How to program VB plugin that reads the title and artist from Winamp?

[ARossius]

Hello all,

i want to program a Visual Basic plug in for Winamp that displays the currently playing title and artist on an LC Display (the available plug ins don't work for me as my LCD has a different protocol). LCD interfacing is no problem, but how can I make a plug in for Winamp (that is started and exited together with Winamp) and how can I read the title/artist/state (stopped, paused, playing, ...) from within the plugin? It would also be nice to have an interrupt (event) whenever anything changes in Winamp, as the LCD only needs to be changed when anything in winamp changes.

If anyone has a template (without the LCD part, only displaying the information to screen or anything), please post it! I think it will have to compile to a DLL file if I understood the tutorial correctly.

Thanks in Advance!

[omni96]

i have almost the same problem and i posted it here...i was thinking about an LCD display too...how did u managed to send output to the LCD?

[ARossius]

If you don't know how to get the data to the LCD, you probably have an LCD that is already supported by an existing plug in. If not: I used a DLL file called inpout32.dll to directly control the I/O lines of the PC's parallel port. The interfacing (commands, timing) is described in the datasheet of the LED's controller, if you don't have that, you won't be able to write any useable LCD plug in at all (use Google to find the datasheet of your controller).
But the LCD I want the plug in for is a LCD connected via serial Port and uses a protocol I 'invented' myself, so there is no plug in available that supports my protocol! That's why, I will have to write one myself, but I don't know how to program C or C++, unfortunately.
I don't know how fast the usual reply times are here, but is there noone who has a plug in written in Visual Basic that's capable of reading the title and artist from Winamp?

Thanks again, if anyone can help me.

[CaboWaboAddict]

See this...

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....hreadid=179978

[omni96]

this thread's title is "How to program VB plugin that reads the title and artist from Winamp?"
so that gen w. thing don't solve the problem persented here...:\

[CaboWaboAddict]

Sorry, I thought someone asked how to do a Gen Plugin in VB...

Originally posted by ARossius
If anyone has a template (without the LCD part, only displaying the information to screen or anything), please post it! I think it will have to compile to a DLL file if I understood the tutorial correctly.

This does the basics on how to do the DLL part, just add the code you need.

[ARossius]

Thanks, thatb template helps a lot! I managed to create a working plug in by now that outputs some hard coded text to the LCD when Winamp is started.
Now the second problem: the plugin needs, of course, to know the title and artist of the currently playing song (if Winamp is stopped, it may be empty strings or something, that doesn't matter). I've had a look at http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....hreadid=180383
but the ZIP file there doesn't seem to include an approbiate function (I'm using VB6, if that's of interest).
I hope this is possible at all, if yes, please tell me how!

Thanks!

[CaboWaboAddict]

Glad to help.

Originally posted by ARossius
... the plugin needs, of course, to know the title and artist of the currently playing song (if Winamp is stopped, it may be empty strings or something, that doesn't matter). I've had a look at http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....hreadid=180383
but the ZIP file there doesn't seem to include an approbiate function ...

All of the code that is used in external programs, can be used in a plugin. Search for VB and/or Basic in this forum.

Also, look at:http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....hreadid=180297

All of the commands in this listing can be used with the plugin code.

[ARossius]

I couldn't find a way to get the title and artist via window messages in the link you gave me, but the idea with using Winamp's window title was nice. I have used that for now and it works nicely, thus I consider my plug in as finished now. If anyone is interested in parts of the code, contact me here:
http://home.pages.at/arnerossius/kontakt.htm
the circuit for the serial LCD is described here (german!), the plug in will be available there soon:
http://home.pages.at/arnerossius/sch...ro/ser2lcd.htm

Thanks again for all your help and thanks to the programmers of Winamp, of course!

[CaboWaboAddict]

Did you get the LCD output working?

If so what one are you using - homebrew or purchased?

