Open and Close CD drive in C#

• Download demo project - 5.75 KB
• Download source - 1.08 KB

Introduction

I was looking for code in C# to open/close the CD drive so I could make a funny program that when run would open the CD drive every five minutes and play with it "Another cup holder for your tea governor?". Yea, anyways, to my surprise, I couldn't find it.

Background

To continue my story, I was searching the net and I found a simple code in VB. Well, I don't know VB, but I do know some other languages, and to my surprise, I was actually able to translate it.

Using the Code

Well, first you have to import a DLL and a variable for the return status.

[DllImport("winmm.dll", EntryPoint="mciSendStringA")]
public static extern void mciSendStringA(string lpstrCommand, 
       string lpstrReturnString, long uReturnLength, long hwndCallback);

string rt = "";

Now, all you have to do is call it like this to open/ close the CD drive:

mciSendStringA("set CDAudio door open",rt,127,0);

mciSendStringA("set CDAudio door closed",rt,127,0);

Points of Interest

It's pretty short. I'm pretty happy with the results of that British joke!