Embedding VLC player in MS Access

[damFlard!]

I'm using MS Access (2003) as an organizer for MP3 files.
I want to embed a MP3 player in an Access form.
Normally, you've got to register the appropriate ActiveX element, and then you're able to place the player in.
Sadly, this doesn't work with the VLC player.
Anyone got a hint?

[zorglub]

Hello,

The VLC ActiveX can be used outside of IE only in the current development version. You can find some nightly builds at http://vthr.videolan.org/~videolan or you can wait the next release (let's say mid october)

[damFlard!]

mmm, I've tried some development versions, but it seems there's some work in progress here (obviously).
Guess I've got to wait till it's done.

I've been looking for several solutions for my goals, but really no player seems to be able to do what I want.
I used a version of RealPlayer, which worked fine. But you can only use one Realplayer, and I want to use two. (act like a DJ)
I can't get rid of an old version of Windows Mediaplayer (6.4 or something), that doesn't support newer MP3 codecs.
In fact, I tried several others, most of them are really stand-alone players, with a lot of fancy extra's, but that's not what I'm looking for either.

So I can only hope VLC might be a solution.
Keep up the good work!

[Quovodis]

the latest activex checkins of august) should allow to use the plugin with any of the Microsoft Office apps;

I've tried it on MS Word 2003, MS Excel 2003, MS Access 2003, MS PowerPoint 2003, MS Visio 2002.

those checkins should be available on any nightly build on or after the 22nd of August 2005

[damFlard!]

I've just downloaded the win32-0.8.4-20050822-0130.exe version, and though I can registrate the Axvlc.dll file, and I can add the VLC player to my form, I only get a picture of a white / orange traffic thing object. (Don't know how it's called in English...)
I am doing something wrong?

[Quovodis]

what you are seeing is the plugin 'splash' screen, which is always shown when you are in design mode (you can't play in design mode).
To play something, you will need to add a target, either by setting the MRL property through the properties dialog, or by using the more complicated addTarget method in your VB code, as documented in this post

viewtopic.php?p=35906#35906

then you need to switch your form to user mode to play the MRL.

Since you only want to play MP3, you can set the Visible property to false, so that the plugin is hidden when your form is in user mode; however it will be visible in design mode.

[damFlard!]

He, it works. Two players work too! Can pause, stop and start. mmm, ok.
There aren't any controls visible. Is that the plan, or will they be added?
Will there be a volume- and a time slider?

By the way, it's not that stable. Got kicked out of Access very often. I know this is just a night build, I wish I could help, but I'm not capable of this kind of programming. But if you need someone to test something, just send a reply.

Thanks for the advice.

[Quovodis]

Could you describe how you can get MS Access to crash

is it during

- design (moving the components around, editing properties, etc...)
- runtime (when launching queries, when the plugin is playing or should be playing)
- when saving the database

etc.. some steps to reproduce the problem are always welcome