Windows Sound Events Not Occurring at Standard Points

 Last reviewed: November 22, 1994
Article ID: Q84972
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Windows operating system versions 3.1, 3.11

SUMMARY

Windows version 3.1 allows you to assign waveform audio sounds to certain events through the Control Panel. These events are: 

   Default Beep
   Exclamation
   Windows Start
   Windows Exit
   Critical Stop
   Question
   Asterisk
However, it is not possible to reliably assign these sounds to always occur at given points in a program. For example, it is not possible to always have the Exclamation sound occur when an error occurs.

MORE INFORMATION

System sounds are dependent upon the application in which they are occurring. To produce a sound, an application needs to notify Windows that a sound is to occur, and then tell Windows which system sound to play. The application will specify one of the seven default system sounds, or any sound event that it has added to this list.

This means that you cannot add sound events to the default list and have an application play that sound, unless the application has been specifically written to call that sound event.

Additionally, applications have not standardized on when these sound events should occur. Therefore, one application may play the Default Beep sound when an error occurs while another application might play the Critical Stop sound.

KBCategory: kbmm kbsound kbprb kbtool
KBSubcategory: win31
Additional reference words: 3.10 3.11

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Last reviewed: November 22, 1994
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