Expanded Use of Plug-ins
You must use plug-ins to control basic server functionality and to read and write digital media content. The only plug-ins included in Windows Media Services version 4.0 were authentication plug-ins and event notification and authorization plug-ins. The new Windows Media Services supports the following plug-in categories.
Authentication plug-ins identify clients.
Authorization plug-ins authorize client access to digital content.
Cache proxy plug-ins specify policies that are used by the server to cache and proxy content. The server supports but does not include a cache proxy plug-in.
Control protocol plug-ins interpret client requests to the server and server responses to the client.
Data sink plug-ins write content to specific locations such as a file, a network, a device, or some other resource.
Data source plug-ins retrieve binary data from a source such as a file, a network, or Windows Media Encoder.
Event notification plug-ins react to event notices raised by the server in response to server or client activity.
Logging plug-ins are specialized event notification plug-ins that write client and server information to a log file.
Media parser plug-ins interpret and packetize the digital data retrieved by a data source plug-in.
Playlist parser plug-ins create playlist objects in memory. These objects are used by the server to determine what content to send to a client.
Some of the preceding plug-in types can be custom made. For more information, see Programming Custom Plug-ins.
See Also
Concepts
Custom Plug-in Interfaces (C++)
Custom Plug-in Objects (Visual Basic .NET)