[omni96]

:\ i still want the code for finding the title with window msgs

[ARossius]

The LCD output wasn't a problem to me as I had written other programs interfacing to LCDs before. I used a normal HD44780 LCD (with two controllers as it was 4x27 in size, which exceeds the 80 characters one controller can interface) and designed, built and programmed an RS232-to-HD44780 interface converter. You can see the LCD and the circuit on the photos located at the bottom of the second link I posted.

i still want the code for finding the title with window msgs

That would be the better way, of course, but as I wasn't able to find that code, the other way will have to work for now. If you find the other code, please post it in this thread! Thanks!

[polomaniac]

Originally posted by omni96
:\ i still want the code for finding the title with window msgs

i've writtin this for a ms office macro so i can control winamp while type my reports. it prevents inoing switching between screens of ms office and winamp.
you're needed peace is WinAmp_SongInfo

code:


Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpClassName As String, ByVal lpWindowName As String) As Long

Private Declare Function SendMessageSTRING Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As String) As Long



Private Const WM_GETTEXT = &HD

Private Const WM_SETTEXT = &HC



'#######3

'Private Declare Function FindWindow Lib "user32" Alias "FindWindowA" (ByVal lpszClassName As String, ByVal lpszWindowName As String) As Long

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal Msg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, ByVal lParam As Long) As Long



Private hWndWinamp As Long

Private Const MAX_PATH As Long = 260

Private Const WM_USER As Long = &H400

Private Const WM_COMMAND = &H111

Private Const wPREVIOUSTRACK As Long = 40044

Private Const wPLAY As Long = 40045

Private Const wPAUSE As Long = 40046

Private Const wSTOP As Long = 40047

Private Const wNEXTTRACK As Long = 40048



Dim Temp As String

Dim WinAmpSong As String * 256



Private Function GetWinampWindow() As Long

    GetWinampWindow = FindWindow("Winamp v1.x", vbNullString)

End Function



Sub WinAmp_NextTrack()

'

' AcceptAllChanges Macro

' Macro gemaakt op 28-12-2006 door IKKE

'

winamphwnd = GetWinampWindow

SendMessage winamphwnd, WM_COMMAND, wNEXTTRACK, 0&



End Sub





Sub WinAmp_PrevTrack()

'

' AcceptAllChanges Macro

' Macro gemaakt op 28-12-2006 door IKKE

'

winamphwnd = GetWinampWindow

SendMessage winamphwnd, WM_COMMAND, wPREVIOUSTRACK, 0&



End Sub







Sub WinAmp_Play()

'

' AcceptAllChanges Macro

' Macro gemaakt op 28-12-2006 door IKKE

'

winamphwnd = GetWinampWindow

SendMessage winamphwnd, WM_COMMAND, wPLAY, 0&



End Sub

Sub WinAmp_Pause()

'

' AcceptAllChanges Macro

' Macro gemaakt op 28-12-2006 door IKKE

'

winamphwnd = GetWinampWindow

SendMessage winamphwnd, WM_COMMAND, wPAUSE, 0&



End Sub



Sub WinAmp_Stop()

'

' AcceptAllChanges Macro

' Macro gemaakt op 28-12-2006 door IKKE

'

winamphwnd = GetWinampWindow

SendMessage winamphwnd, WM_COMMAND, wSTOP, 0&



End Sub





Sub WinAmp_GetSongInfo()



Dim lWord As Long

Dim lWinamp As Long

Dim sCaption As String * 256

    

    Temp = ActiveDocument.Name

    

    lWord = FindWindow("OpusApp", vbNullString)

    

        lWinamp = GetWinampWindow

        

        SendMessageSTRING lWinamp, WM_GETTEXT, 256, WinAmpSong

        

        If InStr(1, WinAmpSong, "Winamp", vbTextCompare) > 4 Then

                WinAmpSong = "   | |   " & Left(WinAmpSong, InStr(1, WinAmpSong, "Winamp", vbTextCompare) - 3)

        Else

                WinAmpSong = "   | |   " & Left(WinAmpSong, 11)

        End If

        

    sCaption = Temp & " - Microsoft Word" & WinAmpSong

    

    SendMessageSTRING lWord, WM_SETTEXT, 256, sCaption

    

    

End Sub