How do I get a media file to load into a media player in WPF

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I created a media player in WPF using the MediaElement, that will play media if selected in the player through an openfiledialog box. This works fine.

But how can I get the media to play if I right click on any media file, select 'Open With' and browse to the mediaplayer.exe file that I created.

When I select mediaplayer.exe from 'Open With' , it will open the player, but doesn't load the video.

What I have tried:

xaml for the media element

<MediaElement  Grid.Row="0" Name="mediaPlayer"  Stretch="Uniform" Loaded="mediaElement_Loaded" LoadedBehavior="Manual"/>

the code behind function

private void mediaElement_Loaded(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
    mediaPlayer.Play();
}

This works when using the openfiledialog method, but not 'Open With'

Posted 25-Jun-24 9:42am

Da Man 2024

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3 solutions

Solution 1

The path to the file is passed as an argument to your executable when you use Open with. Use that argument to populate the media player and run from that.

Posted 25-Jun-24 10:18am

Pete O'Hanlon

Solution 2

Your app has to handle command line arguments. When you use Open With, Explorer will launch your app with the following command line:

mediaplayer.exe "Full\Path\To\The\Media\File.ext"

Google for "c# wpf handle command line arguments" and you'll find several ways of accomplishing the task.

Posted 25-Jun-24 10:36am

Dave Kreskowiak

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Da Man 2024 · Accepted Answer · 2024-06-25T19:58:00

Well, it took me around 8 hours but I finally figured it out.

I had to change App.xaml.cs to:

protected override void OnStartup(StartupEventArgs e)
{
    base.OnStartup(e);
    //-- e.Args returns the file path of what is right clicked on 
    //-- that you want to "Open With"
    if (e.Args.Length > 0)
    {
        //-- message boxes so I know what part of the code I'm in at runtime
        MessageBox.Show(e.Args[0]);
        MessageBox.Show("In the if statement");

        MainWindow mw = new MainWindow(e.Args);
        mw.Show();
    }
    else
    {
        MessageBox.Show("In the Else statement");

        MainWindow mw = new MainWindow();
        mw.Show();
    }

I had to make another MainWindow constructor to use for "Open With".
If I just open the program normally then I use the constructor with the empty parameters.

In the MainWindow.xaml.cs I added a constructor that took a string[] argument.

public MainWindow(string[] args)
{
    //-- verify the argument is actually passed
    MessageBox.Show(args[0]);

    //-- add the path to the media element
    mediaplayer.Source = new Uri(args[0]);