Play Waves in VB.NET

• Download demo project - 137 Kb
• Download source - 0.8 Kb

Introduction

This is a simple class that shows how to play Wave files in a .NET project, using Windows API. Here, you will find the way to play embedded resources, external files, or Windows system Waves.

Using the code

Using the code is very simple, you have to choose if you want to play a file: Sound.PlayWaveFile("Filename.wav"), an embedded resource: Sound.PlayWaveResource("Embedded.wav"), or a system sound: Sound.PlayWaveSystem("SystemExit").

    ...
Public Class Sound
    Declare Auto Function PlaySound Lib "winmm.dll" (ByVal name _
      As String, ByVal hmod As Integer, ByVal flags As Integer) As Integer

    Declare Auto Function PlaySound Lib "winmm.dll" (ByVal name _
      As Byte(), ByVal hmod As Integer, ByVal flags As Integer) As Integer

    Public Const SND_SYNC = &H0 ' play synchronously 
    Public Const SND_ASYNC = &H1 ' play asynchronously 
    Public Const SND_MEMORY = &H4  'Play wav in memory
    Public Const SND_ALIAS = &H10000 'Play system alias wav 
    Public Const SND_NODEFAULT = &H2
    Public Const SND_FILENAME = &H20000 ' name is file name 
    Public Const SND_RESOURCE = &H40004 ' name is resource name or atom 
    ...
End Class

'Using the code:

    Private Sub btnFile_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnFile.Click
        'File Located in executable dir, change it if you need
        Sound.PlayWaveFile("sn01088a.wav")
    End Sub

    Private Sub btnEmbed_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnEmbed.Click
        'Remeber to include the wave in the project 
        'and then in the "build action"
        'properties set it as: "Embedded Resource"
        Sound.PlayWaveResource("The Microsoft Sound.wav")
    End Sub

    Private Sub btnSystem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
            ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSystem.Click

        'Here some ...

        '"SystemQuestion"
        '"SystemExclaimation"
        '"SystemHand"
        '"Maximize"
        '"MenuCommand"
        '"MenuPopup"
        '"Minimize"
        '"MailBeep"
        '"Open"
        '"Close"
        '"SystemAsterisk"
        '"RestoreUp"
        '"RestoreDown"
        '"SystemExit"
        '"SystemStart"

        Sound.PlayWaveSystem("SystemExit")
    End Sub

All the job is done by the PlaySound function.

Points of Interest

This is an "all in one" Sound class for your .NET applications (File, Resource, System sounds).

History

First release.

This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

A list of licenses authors might use can be found here