Play audio file in the background in Windows8 app? - windows-8

Question

I am developing an app that displays information while at the same time plays audio file in the background. This is a Windows 8 tablet app. Any help or suggestion is helpful.
Thanks

Answer 1

In the XAML, you will have a MediaElement with the following attributes
<ContentControl x:Name="Host">
<MediaElement Source="Assets/myMusic.mp3" IsLooping="True" AutoPlay="True" AudioCategory="BackgroundCapableMedia" PosterSource="/Images/placeholder-sdk.png" VerticalAlignment="Center" HorizontalAlignment="Center" Name="myMediaElement" Height="350" Width="640" />
</ContentControl>
In the App bar, you can have some buttons for media control like
<Page.BottomAppBar>
<AppBar Opened="BottomAppBar_Opened" Background="#FF3C3838" x:Name="BottomAppBarColors" Padding="10,0,10,0" AutomationProperties.Name="Bottom App Bar Colors">
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50*"/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="50*"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<StackPanel x:Name="LFullScreenLandscapeViewGrid" Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.Column="0" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
<Button x:Name="Play" Click="PlayButton_Click" Style="{StaticResource PlayAppBarButtonStyle}" Tag="Play"/>
<Button x:Name="Stop" Click="StopButton_Click" Style="{StaticResource StopAppBarButtonStyle}" Tag="Stop"/>
</StackPanel>
<StackPanel Visibility="Collapsed" x:Name="PortraitViewGrid" Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.ColumnSpan="2" HorizontalAlignment="Right">
<Button x:Name="PauseCollapsed" Click="PauseButton_Click" Style="{StaticResource PauseAppBarButtonStyle}" Tag="Pause"/>
<Button x:Name="PlayCollapsed" Click="PlayButton_Click" Style="{StaticResource PlayAppBarButtonStyle}" Tag="Play"/>
<Button x:Name="StopCollapsed" Click="StopButton_Click" Style="{StaticResource StopAppBarButtonStyle}" Tag="Stop"/>
</StackPanel>
</Grid>
</AppBar>
</Page.BottomAppBar>
In the .CS code file, you can control the mediaelement object.
private void PauseButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.Pause();
}
private void StopButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.Stop();
}
private void ForwardButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.DefaultPlaybackRate = 0.0;
myMediaElement.PlaybackRate = 2.0;
}
private void RewindButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.DefaultPlaybackRate = 0.0;
myMediaElement.PlaybackRate = -1.0;
}

Answer 2

If you have multiple screens that use the media and controls to play, pause and stop the media file, then it's better to write code for these events once and then use it from different screens. I have seen people writing the following code in every screen they use the media.
private void PauseButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.Pause();
}
private void StopButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.Stop();
}
private void ForwardButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.DefaultPlaybackRate = 0.0;
myMediaElement.PlaybackRate = 2.0;
}
private void RewindButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
myMediaElement.DefaultPlaybackRate = 0.0;
myMediaElement.PlaybackRate = -1.0;
}
So instead of repeating the code in every screen, follow a good event pattern to reduce duplicate code
The best thing is to use MVVM pattern and you can find a sample at http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/Background-Audio-c-Metro-d2fc7719/view/SourceCode
So the design is to write up the code in one common place and fire them from the front end UI.

Answer 3

You need to use a MediaElement.