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An Advanced Playlist

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[The feature associated with this page, Windows Media Player SDK, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer. MediaPlayer has been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer instead of Windows Media Player SDK, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]

The following playlist example shows how to use a more complete set of playlist elements. When writing your own code, you will need to change all URLs and file names to valid file names that are accessible to your Windows Media Player.

Example Code

<ASX version = "3.0">
    <TITLE>Advanced Playlist Demo</TITLE>
    <ABSTRACT>More Information at this website</ABSTRACT>
    <MOREINFO HREF="https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia" />
    <BANNER HREF = "..\samples\home.gif">
        <ABSTRACT>MSN website</ABSTRACT>
        <MOREINFO HREF = "https://www.msn.com" />
    </BANNER>
    <PARAM name="track" value="1"/>
    <ENTRY ClientSkip="no">
        <BANNER HREF = "..\sample\contact.gif">
            <ABSTRACT>Visit Our website</ABSTRACT>
            <MOREINFO HREF = "https://www.msn.com" />
        </BANNER>
        <MOREINFO HREF = "https://www.msn.com" />
        <!-- This is the ToolTip text for Title/Author/Copyright text -->
        <ABSTRACT>Visit the YourImage website</ABSTRACT>
        <TITLE>The first entry in an advanced playlist</TITLE>
        <AUTHOR>YourImage</AUTHOR>
        <COPYRIGHT>(c)2000 YourImage</COPYRIGHT>
        <!-- This is a comment.  Change the following path to point to 
            your Windows Media file -->
         <REF HREF = "..\media\laure.wma" />
    </ENTRY>

    <ENTRY>
        <TITLE>The second entry in the advanced playlist</TITLE>
        <AUTHOR>Microsoft Corporation</AUTHOR>
        <COPYRIGHT>(c)2000 Microsoft Corporation</COPYRIGHT>
        <!-- This is the ToolTip text for Title text -->
        <ABSTRACT>This is where you can include your tool tips</ABSTRACT>
        <!-- This is a comment.  Change the following path to point to 
            your Windows Media file -->
        <REF HREF = "..\media\mellow.wma" />
    </ENTRY>
</ASX>

The following table describes the preceding advanced playlist.

Line Description
<ASX version = "3.0"> The ASX element identifies for the client (Windows Media Player) that this is a Windows Media metafile playlist. The version attribute specifies the version number of the metafile elements.
<TITLE>Advanced Playlist Demo</TITLE> The TITLE element identifies the title of the playlist as a whole. Windows Media Player displays this metadata as the show title.
<ABSTRACT>More Information at this Web Site< /ABSTRACT> The ABSTRACT element provides the ToolTip for the show title.
<MOREINFO HREF ="https://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia" /> The MOREINFO element links the show title to an URL. Pausing the mouse pointer over the show title accesses the ToolTip, if defined. Selecting the show title will then open the designated URL.
<BANNER HREF = "..\\samples\\home.gif"> The BANNER element creates an advertising banner in Windows Media Player. The HREF attribute specifies the banner graphic (which must be 194 pixels wide by 32 pixels tall).
<ABSTRACT>MSN website</ABSTRACT> The ABSTRACT element provides the ToolTip for the BANNER.
<MOREINFO HREF = "https://www.msn.com" </ABSTRACT> The MOREINFO element links the BANNER graphic to a URL. Holding the mouse pointer over the BANNER accesses a ToolTip, if defined. Selecting the BANNER will open the designated URL.
<PARAM name = "track" value="1"/> The PARAM element defines a custom parameter. The name attribute defines the name of the custom parameter as "track". The value attribute defines the value of "track" to be "1".
</BANNER> Closes the BANNER element
<ENTRY ClientSkip="no"> Begins the ENTRY element block. This element defines a clip in a playlist by specifying a link in the REF element. Setting ClientSkip to "no" means that the user cannot fast forward or jump to the next clip
<BANNER HREF = "..\\samples\\contact.gif"> Creates an advertising banner. The HREF is the banner graphic (194x32 pixels).
<ABSTRACT>Visit Our website< /ABSTRACT> Provides the ToolTip for the banner.
<MOREINFO HREF = "https://www.msn.com" /> Provides a link to the URL for the banner. Selecting the banner connects to the URL.
</BANNER> Closes the BANNER element
<MOREINFO HREF = "https://www.msn.com" /> Provides a link to the URL for the clip Title text.
<!--This is the ToolTip text for the Title text --> A comment. Comments are only be visible when the code is viewed.
<Abstract>Visit the YourImage website</abstract> Provides the ToolTip for the clip Title text.
<TITLE>The first entry in an advanced playlist</TITLE> Identifies the title of the clip. It is the clip TITLE because it is nested within an ENTRY element. Windows Media Player displays this metadata as the clip title.
<AUTHOR>YourImage</AUTHOR> Identifies the author of the media clip. This metadata is displayed as the clip AUTHOR by Windows Media Player.
<COPYRIGHT>(c)2000 YourImage</COPYRIGHT> The COPYRIGHT element specifies the copyrights associated with the media clip. Windows Media Player displays this metadata as the clip COPYRIGHT.
<!-- This is a comment. Change the following path to point to your Windows Media file --> A comment, in the same format as XML comments.
<REF HREF = "..\\media\\laure.wma" /> URL for the media content. The REF element identifies the line as a pointer to media content. The HREF attribute is the URL to the file.Note the use of the XML-like closing of the element , "/>" instead of "</REF>". Because this element does not have child elements, it closes itself.
</ENTRY> Specifies the end of the of the first ENTRY element.
<ENTRY> Begins the second ENTRY element.
<TITLE>The second Entry in the advanced playlist</TITLE> Identifies the title of the second clip.
<AUTHOR>Microsoft Corporation</AUTHOR> Identifies the author of the second media clip.
<!--This is the ToolTip text for the Title/Author/Copyright text --> A comment. It will only be visible when the code is viewed.
<ABSTRACT>This is where you can include your tool tips</ABSTRACT> This is the ToolTip text for the TITLE text of the clip.
<!-- This is a comment. Change the following path to point to your Windows Media file --> A comment. It will only be visible when the code is viewed.
<REF HREF = ..\\media\\mellow.wma" /> Identifies the line as a pointer to media content. The HREF attribute is the URL to the file.
</ENTRY> Specifies the end of the second ENTRY element.
</ASX> Specifies the end of the playlist.

Creating Metafile Playlists

Example Playlists

Metafile Playlists

Windows Media Metafile Elements Reference

Windows Media Metafile Guide