The Ultimate Media Player

• Download source files - 266.9 KB
• Download demo project - 116.1 KB

Introduction

Playing Media isn't hard (at least not in Visual Basic). This tutorial will teach you how to create a fully functional general media player for any use by using the Windows Media Player Control.

Begin

First, you must insert a Media Player Control in your form (Note: If you cannot find the control, look under "Com Components" in the "Choose Toolbox Items" menu). Now the Media Player will have its own controls, so to design your own, you will have to remove these by setting the UiMode to none. Next, you will need to add your own controls, like this:

Not only are there "Play, Pause and Stop" controls, but there are also "Volume, Balance and Track" controls. The interesting part is the Duration and the Track Bar, which are not as easy as they look.

Duration

Dim CurPos As Integer = 
  Convert.ToInt32(PlayerControl.Ctlcontrols.currentPosition * 1000) 
  'milliseconds
Dim DurationVar As Integer = 
  Convert.ToInt32(PlayerControl.currentMedia.duration * 1000) 
  'milliseconds
If DurationVar > 0 Then
  PlayBar.Value = Convert.ToInt32((CurPos * 100) / DurationVar) '% complete
End If

'Update the time label
Duration.Text = PlayerControl.Ctlcontrols.currentPositionString

Track Bar

Try
If (PlayerControl.currentMedia.duration <> 0) Then
  Dim NewPerc As Double = Convert.ToDouble(PlayBar.Value) / 100
  Dim DurationVar As Integer = 
    Convert.ToInt32(PlayerControl.currentMedia.duration * 1000) 'milliseconds
  Dim NewPos As Integer = (DurationVar * NewPerc) / 1000

PlayerControl.Ctlcontrols.currentPosition = NewPos
Else
  PlayBar.Value = 0
End If
Catch ex As Exception
  MsgBox(ex.Message)
End Try

Now there are a few Media Player Properties that are set when the form loads.

PlayerControl.settings.autoStart = True
PlayerControl.settings.volume = VolumeBar.Value
PlayerControl.settings.balance = BalanceBar.Value
PlayerControl.settings.enableErrorDialogs = False
PlayerControl.enableContextMenu = False

Points of Interest

Well, that about wraps it up. Remember that when you add a Media Player to your form, Visual Studio will create two DLL files that are vital to run the program: AxInterop.WMPLib.dll and Interop.WMPLib.dll. Make sure that these are included wherever the main program is.

Now, if you do not want to use Windows Media Player, there is also a Quick Time Control that's available to use (found in the COM Components). However, Quick Time Player must be installed in order to use it.