C / C++ / MFC

making simple DVD Player using API

29-Jan-07 13:50

As long as you can position your app's window away from VS' window it should work. Since
the app's threads are halted there's no way for repaints.

Mark

Re: Debugging

Waldermort29-Jan-07 21:34

Waldermort

29-Jan-07 21:34

Mark Salsbery wrote:
Since
the app's threads are halted there's no way for repaints.

I figured this was the case, but in Vista, hovering the mouse over the taskbar button produces a small preview screen for that window. So I was kinda hoping there would be a similar feature, or even 3rd party tool, to do something similar only fullsize.

Khoramdin29-Jan-07 11:45

29-Jan-07 11:45

Hello,

I would like to make a simple DVD Player using Wins API. I was wondering if anyone can point me to a book or an online tutorial?

Thanx so much in advance.

Khoramdin

ThatsAlok29-Jan-07 17:58

ThatsAlok

29-Jan-07 17:58

try here msdn.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/[^]

"Opinions are neither right nor wrong. I cannot change your opinion. I can, however, change what influences your opinion." - David Crow

cheers,
Alok Gupta
VC Forum Q&A :- I/ IV
Support CRY- Child Relief and you

Mark Salsbery30-Jan-07 6:49

30-Jan-07 6:49

There's no "simple" APIs but DirectShow can make it realatively simple.

DVD Applications[^]

To use DirectShow you'll need to supply your own MPEG-2 decoder filter - there's some available
free on the net.

Mark

Mark Salsbery30-Jan-07 6:51

30-Jan-07 6:51

Also, if you don't want to handle the user interface (transport controls, video rendering, audio
rendering) you could use the Windows Media Player 9 Series Software Development Kit[^]

Khoramdin30-Jan-07 7:06

30-Jan-07 7:06

Hello Mark,

Thanx for the advice. I actually wish to add a Button which captures the exact time of the played DVD once it is clicked.

I started reading about this and base on my limited knowledage I believe that is next to impossible; unless I am able to do hooking in order to gather information "Time" from a third-pary software (commercial DVD playback Applications)! I am not even sure if I have to look into API hooking or Kernel Hooking as I am still reading and learing.

Based on the believe that it is impossible to add a Button which can be visual during the DVD playback and can capture the DVD play time once it is clicked I devided to explore the idea of making a simple DVD playback with the additional button used for capturing the time.

Base on the goal of my project what approach do you suggest. Thank you very much for your help.

Have a great day.

Khoramdin

Mark Salsbery30-Jan-07 7:18

Re: making simple DVD Player using API [modified]

30-Jan-07 7:18

Hi Khoramdin,

I don't know of any Windows APIs that could be hooked. Software DVD players are software that
read standard DVD files and extract and render the various streams of data. There may be third
party libraries that can help make developing a player easier but I've only worked with Windows
DirectShow (the SDK is included with the latest Platform SDK, not the DirectX SDK). There's
decent sample code included, including a DVD player.

What is the time you need to capture? The "wall clock" time or time from a audio/video stream?

Mark

Khoramdin30-Jan-07 7:31

30-Jan-07 7:31

Hello Mark,

Regarding the Windows APIs hooking which I mentioned, I have been reading many posting which was posted here in "codeproject.com". Here is the link to one of many posting that I have read:

http://www.codeproject.com/system/hooksys.asp[^]

What I mean by The Time in my message is the Frame that DVD Playback was showing at the moment of clicking on the Button which I wish to add. I am not sure what to call it, therefore I used the word Time since on the DVD-Playback there is a time representitive of howlong the DVD has been played so far.

Personally I prefer to create my own DVD-Player software. I guess that allows me to have other options than standard Commercial DVD-Player Software. But I was not sure if that is possible with my level of knowledge. But I am for sure going to explore your great suggestion.

I hope I managed to make sense.

Thank you so much for taking the time and helping me out on this project.

-- modified at 13:44 Tuesday 30th January, 2007

Khoramdin

Mark Salsbery30-Jan-07 12:11

30-Jan-07 12:11

I suppose you can use hooks to monitor system messages. Finding where the DVD play time is in a
3rd-party app may take a little digging - and it could change at any time. There's no specific
system message or API associated with a DVD's play time. That is part of the media files that
are on the DVD.

If you choose to make your own DVD player, then DirectShow is one way to go. The DVDSample
application that comes with the SDK is a good starting point. It provides all the functionality
of a stand-alone DVD player plus more. It took me about 10 minutes to get it up and running - I
have no idea how many hours or days it would have taken me to figure out how to get the play
time from a 3rd party app.

What version of Visual Studio do you use? I have a 2003 project for the DVDSample that builds
and runs that I can send you. Like I mentioned previously, you need a MPEG-2 codec - this is
not something Microsoft can legally provide so it has to be 3rd-party. I have Nero installed so
it uses Nero's codec filter but I also have an open-source codec found online.

Khoramdin31-Jan-07 8:20

31-Jan-07 8:20

Hello Mark,

Thank you for taking the time to help me out, mate. I have decided to go ahead with your suggestion and build a new DVD Player Software Application. The question would be, would I be able to add the Button “Time Capturing of DVD Play Time” to it's GUI if I chose to build my own DVD-Player software?

Lat night I took the time to look at the DVD-Video APIs and the DVDSample application that comes with the SDK as you suggested. I spend few good hours and I have to say that I ended up without dinner as I was trying to make sense out of it. Good old take-away Pizza did the job for the dinner but I still have got long way to go before I can make the DVD-Player Software.

