Order of Precedence
[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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer.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.]
Not all metafile element attributes are created equal. Some metafile element attributes override other element attributes. Element attributes can be overridden by similar element attributes depending on position and order. Any attributes of a metafile playlist override those contained in a referenced Windows Media file. An attribute that overrides another has higher precedence.
The hierarchy, highest precedence to lowest, is shown in the following table. The highest precedence item is never overridden.
| Scope | Hierarchy |
|---|---|
| "Signed DRM content" | Never overridden. |
| REF element scope | Only overridden by signed DRM content. |
| ENTRY element scope | Overrides elements of the categories below. |
| ASX scope | Overrides media file elements. |
| Windows Media file scope | Overridden by all of the above. |
"Signed DRM content" - Digital signature object.
Attributes of Signed DRM content will override all others. For example, the Copyright information of "Signed DRM content" will not be overridden. It will always be streamed and presented.
REF element scope
Attributes of the REF element will override other element attributes, but not signed DRM content.
ENTRY scope
Attributes of the ENTRY element will be overridden by the REF element attribute but will override other element attributes. TITLE metadata from the ENTRY element is displayed instead of the title information from the media file.
ASX scope
Any properties that are entered in the metafile override those contained in the Windows Media file. Attributes of the ENTRY element override ASX element attributes. While the ENTRY element's referenced media clip is playing, TITLE metadata from the ENTRY element is displayed instead of title information from the ASX element.
Windows Media file scope
Attributes of the Windows Media file are overridden by any metafile attributes. Media file metadata is displayed only if there is no metadata defined for that element in the metafile.
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