SKIN Element (deprecated)

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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer.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.]

This page documents a feature that may be unavailable in future versions of Windows Media Player and the Windows Media Player SDK.

The SKIN element specifies a URL to a border.

<SKIN
   HREF = "URL"
/>

Attributes

HREF (required)

URL for a compressed border file with a file name extension .wmz. For Windows Media Player 9 Series or later, this value can reference only border files on the user's hard disk located in the same directory as the metafile playlist. See the example code.

Parent/Child Elements

Hierarchy	Elements
Parent elements	ASX
Child elements	None

Remarks

The SKIN element is used to create a border, which is similar to a skin but is displayed in the Now Playing area of the full mode Windows Media Player. The SKIN element is used only for borders, which appear inside the full mode Windows Media Player, and not for regular skins, which entirely replace the compact mode Windows Media Player.

In a Windows Media Download Package (with a .wmd file name extension), the SKIN element enables a border to have content and link to other sites. The Windows Media Download Package is a compressed file that contains a border file and a Windows Media metafile. The border file (with a .wmz file name extension) is compressed, and includes a skin definition file (with a .wms file name extension).

A SKIN element has three components:

A skin
Some content
A metafile

Skins included with Windows Media Download Packages must be rectangular in shape. Creating borders with skins that are not rectangular may yield unexpected results.

Examples

<ASX version = "3.0">
    <TITLE>A Skin Element</TITLE>
    <SKIN HREF = "YourTest.wmz" />

    <ENTRY>
        <PARAM name="YourAlbumTitle" value="YourTitle.jpg"/>
        <PARAM name="link" value="https://www.proseware.com"/>
        <TITLE>(The Artist)-YourTitle</TITLE>
        <REF HREF="(The Artist)-YourSongTitle.wma"/>
    </ENTRY>

</ASX>

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Version	Windows Media Player version 70 or later