Adding Audio or Video Clips to an Application

Go Up to Working with Multimedia

With the media player component, you can add audio and/or video clips to your application. The media player opens a media device and plays, stops, pauses and records the audio and/or video clips used by the media device. The media device may be hardware or software.

Delphi VCL Note: If you are using Windows 7, you need to add ShellAnimations to your uses clause so that the CommonAVIs (such as Vcl.ComCtrls.TAnimateParams.CommonAVI) work correctly. This addition links AVI resources similar to the ones in Windows XP.

C++ VCL Note: If you are using Windows 7, you need to add ShellAnimations to your #include clause so that the CommonAVIs (such as Vcl.ComCtrls.TAnimateParams.CommonAVI) work correctly. This addition links AVI resources similar to the ones in Windows XP.

To add an audio and/or video clip to an application:

1. Double-click the media player icon on the System category of the Tool palette. This automatically puts a media player control on the form.
2. Using the Object Inspector, select the Name property and enter a new name for your media player control. You use this name when you call the media player control. (Follow the standard rules for naming Delphi identifiers.) Always work directly with the Object Inspector when setting design-time properties and creating event handlers.
3. Select the DeviceType property and choose the appropriate device type to open using the AutoOpen property or the Open method. (If DeviceType is dtAutoSelect the device type is selected based on the file extension of the media file specified by the FileName property.) For more information on device types and their functions, see the table below.
4. If the device stores its media in a file, specify the name of the media file using the FileName property:
   1. Select the FileName property, click the ellipsis (...) button, and choose a media file from any available local or network directories.
   2. Click Open in the Open dialog.

   Otherwise, at run time, insert the media on which the audio or video is stored (disk, cassette, and so on).

5. Set the AutoOpen property to True. This way the media player automatically opens the specified device when the form containing the media player control is created at run time. If AutoOpen is False, the device must be opened with a call to the Open method.
6. Set the AutoEnable property to True to automatically enable or disable the media player buttons as required at run time; or, double-click the EnabledButtons property to set each button to True or False depending on which ones you want to enable or disable.

   The multimedia device is played, paused, stopped, and so on when the user clicks the corresponding button on the media player component. The device can also be controlled by the TMediaPlayer methods that correspond to the buttons (Play, Pause, Stop, Next, Previous, and so on).

7. Position the media player control bar on the form by either clicking and dragging it to the appropriate place on the form or by selecting the Align property and choosing the appropriate align position from the drop down list.

   If you want the media player to be invisible at run time, set the Visible property to False and control the device by calling the appropriate methods ( Play, Pause, Stop, Next, Previous, Step, Back, StartRecording, Eject).

8. Make any other changes to the Vcl.MPlayer.TMediaPlayer control settings. For example, if the media requires a display window, set the Display property to the control that displays the media. If the device uses multiple tracks, set the Tracks property to the desired track.

Multimedia device types and their functions :

Device Type	Software/Hardware used	Plays	Uses Tracks	Uses a Display Window
dtAVIVideo	AVI Video Player for Windows	AVI Video files	No	Yes
dtCDAudio	CD Audio Player for Windows or a CD Audio Player	CD Audio Disks	Yes	No
dtDAT	Digital Audio Tape Player	Digital Audio Tapes	Yes	No
dtDigitalVideo	Digital Video Player for Windows	AVI, MPG, MOV files	No	Yes
dtMMMovie	MM Movie Player	MM film	No	Yes
dtOverlay	Overlay device	Analog Video	No	Yes
dtScanner	Image Scanner	N/A for Play (scans images on Record)	No	No
dtSequencer	MIDI Sequencer for Windows	MIDI files	Yes	No
dtVCR	Video Cassette Recorder	Video Cassettes	No	Yes
dtWaveAudio	Wave Audio Player for Windows	WAV files	No	No

For more information on using the media player control, see the topic Example of Adding Audio or Video Clips (VCL Only).

See Also

• Example of Adding Audio or Video Clips (VCL Only)
• Adding Silent Video Clips to an Application
• FMX.Mobile.VideoPlayback Sample