Next Windows Media Player 9 Series SDK This documentation describes the Microsoft® Windows Media® Player 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK). The Windows Media Player SDK is one of the main components of the Microsoft Windows Media SDK. Other components include the Microsoft Windows Media Format SDK, the Microsoft Windows Media Services SDK, the Microsoft Windows Media Encoder SDK, and the Microsoft Windows Media Rights Manager SDK. The Windows Media Player SDK documents programming technologies that can be used to extend the capabilities of Windows Media Player. These technologies are documented in the following sections: Section Description About the Windows Media Player This section provides details about how to find specific information in SDK the SDK. It includes a section about new features and information about how to use the samples included with the SDK. Windows Media Player Object The Microsoft Windows Media Player control is a Microsoft ActiveX® Model control used for adding multimedia playback capabilities to Web pages. It provides a programming interface for rendering a variety of network streaming and non-streaming multimedia formats. Windows Media Player Skins Skins are an XML-based technology used to customize the user interface of the stand-alone Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player Plug-ins Plug-ins are objects that extend Windows Media Player functionality in a variety of ways. Plug-in types include custom visualizations, user interface plug-ins, DSP plug-ins, and rendering plug-ins. Windows Media Metafiles Metafiles are XML documents that provide information about a media stream and its presentation. Metafiles can be used to organize media files into playlists that can include functionality for seamless stream switching, ad insertion, and other features. Windows Media Player Some features of the SDK apply to the Windows Media Player application and the ActiveX control in general. This section provides information about these general features. Glossary This section contains definitions of terms used throughout the SDK. Notes Installing this SDK does not install Windows Media Player. You must have Windows Media Player installed to use the material in this SDK. Next © 2000-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Previous Next About the Windows Media Player SDK The Microsoft Windows Media Player 9 Series Software Development Kit (SDK) provides information and tools to customize Windows Media Player and to use the Windows Media Player ActiveX control. This documentation also provides information about using Windows Media metafiles. Support for customizing Windows Media Player is provided by: z Windows Media Player skins. Skins allow you both to customize the Player user interface and to enhance its functionality by using XML. z Windows Media Player plug-ins. Windows Media Player includes support for plug-ins that create visualization effects, that perform digital signal processing (DSP) tasks, that add custom user interface elements to the full mode Player, and that render custom data streams in digital media files created using the ASF file format. Embedding the Windows Media Player control is supported for a variety of technologies, including: z HTML in Web browsers. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator version 4.7, 6.2, and 7.0 browsers are supported. z Programs created with the Microsoft Visual C++® development system. z Programs based on Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). z Programs created with Microsoft Visual Basic® 6.0. z Programs created using the .NET Framework, including programs written in the C# programming language. z Microsoft Office. This overview contains the following sections: Section Description Organization of the Documentation Explains where to find information about specific technologies in the SDK documentation. What's New Details the features that have been added to the SDK since the previous version. Samples Describes the code samples installed with the SDK and where to find them. For More Information Describes where to find the latest white papers and articles on the Microsoft Web site. See Also z Windows Media Player 9 Series SDK Previous Next © 2000-2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Previous Next Organization of the Documentation The Windows Media Player SDK documents a wide variety of technologies related to Windows Media Player. To make it easier to locate the information you need, the documentation is divided into sections that help you quickly locate topics about a particular feature or technology. Where appropriate, major sections each include three subsections: About, Programming Guide, and Reference. The About section describes the particular feature or technology to help you understand how you can use it. The Programming Guide section adds tutorials that take you deeper into the technology with step-by-step instructions. The Reference section details the interfaces, objects, methods, properties, events, elements, and attributes that are available for your use. The following table will help you to understand where to look for the help you need. Section Description About the Windows Media Player SDK Provides overviews of the SDK's organization and of the new features and technologies available. Provides information about where to find the SDK samples and where to locate more help on the Web. Windows Media Player Object Model Provides detailed information about using the Windows Media Player ActiveX control object model. The About the Player Object Model section describes each object and provides general information about the control. The Player Control Guide includes topics about how to write code for the embedded Player, as well as an Object Model Migration Guide that details the differences between this version of the control and the Windows Media Player 6.4 ActiveX control. The Object Model Reference section is written in a style designed to be easily understood by script programmers and Visual Basic 6.0 programmers. A C++ Translation Guide is included to help C++ programmers use the reference documentation as well. C++-only interfaces are documented in the Object Model Reference for C++. Windows Media Player Skins Provides detailed information about creating Windows Media Player skins. The About Skins section provides an overview of skin technology and describes in detail what you need to know about creating a skin. The Skin Creation Guide section teaches you to make your first skin and shows you how to add particular features. The Skin Programming Reference details the elements and attributes available to skins. Skins can also use the Microsoft JScript® programming language to add functionality, so the Object Model Reference section is useful to skin programmers as well. Windows Media Player Plug-ins There are four basic types of Windows Media Player plug-ins. Each type is detailed in a subsection of this section. Windows Media Player Custom Visualizations Visualizations are a plug-in technology that you can use to create interesting visual effects for the Player. About Custom Visualizations describes the technology and tells you what you need to know to create a visualization using the plug-in wizard. The Custom Visualization Programming Guide section steps you through the process of changing the code generated by the plug-in wizard to create a different visualization. The Custom Visualization Programming Reference section provides detailed information about the interfaces, structures, and enumerations you need to write visualization code. Windows Media Player User Interface Plug-ins User interface (UI) plug-ins allow you to add new user interface elements to the full mode Player. The About User Interface Plug-ins section provides an overview of UI plug-ins and describes how to use the plug-in wizard to create a plug-in. The User Interface Plug-ins Programming Guide teaches you to modify the code generated by the plug-in wizard to create a new UI plug-in. The User Interface Plug-ins Programming Reference section provides detailed information about the interfaces you need to write UI plug-in code. Windows Media Player DSP Plug-ins Digital Signal Processing (DSP) plug-ins allow you to write code that changes the audio or video data. The About DSP Plug-ins section provides the information you need to understand the technology and use the plug-in wizard to create a sample plug-in. The DSP Plug-ins Programming Guide teaches you to modify the code generated by the plug-in wizard to create a new audio DSP effect plug-in. The DSP Plug-ins Programming Reference section provides detailed information about the interfaces and enumerations you need to write DSP plug-in code. Windows Media Player Rendering Plug-ins Rendering plug-ins allow you to write code that renders custom binary data delivered from a Windows Media stream. The About Rendering Plug- ins section describes the rendering plug-in architecture. The Rendering Plug-ins Programming Guide section describes how to modify the sample rendering plug-in. The Rendering Plug-ins Programming Reference section provides detailed information about the interfaces and enumerations you need to write rendering plug-in code. Windows Media Metafiles Windows Media metafiles are text files that use XML technology to describe how digital media files should be played. The About Windows Media Metafiles section describes metafile playlists. The Windows Media Metafile Guide section tells you how to create metafiles that perform specific tasks. The Windows Media Metafile Reference section provides