PARAM Element

Article
06/20/2023

[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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer.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 PARAM element defines a custom parameter associated with a playlist or an element of a playlist.

<PARAM
   NAME = "parameter name"
   VALUE = "parameter value"
/>

Parameters

A parameter can also be associated with the show rather than an individual clip, by placing this element directly after the ASX tag. These items are referenced by their names and an index value beginning with zero.

Note

This ASX element is only available for Windows Media Player version 6.01 and later. The standard installation of Microsoft Internet Explorer 5 includes a compatible version of Windows Media Player.

Attributes

NAME

Name used to access the parameter value. The name can be any valid string. The following strings have already been defined.

String	Description
AllowShuffle	The VALUE attribute specifies whether the metafile playlist allows the Windows Media Player shuffle feature to play the entries in random order. The VALUE attribute can be set to "Yes" or "No". The default value is "No".
CanPause	The VALUE attribute specifies whether the user can pause playback. The VALUE attribute can be set to "Yes" or "No". The default value is "Yes".
CanSeek	The VALUE attribute specifies whether the user can change the current playback position by using the seek bar, fast forward, or fast reverse. The VALUE attribute can be set to "Yes" or "No". The default value is "Yes".
CanSkipBack	The VALUE attribute specifies whether the user can skip backward to the previous playlist item by clicking Previous. The VALUE attribute can be set to "Yes" or "No". The default value is "Yes".
CanSkipForward	The VALUE attribute specifies whether the user can skip forward to the next playlist item by clicking Next. The VALUE attribute can be set to "Yes" or "No". The default value is "Yes".
CPRadioID	The VALUE attribute specifies the ID of a radio feed provided by a type 1 online store. That is, the VALUE attribute must be equal to the RadioID field of one of the radio feeds in the online store's catalog. The parent element is the ASX element.
Encoding	The VALUE attribute is set to "utf-8" to indicate that the metafile is a Unicode (UTF-8) encoded file.
HtmlFlink	The VALUE attribute is a string provided by a type 1 online store. Windows Media Player passes the string to the IWMPContentPartner::GetItemInfo method, which is implemented by the online store's plug-in. The GetItemInfo method returns the URL of the webpage to display in the Now Playing pane of the Player. The webpage has access to all of the methods that the External object exposes to type 1 stores. For a list of those methods, see External Object for Type 1 Online Stores.
HTMLView	The VALUE attribute specifies a URL that displays in the Now Playing pane of the full mode Player for the duration of the playlist or the current entry depending on whether the parent element is the ASX element or an ENTRY element. HTMLView is not supported for the Windows Media Player control.
Log:FieldName[:NameSpace]	The VALUE attribute specifies the value that the indicated log field will be set to. The :NameSpace portion of the NAME attribute is optional.
Prebuffer	The VALUE attribute specifies whether the next playlist entry begins buffering before the end of the current entry, which enables a seamless transition. The VALUE attribute can be set to "true" or "false".
ShowWhileBuffering	The VALUE attribute specifies whether an image file referenced by the current ENTRY element continues to display past its specified duration time while the next playlist entry is buffered. The VALUE attribute can be set to "true" or "false".

VALUE

Value associated with this parameter. It can be either a numeric or string value.

Parent/Child Elements

Hierarchy	Elements
Parent elements	ASX, ENTRY
Child elements	None

Remarks

This element allows users to place additional information about each clip inside the ENTRY element that contains it. To retrieve metadata information specified in the playlist ENTRY, use the Media.getItemInfo method. The Media.getItemInfo method retrieves the value of the VALUE attribute, given the name of the parameter. Previous versions of Windows Media Player retrieve metadata information specified in the playlist ENTRY, using the GetMediaParameter method given the name of the parameter and an index number for the entry.

Note

Examples

<ASX VERSION="3.0">
   <TITLE>Example Media Player Show</TITLE>
   <PARAM NAME="Director" VALUE="Jane D." />
   
   <ENTRY>
      <TITLE>Example Clip</TITLE>
      <REF HREF="https://sample.microsoft.com/media.asf" />
      <PARAM NAME="Location" VALUE="North America" />
      <PARAM NAME="Release Date" VALUE="March 1998" />
   </ENTRY>
   
   <ENTRY>
      <TITLE>Another Clip</TITLE>
      <REF HREF="https://sample.microsoft.com/more_media.asf" />
      <PARAM NAME="Location" VALUE="Japan">
      <PARAM NAME="Release Date" VALUE="December 1996" />
   </ENTRY>
</ASX>

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Version	Windows Media Player version 7.0 or later, Windows Media Player 9 Series or later is required for the predefined NAME attributes, Windows Media Player 10 or later is required for the predefined names CanPause, CanSeek, CanSkipBack, and CanSkipForward