Article ID: 147811 - Last Review: July 1, 2004 - Revision: 2.1

How To Detect If Computer Has Sound Card That Plays Wave Audio

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This article was previously published under Q147811

SUMMARY

This article describes how to detect if a system has a sound card capable of playing back wave audio data (.WAV files).

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MORE INFORMATION

The multimedia Application Programming Interface (API) has a function, WaveOutGetNumDevs(), which returns the number of devices in the system capable of playing back wave audio data.

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Step-by-Step Example

Start a new project in Visual Basic (ALT, F, N), and place a Command button (Command1) on Form1.

Add the following declaration to the General Declarations section of Form1:

      #If Win32 Then

      Private Declare Function waveOutGetNumDevs Lib "winmm" () As Long
      #ElseIf Win16 Then
      Private Declare Function waveOutGetNumDevs Lib "mmsystem" () _
       As Integer
      #End If

Add the following code to the Command1_Click event:

      Private Sub Command1_Click()
      #If Win32 Then
      Dim i As Long
      #ElseIf Win16 Then
      Dim i As Integer
      #End If
      i = waveOutGetNumDevs()
      If i > 0 Then         ' There is at least one device.
      MsgBox "You Can Play Wave Data"
      Else
      MsgBox "Cannot Play Wave Data"
      End If
      End Sub