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You can add the Windows Media Player 9 Series or later ActiveX control to a .NET Framework application through the Toolbox in Visual Studio.

Before creating a new project, make sure that the latest version of Windows Media Player and the Windows Media Player SDK is installed on your computer.

Start Visual Studio, then create a new project.

In Visual Studio, open the Toolbox.

If Windows Media Player does not appear in the Components portion of the Toolbox, do the following:

If Windows Media Player does not appear in the list, click Browse, and then open Wmp.dll, which should be in the WindowsSystem32 folder.

You can now select Windows Media Player in the Toolbox and add it to a form.

Visual Studio gives the Windows Media Player control a default name such as "axWindowsMediaPlayer1". You may want to change the name to something more easily remembered, such as "Player".

Adding the Windows Media Player control from the Toolbox also adds references to two libraries created by Visual Studio, AxWMPLib and WMPLib. You can find them in the Solution Explorer under References.

To make using the objects in the Player namespace easier, you should include the namespace in the using or imports directives of your files, as follows:

The directive ensures that you can refer to Player objects without fully qualifying their names.

NoteThe Windows Media Player control is an AxWindowsMediaPlayer object from the AxWMPLib namespace. However, the AxWindowsMediaPlayer class uses data types, interfaces, and other elements from the WMPLib namespace.

When you first add the Windows Media Player control to a form, it will be visible. If you do not want to use the visible image of the Player in your application, hide the default Player by setting any one of the following properties:

You can set these properties either in code or in the Properties window when the Windows Media Player control is selected in the form designer.

The object model for the Windows Media Player control is basically the same in the .NET Framework as in unmanaged code and script. However, there are differences in how elements are exposed:

Use the Object Browser in Visual Studio to locate the correct API names for methods and objects in the AxWMPLib and WMPLib namespaces.

When you distribute your application, be sure to install AxInterop.WMPLib.dll and Interop.WMPLib.dll in the application folder. You will also need to make sure that the required Windows Media Player version is installed on the user's computer.

Originally posted here:
Using the Windows Media Player Control with Microsoft Visual ...