Simple CDPlayer

[TheSaint]

I started this project long ago, and initially had some problems which are discussed here. I eventually got a working version, but had trouble selecting a higher drive letter if you had more than one CD-Rom (DVD) drive. I posted the code, but never got any response that allowed me to overcome that issue. At the time, because I was using DVD burner drives exclusively, and I didn't have ready access to my original VB6 code, I put the issue down to a possible change in Redbook commands related to DVD-Roms.

Now I can happily report, that this issue has been resolved. In part because I was able to load, run and check my old VB code in real-time.

Solution

What I eventually discovered, was that I had wrongly interpreted an element of the various web site code I'd used to build my original VB6 program with, when I was converting it to AutoIt code (not having my working VB6 code on hand at the time). The particular command that was at the root of the problem, was the alias command, where you can assign other drive letters to the CDAudio calls. Anyway, at the time (because of conflicting VB code from various web sites) I used the following line in my earlier versions of Simple CDPlayer -

$res = DllCall($dll, "int", "mciSendString", "str", "open " & "!E:" & " type cdaudio wait shareable", "str", "str", "int", 255, "long", 0)oÝ÷ Ú׬µçpØoj¸¨ºÊh²+b¢x§í楫¢i×­sbr!j÷§£!jxvÚºÚ"µÍÌÍÜÈHØ[
    ÌÍÙ  ][ÝÚ[ ][ÝË  ][ÝÛXÚTÙ[Ý[É][ÝË    ][ÝÜÝ][ÝË  ][ÝÓÜ[Ñ]Y[É][ÝÈ  [È ][ÝÉÌÌÎÉ][ÝÈ    [È ÌÍÝÙH   [È ][ÝÈ[XÈÑÚXXHØZ]   ][ÝË  ][ÝÜÝ][ÝË  ][ÝÉ][ÝË    ][ÝÚ[ ][ÝË  ][ÝÛÛÉ][ÝË

You can download the new version of Simple CDPlayer from here. The package also contains the source code, or the executable can be decompiled with AutoIt v3.2.4.9. Note, this code will need to be updated (i.e. GUI #Includes) to work with latest versions of AutoIt. Also see the screenshot below.

Note

At the moment, the program can only detect 3 consecutive CD-Rom (DVD) drives, so if use intermediary drive-letters for other drives (i.e. virtual), then you will run into issues. If this is the case, then either re-arrange your drive-letters (if feasible), or simply modify my code. If I was to modify my code (and I may at some point in the future), I would simply replace the Radio buttons with a Combo - thus allowing for detection and selection of all possible drives (with the appropriate code added for that).

If you have an entry in your Cdplayer.ini file for a loaded CD, then the details (if specified) should appear in the program. You will only have this file in your Windows folder, if another program (i.e. CDex) has put it there ... earlier versions of Windows Media Player (i.e. Cdplayer), always created and used that file, but later versions replaced it to some extent with a true database file. Many other programs (Nero, etc) over the years, used that file too (and many still do). My CDIni Database program still uses the Cdplayer.ini file, and has more detail about it. One day, I may combine both CDIni Database and Simple CDPlayer. I will also probably convert from .ini to some sort of odb database, somewhere around then.

Screenshot

Enjoy!

Edited February 26, 2009 by TheSaint