Redirecting a video to a picturebox using mciSendString

**nodoid** · Jul 28 '10, 04:16 PM

Hi,

I'm using the code (roughly) from http://www.dotnetmonst er.com/Uwe/Forum.aspx/dotnet-csharp/92578/Playing-an-avi-file-in-a-C-app to send a video to a picturebox (in this case, it's an mpeg file).

My code looks like this

Code:

    public class video
    {
        [DllImport("winmm.dll")]
        private static extern long mciSendString(string command, StringBuilder returned, int len, IntPtr callback);

        public void videoplayer(string filename, System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox pb)
        {
            string command = "";

            command = "open \"" + filename + "\" alias VideoFile wait";
            mciSendString(command, null, 0, IntPtr.Zero);

            command = "window VideoFile handle " + pb.Handle.ToString();
            mciSendString(command, null, 0, IntPtr.Zero);

            command = "put VideoFile destination at 0 0 " + pb.Width.ToString() + " " + pb.Height.ToString() + " wait";
            mciSendString(command, null, 0, IntPtr.Zero);

            command = "play VideoFile";
            mciSendString(command, null, 0, IntPtr.Zero);
        }
    }

The picturebox is generated on the fly using an xml file to define where it is like this

Code:

if (fort.ElementType == "System.Windows.Forms.PictureBox" && fort.WithExternal == true &&
                            fort.ExternalFile != "")
                        {
                            PictureBox b = new PictureBox();
                            b.Location = new Point(fort.X, fort.Y);
                            b.Name = fort.ElementName;
                            b.Height = fort.Height;
                            b.Width = fort.Width;
                            b.SizeMode = PictureBoxSizeMode.StretchImage;
                            if (fort.HasVideo == false)
                            {
                                try
                                {
                                    b.Image = Image.FromFile(place + fort.ExternalFile);
                                }
                                catch (System.NotSupportedException)
                                {
                                    err.throwFileNotFound(place + fort.ExternalFile);
                                }
                            }
                            else
                            {
                                video v = new video();
                                v.videoplayer(place + fort.ExternalFile, b);
                            }
                            b.TabIndex = fort.TabIndex;
                            form1.Controls.Add(b);
                        }

The problem is that nothing is showing up in the picturebox. Am I doing something in the videoplayer class incorrectly or am I trying to play the video before it's time.

I have tried putting the call to play the video after the control has been added, but to no avail - I get nothing.

Any advice would be appreciated

TTFN

Paul