The PlaySound function plays a sound specified by the specified file name, resource, or system event.
At a Glance
| Header file: | Mmsystem.h |
| Windows CE versions: | 2.0 and later |
Syntax
BOOL WINAPI PlaySound( LPCSTR pszSound, HMODULE hmod,
DWORD fdwSound);
Parameters
pszSound
Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the sound to play. If this parameter is NULL, any currently playing waveform sound is stopped. To stop a non-waveform sound, specify SND_PURGE in the fdwSound parameter.
Three flags in fdwSound (SND_ALIAS, SND_FILENAME, and SND_RESOURCE) determine whether the name is interpreted as an alias for a system event, a filename, or a resource identifier. If none of these flags are specified, PlaySound searches the registry or the WIN.INI file for an association with the specified sound name. If an association is found, the sound event is played. If no association is found in the registry, the name is interpreted as a filename.
hmod
Handle to the executable file that contains the resource to be loaded. This parameter must be NULL unless SND_RESOURCE is specified in fdwSound.
fdwSound
Flags for playing the sound. The following values are defined:
| Value | Description |
| SND_APPLICATION | The sound is played using an application-specific association. |
| SND_ALIAS | The pszSound parameter is a system-event alias in the registry or the WIN.INI file. Do not use with either SND_FILENAME or SND_RESOURCE. |
| SND_ASYNC | The sound is played asynchronously and PlaySound returns immediately after beginning the sound. To terminate an asynchronously played waveform sound, call PlaySound with pszSound set to NULL. |
| SND_FILENAME | The pszSound parameter is a filename. |
| SND_LOOP | The sound plays repeatedly until PlaySound is called again with the pszSound parameter set to NULL. You must also specify the SND_ASYNC flag to indicate an asynchronous sound event. |
| SND_MEMORY | A sound event’s file is loaded in RAM. The parameter specified by pszSound must point to an image of a sound in memory. |
| SND_NODEFAULT | No default sound event is used. If the sound cannot be found, PlaySound returns silently without playing the default sound. |
| SND_NOSTOP | The specified sound event will yield to another sound event that is already playing. If a sound cannot be played because the resource needed to generate that sound is busy playing another sound, the function immediately returns FALSE without playing the requested sound. |
| If this flag is not specified, PlaySound attempts to stop the currently playing sound so that the device can be used to play the new sound. | |
| SND_NOWAIT | If the driver is busy, return immediately without playing the sound. |
| SND_RESOURCE | The pszSound parameter is a resource identifier; hmod must identify the instance that contains the resource. |
| SND_SYNC | Synchronous playback of a sound event. PlaySound returns after the sound event completes. |
Return Values
TRUE indicates success. FALSE indicates failure.
Windows CE Remarks
Windows CE does not support the SND_ALIAS_ID and SND_PURGE flags for the fdwSound parameter.
Remarks
The sound specified by pszSound must fit into available physical memory and be playable by an installed waveform-audio device driver. PlaySound searches the following directories for sound files: the current directory; the Windows CE directory; the Windows CE system directory; directories listed in the PATH environment variable; and the list of directories mapped in a network. For more information about the directory search order, see the documentation for the OpenFile function.
If it cannot find the specified sound, PlaySound uses the default system event sound entry instead. If the function can find neither the system default entry nor the default sound, it makes no sound and returns FALSE.
See Also