I am using Visual Studio 2005 Express Edition. I am not sure if I can simply run your codes on it but I am sure that is going to be very educational. So, would you be kind enough to send me your early project on the DVD? I am going to leave you my email address if you wish to do so.

Email: babak_khoramdin@hotmail.com

You mentioned in your message “It took me about 10 minutes to get it up and running”. I truly envy you, mate but I guess on the other hand I fee privileged for having your assistance. I am truly grateful that you are taking the time and helping me on this DVD project.

Thanx very much and have a great day.

Khoramdin

Mark Salsbery31-Jan-07 10:23

31-Jan-07 10:23

Since you have all the sorking souce code there should be no problem adding to the UI.
I found the DVD background stuff in the SDK very educational. I had no idea what kind of
information was stored on DVDs.

Khoramdin wrote:
You mentioned in your message “It took me about 10 minutes to get it up and running”. I truly envy you, mate but I guess on the other hand I fee privileged for having your assistance.

Wasn't me. It's Microsoft sample code. Just took a little tweaking to remove some VC++ 6 related
items and build a project for it (the samples only come with a makefile).

It should import to 2005 express fine but if you haven't done so already, you may want to follow
the steps here: Using Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition with the Microsoft Platform SDK[^]

I'll email the project!

Mark

Mark Salsbery31-Jan-07 11:31

31-Jan-07 11:31

Hi Khoramdin,

I made a VS 2005 Express project/solution and sent it to you.

You may want to remove your email address from your last message so you don't get extra spam Smile | :)

Mark

Khoramdin31-Jan-07 17:54

CTreeCtrl question, selecting/unselecting

31-Jan-07 17:54

Hello Mark,

Thank you so much for all the help and the information.

I am going to take sometimes to check these and hopfully be able to build a DVD-Video Software Application.

I hope you don't mind me bothering you once in a while when I cannot make sense out of some of the stuff.

Thank you very much and have a great day.

Babak

Maximilien29-Jan-07 10:11

Maximilien

29-Jan-07 10:11

( with VC6, MFC, and using the CMultiTree class from the CodeGuru site which support multiselection )

I have a large-ish complex tree hierarchy. Each leaf item in the tree has pointer to its corresponding "object".

Each of those object knows when it's selected or not; i.e. I can select objects in other UI parts of the application, and the selection must be reflected in the tree.

Now, I will loop everything to do a SetItemState( hItem, 0, TVIS_SELECTED ); on all items to deselect them. followed by another SetItemState( hItem, TVIS_SELECTED, TVIS_SELECTED ); to actually select the items.

This is not very effective.

I'm looking for better suggestions.

I've been trying to store each object's HTREEITEM item in the object itself to be able to change the state directly on the items. but that means the Tree must be known ( in some fashion ) to others unrelated places in the software.

I also tried to completly "override" the tree selection mechanism and keep it "external" to the tree itself, and use CustomDraw ( NM_CUSTOMDRAW ) on the tree to manage the selected state of the objects, but that causes other kind of side effects, mostly bad refresh and flickering and some selection management issues.

Any other ideas ?

Thanks

M.

Maximilien Lincourt
Your Head A Splode - Strong Bad

Re: CTreeCtrl question, selecting/unselecting

Rage29-Jan-07 21:42

Rage

29-Jan-07 21:42

Maximilien wrote:
I've been trying to store each object's HTREEITEM item in the object itself to be able to change the state directly on the items. but that means the Tree must be known ( in some fashion ) to others unrelated places in the software.

This is what I usually do, with the disadvantages you describe. I have a layer (a class) between the TreeCtrl and the Data, which contains only a pointer Data and the HTREEITEM.

Dynamic CSplitterWnd

neilsolent29-Jan-07 8:41

neilsolent

29-Jan-07 8:41

I have created a dynamic splitter with:

CSplitterWnd clientSplitter;
..
clientSplitter.Create(this, 2, 2, CSize(200, 200), pContext, WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | SPLS_DYNAMIC_SPLIT, AFX_IDW_PANE_FIRST);

How do I add a view to it? This code ..

clientSplitter.CreateView(0, 0, RUNTIME_CLASS(CLeftView), CSize(100, 100), pContext);

.. causes an ASSERT.

cheers,
Neil

Mark Salsbery29-Jan-07 9:04

29-Jan-07 9:04

And the assertion is....?

neilsolent29-Jan-07 9:10

neilsolent

29-Jan-07 9:10

Sorry, assertion is in WINSPLIT.CPP:

if (GetDlgItem(IdFromRowCol(row, col)) != NULL)
{
TRACE2("Error: CreateView - pane already exists for row %d, col %d.\n",
row, col);
ASSERT(FALSE);
return FALSE;
}

cheers,
Neil

Mark Salsbery29-Jan-07 9:43

29-Jan-07 9:43

A dynamic splitter creates the first default pane (cell 0,0) so you can't create another view
there.

You may need to use DeleteView() on that pane first before adding your own pane.
I'd have to test this as I've only used static splitters.

Mark

Mark Salsbery29-Jan-07 10:58

29-Jan-07 10:58

I got around to testing it. This should work...

BOOL CMyFrameWnd::OnCreateClient(LPCREATESTRUCT lpcs, CCreateContext* pContext)
{
   CCreateContext CreateContext;
   CreateContext.m_pCurrentFrame = this;
   CreateContext.m_pNewViewClass = RUNTIME_CLASS(CLeftView);
 
   clientSplitter.Create(this, 2, 2, CSize(200, 200), &CreateContext, 
                          WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | SPLS_DYNAMIC_SPLIT, AFX_IDW_PANE_FIRST);
 
   return TRUE;
}