WMP or Winamp?

**Seraph** · 12-14-2003, 12:47 PM

I know I can easily do WMP controls. Thanks to DeadWeasel, I checked out winamp5 and I am impressed. I have not used winamp since ver 1.92. I am thinking of using winamp as my media modules for Video and Audio players.

The question is this: I can easily do WMP controls in VB. Where can I find info on winamp? I'll take the one that is easier to do.

Thanks

L

**qjones** · 12-14-2003, 12:57 PM

Originally Posted by Seraph

I know I can easily do WMP controls. Thanks to DeadWeasel, I checked out winamp5 and I am impressed. I have not used winamp since ver 1.92. I am thinking of using winamp as my media modules for Video and Audio players.

The question is this: I can easily do WMP controls in VB. Where can I find info on winamp? I'll take the one that is easier to do.

Thanks

L

I program in VC++, so things are a little different, but here is a link Winamp SDK. I am not sure if Winamp5 uses the same IPC calls, but it should be something similar. Personally i have to recommend Winamp, the flexibility with all of the Skins, Visuals, and overall better sound quality make it work it to me. And it does not require people to install WMP9. I know there is a VB module that has all of the IPC calls built in, and you just do function calls. It was in the MediaEngine source at one point...

P.S. And I have a name now, so I will send you some information about My program soon.

Quincy

**Seraph** · 12-14-2003, 01:05 PM

Thanks Quincy.

**deadweasel** · 12-16-2003, 03:44 AM

Originally Posted by Seraph

Thanks Quincy.

Better yet Seraph, I could send you both the Clever.exe and the WinampCOM plugin that I use to control WA from VB if you like. It seems to work perfectly with 5 as well! W00t!

The WinampCOM plugin will provide a direct pipeline between VB and Winamp, and will give you a Winamp object within VB to play with. For example, to make Winamp play the currently loaded file, pop the Winamp.Play method.

To load another file it's as simple as Winamp.AddFile. Of course, you may or may not want to Winamp.ClearPlaylist first.

See what I mean? This thing rules!!!

BTW, I use Clever.exe as a shell-addressed app, because sadly, the WinampCOM plugin is missing the NEXT and PREVIOUS capabilities! Not sure why that is, but as of the latest version, it has not been added. However, the most recent version of it (which I have here), has just added the ability to "read" Winamp's current repeat and shuffle status.

**Seraph** · 12-16-2003, 07:43 AM

Sure. Plese send them to my email: lmaung@stars-gazer.com

**qjones** · 12-17-2003, 04:02 AM

Originally Posted by Seraph

Sure. Plese send them to my email: lmaung@stars-gazer.com

I think you might want to stay away from having to call a lot of shell commands. This might be somewhat slower than the Direct IPC calls. all of the above features are easy to implement, you just might have to look up the SendMessage command for the Winamp command that you need to implement. It was fairly easy for me to do. Let me know if you need any help.

Quincy

**deadweasel** · 12-17-2003, 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by qjones

I think you might want to stay away from having to call a lot of shell commands. This might be somewhat slower than the Direct IPC calls. all of the above features are easy to implement, you just might have to look up the SendMessage command for the Winamp command that you need to implement. It was fairly easy for me to do. Let me know if you need any help.

Quincy

Well hey hey! This is something that I was attempting to explore, but I simply couldn't find anything in the SendMessage subset that would allow for control of the track forward/back functions. That's about all I use the shell program for, but I have to admit that it is just a *tiny* bit slower than it would be otherwise. Please do share any ideas you may have about this!

**Seraph** · 12-17-2003, 09:46 AM

Sendmessage API is amazing. Well many APIs are.

http://www.mentalis.org/apilist/SendMessage.shtml

**deadweasel** · 12-18-2003, 02:54 PM

Well, THAT API command certainly seems like it has a ton of possibilities, but what I'm talking about are the SendMessage command set found within WinampCOM. Check out the Object Browser to see what I'm talking about. There are the standard methods (play, pause, stop etc), and some of the properties (pause and shuffle states), but the deeper stuff that is usually triggered via mouseclick (show EQ, playlist etc) is done via direct SendMessage commands. I have yet to take advantage of those, especially now since Winamp5 auto-pops the windows I'm concerned with (video).

Anyhow, since MY machine seems to be able to handle my ghetto method of getting around the missing COM commands, I shall continue to use it until I learn how to do it better. Heh.