know. but VLC has similar levels of codec support, an integrated web interface extensible with lua scripting, and all the fluff you might not want (like the OSD) can be turned off. VLC is also controllable through telnet, and the lua libraries are easily extensible to allow network interfacing or whatever else you might want. I wrote a plugin to allow serial line control.