What Background Do You Need?

The amount you need to know for a particular Microsoft® DirectShow® task depends on the task. For example, you must understand basic COM principles and C or C++ to create a filter. But you don't need to understand either to use the Microsoft® Windows Media™ Player control.

The following tables show what you might need to know to perform different tasks and get the most out of the DirectShow documentation. To find the information you need, see Documentation Roadmap for a description of what you'll find in the different sections of the DirectShow documentation. See Where Can I Learn About... for the location of answers to specific questions within the DirectShow documentation, and see How to Get More Information for the location of useful information outside the DirectShow documentation.

The following table shows the background you might need to understand different sections of the DirectShow documentation.

Section Background needed

Getting Started None.

Windows Media Player Control You must know Microsoft® Visual Basic® or C/C++ if you're using the control from within them. If you're using the control as an end-user and not developing applications with it, the section is self-sufficient.

DirectShow Basics None.

Application Developer's Guide You must know the language you are developing your application in, and basic COM programming.

Filter Developer's Guide You must be experienced with C/C++ and basic COM programming.

C/C++ Reference You must know C/C++ and basic COM. For the Debugging section, it would be useful to understand basic debugging procedures, such as how to generate debug information or check for memory leaks. For the Event Notification Codes section, it might be helpful to know a little about Microsoft® Windows® messaging.

Filters and Samples You must know C/C++ and basic COM. Depending on your filter, you might need to know a little about Microsoft DirectSound® and DirectDraw®, or understand multimedia capture and compression.

MPEG-2 Support You must know C/C++ and basic COM. It would also be helpful to have some familiarity with multimedia streaming concepts and/or the different MPEG formats, especially MPEG-2.

DVD Support You must know C/C++ and basic COM. An understanding of DVD would be helpful, but not required.

Multimedia Streaming You must know C/C++ and basic COM. A basic understanding of DirectSound, DirectDraw, and multimedia streaming would also be helpful.

DirectDrawEx You must know C/C++, basic COM, and DirectDraw.

Appendixes You must know a little about C to understand Reserved Identifiers, and you need to know a little about multimedia to understand Media Types.

Glossary None.

Section	Background needed
Getting Started	None.
Windows Media Player Control	You must know Microsoft® Visual Basic® or C/C++ if you're using the control from within them. If you're using the control as an end-user and not developing applications with it, the section is self-sufficient.
DirectShow Basics	None.
Application Developer's Guide	You must know the language you are developing your application in, and basic COM programming.
Filter Developer's Guide	You must be experienced with C/C++ and basic COM programming.
C/C++ Reference	You must know C/C++ and basic COM. For the Debugging section, it would be useful to understand basic debugging procedures, such as how to generate debug information or check for memory leaks. For the Event Notification Codes section, it might be helpful to know a little about Microsoft® Windows® messaging.
Filters and Samples	You must know C/C++ and basic COM. Depending on your filter, you might need to know a little about Microsoft DirectSound® and DirectDraw®, or understand multimedia capture and compression.
MPEG-2 Support	You must know C/C++ and basic COM. It would also be helpful to have some familiarity with multimedia streaming concepts and/or the different MPEG formats, especially MPEG-2.
DVD Support	You must know C/C++ and basic COM. An understanding of DVD would be helpful, but not required.
Multimedia Streaming	You must know C/C++ and basic COM. A basic understanding of DirectSound, DirectDraw, and multimedia streaming would also be helpful.
DirectDrawEx	You must know C/C++, basic COM, and DirectDraw.
Appendixes	You must know a little about C to understand Reserved Identifiers, and you need to know a little about multimedia to understand Media Types.
Glossary	None.

The following table shows the background you might need to accomplish a sampling of tasks in DirectShow.

Task Background needed

Use the Windows Media Player control as an end user. None.

Use the Filter Graph Editor tool. None.

Write a filter. You must be experienced with C/C++ and basic COM.

Create or control a filter graph in Visual Basic. You must be familiar with Visual Basic and basic COM.

Play a movie. To play a movie in a Visual Basic or C/C++ application, you must be familiar with those languages and with basic COM programming. To play a movie from a Web page, you should be familiar with HTML, but the DirectShow documents will explain the rudiments, such as using the OBJECT and HREF tags.

Write a media-streaming application. You must be familiar with C/C++ and basic COM.

Task	Background needed
Use the Windows Media Player control as an end user.	None.
Use the Filter Graph Editor tool.	None.
Write a filter.	You must be experienced with C/C++ and basic COM.
Create or control a filter graph in Visual Basic.	You must be familiar with Visual Basic and basic COM.
Play a movie.	To play a movie in a Visual Basic or C/C++ application, you must be familiar with those languages and with basic COM programming. To play a movie from a Web page, you should be familiar with HTML, but the DirectShow documents will explain the rudiments, such as using the OBJECT and HREF tags.
Write a media-streaming application.	You must be familiar with C/C++ and basic COM.