1 MCIWndX OLE Control
1.1 What is MCIWndX ?
MCIWndX is a 32-bit OLE control wrapper around Windows’ MCIWnd multimedia window class. The
purpose of this class is to allow applications to easily add multimedia functionality to their applications.
The MCIWndX control brings this same functionality with even greater ease to any development tool
which can host OLE controls, including Microsoft Visual Basic 4.0, Microsoft Visual FoxPro 3.0,
Microsoft Access 7.0 and Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0.
The MCIWndX control is derived from and completely compatible with the original MCIWndX VBX
provided as part of the Video for Windows 1.1 Developers Kit. However, it has been extended to provide
additional functionality and features, making it even more powerful and easy to use.
1.2 What’s new in MCIWndX ?
Several new features have been added to MCIWndX:
1. An EditCopy method has been added. Calling this function causes the current frame to be copied to
the clipboard (if the active device has a concept of “frames”).
2. A new ExtendedError event has been added. In the original VBX, the Error event passed in a string
parameter. However, because the error strings were localized, writing code which checked what
type of error had occurred was difficult. To maintain compatibility with the VBX, the original
Error event has been retained, and a property (WantExtendedError) has been added to determine
whether the Error or the ExtendedError event will fire.
3. A new ExtendedModeChange event has been added. In the original VBX, the ModeChange event
passed in a string parameter indicating the new mode. However, because the mode strings were
localized, writing code which checked what the new mode was was difficult. To maintain
compatibility with the VBX, the original ModeChange event has been retained, and a property
(WantExtendedMode) has been added to determine whether the ModeChange or the
ExtendedModeChange event will fire.
4. Support has been added for the DblClick event, MouseDown and MouseUp events. A new property,
DefaultContextMenuEnabled has been added to support this.
5. A new Signal event has been added to provide support for MCI’s signalling abilities.
6. An hMCIWnd property has been added - this gives the hWnd of the MCIWnd at runtime, which can
be used with the MCIWnd API’s and macros.
1.3 How to use MCIWndX
Please refer to the MCIWndX documentation in the Video for Windows DK or the MCIWnd
documentation in the Win32 SDK for complete information about how to use MCIWndX.
1.4 Complete reference
MCIWndX is simply a wrapper for the MCIWnd window class, which is part of Windows. Therefore,
most functionality is described in good detail in the MCIWnd reference in the Win32 SDK
documentation. The MCIWndX source code shows exactly how the API’s are being used - refer to it
when in doubt.
