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Using SAMI with the Windows Media Player Control in a Browser

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[The feature associated with this page, Windows Media Player SDK, is a legacy feature. It has been superseded by MediaPlayer. MediaPlayer has been optimized for Windows 10 and Windows 11. Microsoft strongly recommends that new code use MediaPlayer instead of Windows Media Player SDK, when possible. Microsoft suggests that existing code that uses the legacy APIs be rewritten to use the new APIs if possible.]

Instead of creating a SAMI file for each font style or language, you can declare different style classes in one file by using basic scripting and the Windows Media Player control object model. You can create custom controls that enable the user to choose between the different style and language options. Furthermore, you have complete control over the design of the Player interface and the customization of each function.

For detailed information about embedding the Windows Media Player control in a webpage, see Simple Example of Scripting in a Web Page.

The following example code demonstrates how to use closed captions with the Windows Media Player control embedded in a webpage. It includes controls to allow the user to select font style and language.

<HTML>
<HEAD>

<SCRIPT>
  // The following variable is used to prevent multiple initialization.
  var initialized = false;
  // The following function populates the select boxes.
  // It is called the first time the media file is opened.
  // Before then, the SAMI settings cannot be retrieved.
  function initialize() {
    var newOption;
    for (var i = 0; i < Player.closedCaption.SAMILangCount; i++) {
      newOption = document.createElement("OPTION");
      newOption.text = Player.closedCaption.getSAMILangName(i);
      newOption.value = newOption.text;
      CCLang.options.add(newOption);
    }
    for (var i = 0; i < Player.closedCaption.SAMIStyleCount; i++) {
      newOption = document.createElement("OPTION");
      newOption.text = Player.closedCaption.getSAMIStyleName(i);
      newOption.value = newOption.text;
      CCStyle.options.add(newOption);
    }
    initialized = true;
  }
</SCRIPT>

<!-- The following script code runs when the page is fully loaded. -->
<SCRIPT for="window" event="onload()">
  Player.closedCaption.captioningID = "captions";
  Player.closedCaption.SAMIFileName = "https://www.proseware.com/Media/seattle.smi";
  // The digital media file will open automatically, after which
  // the OpenStateChange event (handled below) will fire.
  Player.URL = "https://www.proseware.com/Media/seattle.wmv";
</SCRIPT>

<!-- The following script code runs when a media file is opened. -->
<SCRIPT for="Player" event="OpenStateChange(NewState)">
  // The first time this event fires, the Player stops and the 
  // initialize function is called. This allows the user to 
  // select a language and style before viewing the file.
  if (13 == NewState && !initialized) {
    Player.controls.stop();
    initialize();
  }
</SCRIPT>

</HEAD>
<BODY>

<OBJECT 
  ID="Player" 
  classID="clsid:6BF52A52-394A-11d3-B153-00C04F79FAA6"
  height="200" 
  width="250"
>
</OBJECT>

<TABLE height="100" width="250" border="3" bordercolor="blue">
  <TR align="center">
    <TD bgcolor="white">
      <SELECT ID="CCLang" onClick="Player.closedCaption.SAMILang = value"></SELECT>
      <SELECT ID="CCStyle" onClick="Player.closedCaption.SAMIStyle = value"></SELECT>
    </TD>
  </TR>
  <TR height="75">
    <TD bgcolor="blue">
      <DIV id="captions"></DIV>
    </TD>
  </TR>
</TABLE>

</BODY>
</HTML>

Adding Closed Captions to Digital Media