PlaySound

A version of this page is also available for

Windows Embedded CE 6.0 R3

4/8/2010

This function plays a sound specified by a file name, resource, or system event.

Syntax

BOOL WINAPI PlaySound( 
  LPCSTR pszSound, 
  HMODULE hmod, 
  DWORD fdwSound 
);

Parameters

• pszSound
  Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the sound to play. If this parameter is NULL, any currently playing waveform sound is stopped. To stop a non-waveform sound, specify SND_PURGE in the fdwSound parameter.

  Three flags in fdwSound (SND_ALIAS, SND_FILENAME, and SND_RESOURCE) determine whether the name is interpreted as an alias for a system event, a file name, or a resource identifier. If none of these flags are specified, PlaySound searches the registry or the WIN.INI file for an association with the specified sound name. If an association is found, the sound event is played. If no association is found in the registry, the name is interpreted as a file name.

• hmod
  Handle to the executable file that contains the resource to be loaded. This parameter must be NULL unless SND_RESOURCE is specified in fdwSound.

• fdwSound
  Flags for playing the sound. The following table shows the possible values.

  Value	Description
  SND_ALIAS	The pszSound parameter is a system-event alias in the registry or the WIN.INI file. Do not use with either SND_FILENAME or SND_RESOURCE.
  SND_ASYNC	The sound is played asynchronously and PlaySound returns immediately after beginning the sound. To terminate an asynchronously played waveform sound, call PlaySound with pszSound set to NULL.
  SND_FILENAME	The pszSound parameter is a file name.
  SND_LOOP	The sound plays repeatedly until PlaySound is called again with the pszSound parameter set to NULL. You must also specify the SND_ASYNC flag to indicate an asynchronous sound event.
  SND_MEMORY	A sound event's file is loaded in RAM. The parameter specified by pszSound must point to an image of a sound in memory.
  SND_NODEFAULT	No default sound event is used. If the sound cannot be found, PlaySound returns silently without playing the default sound.
  SND_NOSTOP	The specified sound event will yield to another sound event that is already playing. If a sound cannot be played because the resource needed to generate that sound is busy playing another sound, the function immediately returns FALSE without playing the requested sound. If this flag is not specified, PlaySound attempts to stop the currently playing sound so that the device can be used to play the new sound.
  SND_NOWAIT	If the driver is busy, return immediately without playing the sound.
  SND_RESOURCE	The pszSound parameter is a resource identifier; hmod must identify the instance that contains the resource. When creating the resource, you must identify it as being of the WAVE type, see Using PlaySound with a Resource Identifier.
  SND_SYNC	Synchronous playback of a sound event. PlaySound returns after the sound event completes.

Return Value

TRUE indicates success. FALSE indicates failure.

Remarks

Windows Embedded CE does not support the SND_ALIAS_ID and SND_PURGE flags for the fdwSound parameter. The sound specified by pszSound must fit into available physical memory and be playable by an installed waveform-audio device driver. PlaySound searches the file system directories for the sound according to the search order that was specified by the OEM of the target device. If it cannot find the specified sound, PlaySound uses the default system event sound entry instead. If the function can find neither the system default entry nor the default sound, it makes no sound and returns FALSE.

For examples of how to use the PlaySound function, see Using the PlaySound Function.

Requirements

See Also

Reference

Waveform Audio Functions
sndPlaySound