ASX file and HTMLView does not work anymore with WMP12 ?

[Genoud@discussions.microsoft.com Alexandre Genoud]

Hi all,

I use the HTMLView param in dynamically generated ASX files, in order to
browse to a given website everytime I play those ASX files. It works fine...

...but NOT in WMP 12...the ASX file is still doing the job except that WMP
does not browse anymore to the given URL.

Any suggestion?
Is it linked to the fact that the now playing pane is separated from the
library pane?
Is there an other way to achieve that ?

Many thanks
Alexandre Genoud

[Neil Smith [MVP Digital Media]]

It should be default the security settings in WMP12. You've probably
(previously) denied access to web-enhanced content and it's remembered
that setting.

If you head to Soma FM, there are links to HTMLView files there, which
display the current track list.

http://www.somafm.com then click the Secret Agent 128kbps WMA
http://somafm.com/wma128/secretagent.asx or presas CTRL + U and paste
the URL into media player.

You should see a popup while still in the Library view, saying :

================================================
"This enhanced content you are about to play uses the following web
page. You should only open Web pages from sources that you trust"

http://somafm.com/wma128/?secretagent

Do you want to play this content ?
[ ] Always show Web enhanced content
[Yes] [No]
================================================

If you untick the Always Show, you might well expect not to be asked
again. However you'd expect to be able to recover from that decision.

To try to fix that, I headed to Tools -> Options -> Security in WMP

There's a checkbox there 'Play enhance content that uses Web pages
without prompting' which seems about right. It made no change for me.

I then headed to Privacy, cleared Cache and History, expecting the
preference to be reset. Still no dice. Opening the above link a second
time, I was not prompted and only got visualisations

I then tried a different page link, and got prompted.
So I retried the Secret Agent one, and got prompted.

It looks like you have to completely unload the playing station
playlist from memory, stopping the player and pressing CTRL + U
doesn't work, nor does clearing History.

One way (workaround) to do that is to switch streams and let it play,
agreeing to the enhanced content, or play something from the local
library

HTH
Cheers - Neil

------------------------------------------------
Digital Media MVP : 2004-2009
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/mvpfaqs

[Genoud@discussions.microsoft.com Alexandre Genoud]

Thank you very much Neil, it helps me a lot...to discover a potential bug in
WMP12!?

Let me explain a bit further...I developed a plugin for WMP sonething like 2
or 3 years ago, and this plugin has now some compatiblity issues with wmp12.
The main issue is the one described in my first message.

My plugin generates an ASX file containing a stream and a website URL. When
WMP12 is closed and I double click one of this ASX file, it works fine, WMP12
opens, plays the stream and shows the website. BUT if WMP12 is opened and I
play the ASX file (basically I play it using the ShellExecute method, passing
it the ASX file as parameter) then :

- If the "Now Playing" pane was already shown (by playing a video file for
example), the website appears.
- If the "Now Playing" pane was not shown, it does not exist (I verify it
using the FindWindow method with the class "WMP Skin Host"), the website does
not appear (the view stays on the media library), but the stream is played.

Is that a bug or something like that? Maybe I should report that to the WMP
development team?

Anyway, thanks for your help. Using this external ASX file shows me what the
problem was.