LibVLC.AutoGen 2.0.0

LibVLC.AutoGen

!!!!! This is NOT an official libVLC project !!!!!

P/Invoke bindings auto-generated from libvlc headers using ClangSharpPInvokeGenerator and Custom Source Generator.

Quick start

dotnet add package LibVLC.AutoGen

using LibVLCSharp.AutoGen;
using static LibVLCSharp.AutoGen.Interop.libvlc;
using static LibVLCSharp.AutoGen.LibVLC;

internal class Program
{
    static unsafe void Main(string[] args)
    {
        var psz_version = (IntPtr)libvlc_get_version(); // LibVLCSharp.AutoGen.Interop, snake_case
        var version1 = psz_version.GetString(); // to utf8 string
        var version2 = VlcGetVersion(); // LibVLCSharp.AutoGen, PascalCase 
    }
}

List

• LibVLC.AutoGen is a standard wrapper using [DllImport("libvlc")].
• LibVLC.AutoGen.Static using [DllImport("__Internal")] for static linked libvlc.
• LibVLC.AutoGen.Dynamic for runtime loaded libvlc, requires manual Initialize.

Notes

• no libvlc_printerr, C# has poor compatibility with C variadic arguments.
• no libvlc_role_Last, It is equivalent to libvlc_role_Test.

What it does?

Via GitHub Action: pull the latest VLC code daily at midnight.

• Check if there are any updates in the vlc/include/vlc directory.
• If updates are detected, automatically bump the version number of the current project, create a Git tag, and push it to the remote repository.

Pushing a tag will trigger an automated build process:

• Execute generate.ps1, which uses ClangSharpPInvokeGenerator with the configuration file "@generate.rsp" to automatically generate LibVLC.Interop.cs.
• When building the LibVLC.AutoGen project, LibVLC.SourceGenerator runs during the pre-compilation phase to auto-generate a renamed version: LibVLC.Interop.g.cs, based on LibVLC.Interop.cs.
• When building the LibVLC.AutoGen.Dynamic/Static projects, LazyImport.Fody is additionally integrated to modify the assemblies post-compilation, converting methods marked with DllImport into runtime-loaded implementations.

The final compiled assemblies contain two namespaces:

• LibVLC.Interop.cs uses the LibVLCSharp.AutoGen.Interop namespace and follows the snake_case naming convention consistent with the C header files, similar to the FFmpeg.AutoGen project, enabling direct usage of the libvlc C code.
• LibVLC.Interop.g.cs uses the LibVLCSharp.AutoGen namespace and follows C#'s default PascalCase naming convention, similar to the LibVLCSharp project.

Why this project?

This project started because I needed to use libvlc_video_set_output_callbacks, the new video rendering API from LibVLC 4.0.0.
I believe it provides a cleaner solution to airspace issues in WPF and other UI frameworks.
While LibVLCSharp is very well-designed, the v4 prerelease is not yet officially stable, and its interop layer is not fully automated.
For that reason, I created this fresh project:
It uses GitHub Actions + ClangSharpPInvokeGenerator + Custom Source Generator to automatically generate up-to-date P/Invoke bindings for VLC.

Feedback and contributions are welcome!

TODO

Create a new VLC media control using the video rendering API libvlc_video_set_output_callbacks.

Reference & Thanks

• vlc

• LibVLCSharp

• ClangSharp

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.
But the LibVLC is licensed under the GNU LGPLv2.1 License, use and distribution must comply with the LGPL.