Develop Reference

How can I use sound effect in C# console app?

I´m doing this small RPG game in the C# console app, and I wanted to add some background music and effects when choosing menu options.
What I noticed was that I wasn´t able to do anything when the background music started to play. I thought of threading, but this is completly new to me (started to learn C# 6 weeks ago).
What I managed to do was starting a new thread and play the sounds
static Thread backgroundMusic = new Thread(() =>
{
using (var audioFile = new AudioFileReader(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "\\menu.mp3"))
using (var outputDevice = new WaveOutEvent())
{
backgroundMusic.IsBackground = true;
outputDevice.Init(audioFile);
outputDevice.Play();
while (true)
{
Thread.Sleep(1);
}
}
});
And then for the sound effect I do...
static Thread click = new Thread(() =>
{
using (var audioFile = new AudioFileReader(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory + "\\click.mp3"))
using (var outputDevice = new WaveOutEvent())
{
click.IsBackground = true;
outputDevice.Init(audioFile);
outputDevice.Play();
while (true)
{
Thread.Sleep(1);
}
}
});
I start these with
click.Start();
backgroundMusic.Start();
Ok so far so good. It plays the background music and it plays the sound effect, but only one time. Can I reuse the thread in some way to play the click sound again when another option is chosen?
And can I abort sound in some way? I might want different music when you play the game and in the menus.
tried backgroundMusic.Abort(); but then I got this:
System.PlatformNotSupportedException: 'Thread abort is not supported on this platform.'
And i can not restart a thread once I´ve started it one time. I tried with
backgroundMusic.Start();
I´ve been checking out forums but all seems to cover windows forms, and not be working with console app.
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/api/system.threading.thread?view=net-5.0
I´ve also checked out the documentation... but honestly I think the documentation at microsoft is NOT for beginners. I find it very hard to understand.
I´ve might have been doing it all wrong, so don´t be hard on me, but please come with suggestions how I can improve.
So I want:
Background music playing and looping
Click sound every time you choose a menu option
I have:
Background music playing once (til the end of the file)
Click sound on the first menu option, there after it throws an exception (see above)

You should never, ever use Thread.Abort(). It just stops the thread in an "evil" way - by throwing an exception, and you never know what side effects that will have.
You need CancellationToken. Check out this article: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/threading/cancellation-in-managed-threads

axWindowsMediaPlayer crashes when run for longer periods

I am not an expert on c# but just trying to churn out a quick solution.
Gist of the solution:
I have a sensor that sends a signal via serial port, and based on the signal the video played must be changed. It switches between two videos
It works as it stands now using axWindowsMediaPlayer. But unfortunately the app crashes after, lets say, 2 hours or so.
Here is the code that i use to change the video url when signal arrives
if (axWindowsMediaPlayer1.playState == WMPPlayState.wmppsPlaying) axWindowsMediaPlayer1.Ctlcontrols.stop();
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.uiMode = "none";
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = mainFile;
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.Ctlcontrols.play();
Initializing the player with this
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.uiMode = "none";
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.Dock = System.Windows.Forms.DockStyle.Fill;
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.settings.setMode("loop", true);
axWindowsMediaPlayer1.settings.volume = 0;
I assume this his some adverse effect on the memory or something; just not expert enough to figure it out. ANy suggestions, is this the right way to change video url?
Thanks

Song doesn't play all the time in Monogame

Heey,
We created a game with Monogame but we got the following problem.
We got a themesong that plays when you have loaded the game now is the problem that the themesong sometimes plays but sometimes just doesn't. We convert it by the XNA pipeline to a wma and load it into our game with the .xnb together but just sometimes the music doesn't wanna start.
We just use the standard code for starting a song and all of this code does fire.
internal void PlayBackgroundMusic()
{
if (MediaPlayer.GameHasControl)
{
MediaPlayer.Volume = mainVolume;
MediaPlayer.Play(backgroundMusic);
MediaPlayer.IsRepeating = true;
}
}
We also use SoundEffects but these work 100% of the time it's only the song that won't play everytime you start. Windows RT runs it fine by the way.

