Extending Windows Media Library with a Media Parser Plug-In (Compact 7)
3/12/2014
Windows Embedded Compact 7 Media Library is a tool that helps you organize and manage media files. Media Library contains all relevant information about your media files, commonly known as metadata, but does not contain information about the actual content of the files. Windows Media Player can then process, or play, file contents. By using the Media Library database, media consumers can sort, search, filter, and view metadata as required. The functionality in Compact 7 Media Library is incorporated into the user interface in Windows Media Player.
Media Library obtains, maintains, and monitors metadata for files in specific configured locations, called watch locations. Watch locations are folders on the desktop or on the embedded device. When a file at a watch location is created or modified, Media Library calls a media parser module to refresh the metadata for that file. Media Library maintains metadata for some common media file types such as Windows Media Audio (.wma) files and Windows Media Video (.wmv) files. For information about supported file types, see Microsoft Support Technical Article ID: 316992. You can extend Media Library to recognize and manage a new file type by implementing a media parser plug-in that will obtain the relevant metadata for the new type of file.
This guide describes how to create a custom media parser plug-in that Media Library can manage and use to maintain metadata for wave sound (.wav) and MPEG-4 (.mp4) media files.