How to Detect If Computer Has Sound Card That Plays Wave Audio

• Standard, Professional, and Enterprise Editions of Microsoft Visual Basic, 16-bit and 32-bit, for Windows, version 4.0

SUMMARY

This article describes how to detect if a system has a sound card capable of playing back wave audio data (.WAV files).

MORE INFORMATION

The multimedia Application Programming Interface (API) has a function, WaveOutGetNumDevs(), which returns the number of devices in the system capable of playing back wave audio data.

Step by Step Example

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic (ALT, F, N), and place a Command button (Command1) on Form1.

2. Add the following declaration to the General Declarations section of Form1:

   #If Win32 Then

      Private Declare Function waveOutGetNumDevs Lib "winmm" () As Long
      #ElseIf Win16 Then
      Private Declare Function waveOutGetNumDevs Lib "mmsystem" () _
       As Integer
      #End If
   
   

3. Add the following code to the Command1_Click event:

      Private Sub Command1_Click()
      #If Win32 Then
      Dim i As Long
      #ElseIf Win16 Then
      Dim i As Integer
      #End If
      i = waveOutGetNumDevs()
      If i > 0 Then         ' There is at least one device.
      MsgBox "You Can Play Wave Data"
      Else
      MsgBox "Cannot Play Wave Data"
      End If
      End Sub
   
   

4. Press the F5 key to run the code. Then click the command button. An appropriate message lets you know if your computer plays wave audio data.