IWMPMediaCollection::getByAuthor method

[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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer.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 getByAuthor method returns an IWMPPlaylist interface that provides access to the media items by the specified author.

Syntax

public IWMPPlaylist getByAuthor(
  System.String bstrAuthor
);

Public Function getByAuthor( _
  ByVal bstrAuthor As System.String _
) As IWMPPlaylist
Implements IWMPMediaCollection.getByAuthor

Parameters

bstrAuthor [in]

The System.String that is the name of the author.

Return value

A WMPLib.IWMPPlaylist interface for the retrieved media items.

Remarks

Before calling this method, you must have read access to the library. For more information, see Library Access.

There are two ways you ways you can retrieve an IWMPMediaCollection interface, and the behavior of the getByAuthor method depends on which of those two ways you use. If you retrieve the interface by calling AxWindowsMediaPlayer.mediaCollection, then the getByAuthor method returns all the media items in the library. However, if you retrieve the interface by calling IWMPLibrary.mediaCollection, then the getByAuthor method returns only the audio items in the library that have the specified attribute and value.

Examples

The following example uses getByAuthor to create a playlist of media items when the user clicks a button. The playlist contains items matching the author's name specified by the user in a text box. The AxWMPLib.AxWindowsMediaPlayer object is represented by the variable named player.

private void playAuthor_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{ 
    // ...Add code to ensure that the text box contains a valid value.
 
    // Retrieve the author's name from the text box. 
    string author = getAuthor.Text;

    // Create the playlist using getByAuthor. 
    WMPLib.IWMPPlaylist pl = player.mediaCollection.getByAuthor(author);

    // Make the new playlist the current playlist. 
    player.currentPlaylist = pl;

    // Play the media in the current playlist. 
    player.Ctlcontrols.play();
}

Public Sub playAuthor_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles playAuthor.Click

    ' ...Add code to ensure that the text box contains a valid value.

    ' Retrieve the author's name from the text box. 
    Dim author As String = getAuthor.Text

    ' Create the playlist using getByAuthor. 
    Dim pl As WMPLib.IWMPPlaylist = player.mediaCollection.getByAuthor(author)

    ' Make the new playlist the current playlist. 
    player.currentPlaylist = pl

    ' Play the media in the current playlist. 
    player.Ctlcontrols.play()

End Sub

Requirements

Requirement Value
Version
Windows Media Player 9 Series or later
Namespace
WMPLib
Assembly
Interop.WMPLib.dll (Interop.WMPLib.dll.dll)

See also

IWMPMediaCollection Interface (VB and C#)

IWMPPlaylist Interface (VB and C#)