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Windows Media Player 11 SDK Implementing Your Rendering Code (deprecated) 

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Implementing Your Rendering Code (deprecated)

This page documents a feature that may be unavailable in future versions of Windows Media Player and the Windows Media Player SDK.

Once you have built the sample rendering plug-in, you can modify the code to create your own Windows Media Player rendering plug-in. Which methods you change and which you can leave as they are depends upon several factors, including:

  • The data your plug-in is designed to render. If your data represents something visual, like video, then you'll want to provide a visible window for rendering like the sample generated by the wizard. If your data represents something else, like MIDI notes or hot spot coordinates, then you might never need to make the plug-in window visible. This would require changing the sample code.
  • The number of properties you want to allow the user to change. You will certainly want to change the default property page implementation to suit your needs, and you may need to add additional properties.
  • Whether your rendering plug-in needs to allocate any streaming resources. Your plug-in may require additional buffers.
  • Whether your rendering plug-in needs to render in the Windows Media Player user interface (UI) Now Playing tab or in an external window.
  • The number of status graphics you want your plug-in to display. The wizard-generated sample provides a single status graphic. You'll need to provide your own art if you include a graphic. Your plug-in can provide a series of graphics. Your plug-in is not required to include a graphic at all.

This section uses the rendering plug-in sample code generated by the Windows Media Player Plug-in Wizard to illustrate important concepts. You might find it helpful to open Microsoft Visual Studio and generate the sample code first so you can refer to it as you read this section. For details about how to use the Windows Media Player Plug-in Wizard, see Building a Rendering Plug-in (deprecated).

Which changes you make to the code generated by the plug-in wizard depends on your particular needs. The range of possible applications for rendering plug-in technology is virtually limitless since the data you encode in your Windows Media file can be in any format and your plug-in can process the data any way you choose. However, you should take the time to understand how the code generated by the wizard works. That way, you'll know exactly which method implementations you should modify to get the result you seek.

The following sections provide details about how to modify the code generated by the Windows Media Player Plug-in Wizard to create your own rendering plug-in:

See Also

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