IWMPMediaCollection::getByGenre method

[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 It has been superseded by MediaPlayer.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.]

The getByGenre method returns an IWMPPlaylist interface that provides access to media items of the specified genre.

Syntax

public IWMPPlaylist getByGenre(
  System.String bstrGenre
);

Public Function getByGenre( _
  ByVal bstrGenre As System.String _
) As IWMPPlaylist
Implements IWMPMediaCollection.getByGenre

Parameters

bstrGenre [in]

The System.String that is the name of the genre.

Return value

A WMPLib.IWMPPlaylist interface for the retrieved media items.

Remarks

Before calling this method, you must have read access to the library. For more information, see Library Access.

There are two ways you ways you can retrieve an IWMPMediaCollection interface, and the behavior of the getByGenre method depends on which of those two ways you use. If you retrieve the interface by calling AxWindowsMediaPlayer.mediaCollection, then the getByGenre method returns all the media items in the library. However, if you retrieve the interface by calling IWMPLibrary.mediaCollection, then the getByGenre method returns only the audio items in the library that have the specified attribute and value.

Examples

The following example uses getByGenre to retrieve a playlist of media items when the user clicks a button. The playlist contains items with the genre specified by the user in a text box. The AxWMPLib.AxWindowsMediaPlayer object is represented by the variable named player.

private void playGenre_Click(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{ 
    // ...Add code to ensure that the text box contains a valid value.
 
    // Retrieve the genre that the user entered in the text box. 
    string genre = getGenre.Text;

    // Create the playlist using getByGenre. 
    WMPLib.IWMPPlaylist pl = player.mediaCollection.getByGenre(genre);

    // Make the new playlist the current playlist. 
    player.currentPlaylist = pl;

    // Play the media in the current playlist. 
    player.Ctlcontrols.play();
}

Public Sub playGenre_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles playGenre.Click

    ' ...Add code to ensure that the text box contains a valid value.

    ' Retrieve the genre that the user entered in the text box. 
    Dim genre As String = getGenre.Text

    ' Create the playlist using getByGenre. 
    Dim pl As WMPLib.IWMPPlaylist = player.mediaCollection.getByGenre(genre)

    ' Make the new playlist the current playlist. 
    player.currentPlaylist = pl

    ' Play the media in the current playlist. 
    player.Ctlcontrols.play()

End Sub

Requirements

Requirement Value
Version
Windows Media Player 9 Series or later
Namespace
WMPLib
Assembly
Interop.WMPLib.dll (Interop.WMPLib.dll.dll)

See also

IWMPMediaCollection Interface (VB and C#)

IWMPPlaylist Interface (VB and C#)