Windows Media Player User Interface Plug-ins
[The feature associated with this page, Windows Media Player SDK, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer. MediaPlayer has been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer instead of Windows Media Player SDK, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]
Microsoft Windows Media Player provides an architecture that enables the user to install and activate plug-in programs that add user interface (UI) functionality to the full mode of the player. A typical UI plug-in might allow a user to buy the CD that contains the currently playing track or to access additional information about the artist. This section of the Windows Media Player Software Development Kit (SDK) provides you with the programming information you need to create your own UI plug-in.
The UI plug-in documentation is divided into three sections:
| Section | Description |
|---|---|
| About User Interface Plug-ins | Provides an overview of the architecture used for UI plug-ins. Read this section to learn the general concepts involved with this technology. |
| User Interface Plug-ins Programming Guide | Explains what you need to do to create a UI plug-in. This section contains example code and step-by-step procedures. |
| User Interface Plug-ins Programming Reference | Provides a detailed reference for the COM interface and methods supported by the Windows Media Player SDK for UI plug-ins. |
Note
Windows Media Player 10 Mobile provides the same plug-in model as the desktop Windows Media Player. This plug-in model enables you to use background plug-ins for monitoring events, displaying the status of properties, and so on. The programming guide in this section describes how to create a background UI plug-in for Windows Media Player 10 Mobile by using the desktop Windows Media Player Plug-in Wizard.
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