Type 2 Online Store Plug-in

[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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer.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.]

A type 2 online store plug-in is a COM component that implements the IWMPSubscriptionService interface and optionally the IWMPSubscriptionService2 interface. Windows Media Player 9 calls the methods of the IWMPSubscriptionService interface. Windows Media Player 10 or later calls the methods of both the IWMPSubscriptionService and IWMPSubscriptionService2 interfaces.

A type 2 online store plug-in is packaged as an in-process COM server. That is, the plug-in is implemented in a .dll file that is mapped into the Windows Media Player process.

Windows Media Player activates type 2 online store plug-ins as needed. For example, suppose the user attempts to play a protected song, and there is no current license to play it. In that case, Windows Media Player inspects the ContentDistributor attribute in either the file header or the DRM header. If a value exists that matches the key name of an online store, Windows Media Player checks the registry to see whether that online store has provided a type 2 plug-in. If the plug-in exists, Windows Media Player loads the plug-in and calls its methods to determine whether the user is has the rights to play the song.

The following list describes some of the scenarios in which Windows Media Player calls a type 2 online store plug-in.

• The user attempts to play online store content. When this happens, Windows Media Player calls the plug-in's IWMPSubscriptionService::allowPlay method, passing a pointer to the digital media item that the user is attempting to play. The online store can use this as an opportunity to update the user's license to play the content or to disallow playback. If the plug-in returns TRUE in the pfAllowPlay parameter, Windows Media Player attempts to play the content. Playback will still fail if a valid license does not exist; this process does not circumvent digital rights management (DRM).
• The user requests permission to burn content to a CD or DVD. When this happens, Windows Media Player calls the plug-in's IWMPSubscriptionService::allowCDBurn method.
• The user attempts to synchronize online store content with a device, or Windows Media Player is ready to automatically synchronize online store content with a device. When this happens, Windows Media Player calls the plug-in's IWMPSubscriptionService2::prepareForSync method to alert the online store that a media item is about to be synchronized with a particular device, which is identified by its canonical name. This is an opportunity for the online store to determine whether the user is allowed to synchronize the media item with the device. It is also an opportunity for the online store to prepare the device for synchronization and to update records, such as synchronization counts, associated with the device or the media item. The plug-in should pass the permission, preparation, and record-keeping tasks to a separate thread and return immediately from prepareForSync. When the separate thread has finished its work, it must notify Windows Media Player by calling IWMPSubscriptionServiceCallback::onComplete.
• A device becomes available for background processing. When a device is connected, Windows Media Player alerts the online store that the device is available and idle by calling IWMPSubscriptionService2::deviceAvailable.
• The user clicks a button to activate an online store in Windows Media Player. When this occurs, Windows Media Player calls the plug-in's IWMPSubscriptionService2::serviceEvent method. Windows Media Player also calls this method when the user switches to another service.
• Windows Media Player enters a state of low activity. When this happens, the Player calls the plug-in's IWMPSubscriptionService::startBackgroundProcessing method. The online store can use this opportunity to start or wake up any threads that perform background tasks, such as renewing expired licenses or compiling play-count data.
• Windows Media Player enters a state of high activity. When this happens, Windows Media Player calls the plug-in's IWMPSubscriptionService2::stopBackgroundProcessing method. This informs the plug-in that it must suspend any threads that are performing background tasks.

Windows Media Player releases the online store component when the Player session ends. Upon release, the component must interrupt any background processing in progress and then shut down.

Related topics

IWMPSubscriptionService Interface

IWMPSubscriptionService2 Interface

IWMPSubscriptionServiceCallback Interface

Type 2 Online Store Samples