Windows Media Player 11 SDK Using the Windows Media Player Control in a Console Application 

Using the Windows Media Player Control in a Console Application

You can create an instance of the Windows Media Player COM object directly by using CoCreateInstance. When you do this, the Player object displays no user interface. However, the object is still useful for tasks that don't require the user interface, such as working with the library, playing digital audio files, or accessing properties of the Player.

The following example code shows a simple console program that displays the Windows Media Player version in a message box. The example code uses ATL to take advantage of smart pointers and the CComBSTR string class.

#include "atlbase.h"
#include "atlwin.h"
#include "wmp.h"

int _tmain(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[])
{
    CoInitialize(NULL);

    HRESULT hr = S_OK;
    CComBSTR bstrVersionInfo; // Contains the version string.
    CComPtr<IWMPPlayer> spPlayer;  // Smart pointer to IWMPPlayer interface.

    hr = spPlayer.CoCreateInstance( __uuidof(WindowsMediaPlayer), 0, CLSCTX_INPROC_SERVER );

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        hr = spPlayer->get_versionInfo(&bstrVersionInfo);
    }

    if(SUCCEEDED(hr))
    {
        // Show the version in a message box.
        COLE2T pStr(bstrVersionInfo);
        MessageBox( NULL, (LPCSTR)pStr, _T("Windows Media Player Version"), MB_OK );
    }

    // Clean up.
    spPlayer.Release();
    CoUninitialize();

    return 0;
}

See Also

• Using the Windows Media Player Control in a C++ Program