The Basic Zone

uses MMSystem   {MultiMedia with Delphi}

MultiMedia is one of the most dificult topics for a beginning programmer to learn ( believe me, I know ). On the other hand, it's one of the most important things in programming on the moment. Computer Users expect neet things like sound, graphics and video in their programs. So we, programmers should give them what they want, but ... how ?

You can of coarse use the MediaPlayer Component shipped with Delphi, it's a great Control for integrating basic sound and video playback and/or recording in your application and it's fairly easy to use. But what If you only need a bit of sound, or in the other case, need lots of sound and video with advanced options. The MediaPlayer Component wouldn't be your best choise in these cases. The solution is : use API.

API, my God isn't that a bit difficult ?

Not Always, if al you have got to do is play some sound, using API could even turn out to be easeyer than using the MPlayer Component. There are two API functions that make playing Sound easey, they are : sndPlaySound and mciExecute.

Okay, but what if I want to do some more advanced things with it ?

In that case, things do get complicated and you better get a book about MultiMedia API. You can also learn a lot by examining other people's code ( that's why I always put my source code by Components I write. If you are trying it this way you might want to check out the BasicZone's MultiMedia Tips & Tricks page.

Aren't there any other solutions besides learning API ?

Ofcoarse there are, remember, in programming there's always more then one way to do something.

So, What are the options ?

You could try to find a component that suits your needs. A good place to start searching is ofcoarse, the internet. The BasicZone's own FreeWare Components Page is a good place to visit, but on the moment or vcl library is rather limited in size. Other good sites to visit are listed in our Links page. ( Just click the  button in the toolbar ).

Another thing you could search for are custom written DLL's. You can find them most of the time on the same sites as the components.