Make sure that the debugger gets into the if statement through debugging (or remove the statement temporarily). Another possibility might be that the function is running before the game is fully initialized. You could try delaying the function until the game has been fully loaded.
PS: I can't comment on questions yet so here's an answer.
Edit:
Alright, after some messing around with the Song class and looking in the implementation in MonoGame I came to the conclusion that the SoundEffect class is easier to use and better implemented.
backgroundSound = Content.Load<SoundEffect>("alarm");
protected override void BeginRun()
{
// I created an instance here but you should keep track of this variable
// in order to stop it when you want.
var backSong = backgroundSound.CreateInstance();
backSong.IsLooped = true;
backSong.Play();
base.BeginRun();
}
I used this post: using BeginRun override to play the SoundEffect on startup.

If you want to play a song, use the Song class. But make sure you are using ".mp3" instead of ".wma" before converting them into ".xnb".
backgroundMusic = Content.Load<Song>("MainTheme");
MediaPlayer.Play(backgroundMusic);
MediaPlayer.IsRepeating = true;
See MSDN.

Background audio not working in windows 8 store / metro app

I've tried setting background audio through both a mediaElement in XAML
<MediaElement x:Name="MyAudio" Source="Assets/Sound.mp3" AudioCategory="BackgroundCapableMedia" AutoPlay="False" />
And programmatically
async void setUpAudio()
{
var package = Windows.ApplicationModel.Package.Current;
var installedLocation = package.InstalledLocation;
var storageFile = await installedLocation.GetFileAsync("Assets\\Sound.mp3");
if (storageFile != null)
{
var stream = await storageFile.OpenAsync(Windows.Storage.FileAccessMode.Read);
_soundEffect = new MediaElement();
_soundEffect.AudioCategory = AudioCategory.BackgroundCapableMedia;
_soundEffect.AutoPlay = false;
_soundEffect.SetSource(stream, storageFile.ContentType);
}
}
// and later...
_soundEffect.Play();
But neither works for me. As soon as I minimise the app the music fades out

akton replied to a similar question with this excellent answer
It wasn't easy to find initially as it doesn't use 'audio' in the title and I wasn't playing music. It's an excellent, comprehensive answer, the likes of which I love to see on StackExchange. It also mentions a few things other answers to similar questions had failed to point out. In brief
You need to handle the MediaControl events PlayPressed, PausePressed, PlayPausedTogglePressed and StopPressed, even if you have no buttons. EDIT: these events are required by Windows 8 app certification, make sure they actually work.
Add audio to the list of support background tasks in the applications manifest [see aktons answer for more detail]
However, in implementing this solution I did come across what I can only assume is a bug. I've built a kitchen timer within a UserControl. It plays an optional ticking sound as it counts down and then buzzes when elapsed. However, if the ticking sound is turned off before the timer is set, the buzz sound will not play. It seems that a Windows 8 app needs to play a sound before being minimised in order for background audio to work. To fix this, I created a silent audio file which is 1 second in duration. This file plays whether the ticking is on or off. It's a weird hack, and I hope I can figure out a better solution, but for now its all I can think of.

Stop the SoundEffect from looping

I'am building a game in C#/XNA, it is an top-view racing game and I want to play a sound effect, when my car bumps into a wall.
The problem is that my sound keeps looping so, when I hit a wall, the song will instantly start playing, but I want it to play, and when it is finished playing, then it can be played again.
Here is the code that takes care of the collision:
if (map[x][y] == 0)
{
car.speed = 0;
crash.Play(); }
Please ask me if I'am not clear about something.
Thanks in advance!

Here is the complete answer to your questions: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd940203.aspx
SoundEffectInstance instance = soundEffect.CreateInstance();
instance.IsLooped = true;
However, by default, SoundEffect should not be looped...

Call SoundEffect.CreateInstance() to get a SoundEffectInstance. Then set the IsLooped property to false before you call Play:
crashSoundEffectInstance.IsLooped = false;

You may want to look into the SoundEffectInstance class. Here's an example on how to use it properly.
You can check if the sound effect state to see if it's currently playing
Edit: I've added a more complete code, as I felt it was needed. It's roughly the same example as in the link I've provided. (Note: This code is untested)
//In your content load
SoundEffect crash;
crash = Content.Load<SoundEffect>("PathToYourSoundEffect");
SoundEffectInstance sei = crash.CreateInstance();
//In your update code
if(sei.State == SoundState.Stopped || sei.State == SoundState.Paused)
{
sei.Play();
}