Faceplate Authoring Guide

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Next Topic: Creating an HTML Application Faceplate

The Microsoft® Windows Media™ Player is a versatile tool for presenting local and streaming multimedia files. It supports nearly all of the major media file formats, including Windows media files (.avi, .asf and .wma files), and audio formats such as MP3, MIDI, and compact disc. Recognizing the importance of multimedia to web content, Microsoft created the Windows Media Player control. This technology enables the Windows Media Player to exist as a Microsoft® ActiveX® control inside a web page along with other content.

Microsoft has continued to enhance the Windows Media Player control. All the functionality of the Windows Media Player is now exposed to web scripting languages such as Microsoft® Visual Basic® Scripting Edition (VBScript) and Microsoft® JScript®. Using dynamic HTML (DHTML), you can build a custom user interface (often called a faceplate) to the Windows Media Player control. A faceplate can be tailored to the design of your web page or to the media that you present. It can also display information contained in a playlist, such as artist, track title, and copyright information, as well as links to relevant web sites or online stores.

The user interface elements built in to the Windows Media Player (such as the buttons and the display panel) are available for any faceplate to use, but they can be completely disabled and replaced with graphical buttons and scripts that you create. For complete control, you can install the Windows Media Player control as an HTML Application. This technology is introduced by Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5 and gives you control over the browser window that displays the faceplate.

Creating faceplates for the Windows Media Player control requires some basic knowledge of web scripting and DHTML. The more you know about each, the more interactive and impressive your faceplate can be. The articles in this section provide the background information you need to start creating faceplates and introduce the basics of writing scripts that access the Windows Media Player control.

The information on authoring faceplates is presented in the following articles.


Contents Index Topic Contents
Previous Topic: Using ASX Files for Seamless Stream Switching Next Topic: Creating an HTML Application Faceplate