MediaPlayer

***Update 02.26.10

Quick update for today, I’ve gone ahead and uploaded a version of the MediaPlayer app into the sandbox -> http://www.digitalboon.com/apps?pid=5

I made a couple changes like hooking up a double-click action to the coverflow menu so you can directly play from it. I also discovered that I had to revamp the sandbox viewing aspx page to work properly with Silverlight apps that resize with the browser and really depend on this functionality (I.e. the MediaElement in this app resizes with the browser for larger/smaller video.)

I realized after I uploaded the app that there was no fullscreen mode and this in all honesty is such a simple thing to implement…one moment…

…and there, we’re done. I’d like to add the ability to supply your own playlists and perhaps create an equalizer and audio visualizations.

***End Update

So keeping with my usual trend in not posting for a long while, I've decided to post something today that I've been working on this weekend. Working with Silverlight's new features in SL3 is fun but somewhat unnerving at the same time. I reference specifically the new Projection support for UIElements that allows us to manipulate 2d objects in a 3d sense. I remember creating my first CoverFlow application a couple years ago and coming to the correct variables to get the covers to resemble, even slightly, a 3d flowing/folding off into the distance effect never really saw fruition. Now though, with the new exposed properties of the projection class we can easily attach said properties to a StoryBoard and create a descent looking CoverFlow animation with little effort, letting Silverlight do all the skew etc. calculations.

What I’ve been spending the majority of my time on this particular weekend on is a MediaPlayer control that mimics windows media player and uses a CoverFlow control to implement a menu system. There are still many, many things that need to be added,corrected, tidied up, etc., but so far I’ve got a mostly working control that if I may transcend modesty, looks pretty dang cool.

Currently menu options are hardcoded as are resources in a preset relative location. MouseLeftButtonDown clicks allow you to animate (shuffle) through the coverflow as well as using the forward >> and back << buttons. When the user clicks play the active cover loads, a buffer displays load progress, and the MediaElement stretches to fill the screen while the controls fade to transparent on mouseout. A home button stops/hides the video and fades the menu back into view.

As stated before there’s a lot more to do – I still have not really decided how I want to implement play lists. Currently Silverlight only supports WMV format media for true streaming (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc189080(VS.95).aspx).

I had to call it quits tonight as it’s nearing 2:30 am and work looms in the morning, but rest assured that I’ll have this thing updated and posted in a sandbox in the next couple weeks.