Microsoft KB Archive/213471

= XL2000: How to Use Visual Basic to Play an AVI File =

Article ID: 213471

Article Last Modified on 11/23/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q213471





SUMMARY
This article shows you how to use Visual Basic for Applications to play an Audio Video Interleaved (AVI) file from Microsoft Excel. You can reference an AVI file directly without inserting it as an object.



MORE INFORMATION
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact a Microsoft Certified Partner or the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about Microsoft Certified Partners, please visit the following Microsoft Web site:

https://partner.microsoft.com/global/30000104

For more information about the support options that are available and about how to contact Microsoft, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

Sample Visual Basic Procedure
In Microsoft Excel 2000, the following Visual Basic code plays a Microsoft AVI file at a specified location and size on the active window. This example assumes that the Blastoff.avi file is stored in the default folder (C:\Winvideo). This code does not require the full Microsoft Video package in order to function properly. 'API and Constant Declarations. 'The function declarations must each be typed on one line.

Declare Function mciSendString Lib "winmm" Alias "mciSendStringA" (ByVal _  lpstrCommand As String, ByVal lpstrReturnStr As Any, ByVal wReturnLen _   As Long, ByVal hCallBack As Long) As Long Declare Function GetActiveWindow Lib "USER32" As Integer

Const WS_CHILD = &h40000000

Sub PlayAVIFile

'Dimension variables. Dim CmdStr As String, FileSpec As String Dim Ret As Integer, XLSHwnd As Integer

'The name and location of the AVI file to play. FileSpec = "C:\WINVIDEO\BLASTOFF.AVI"

'Get the active sheet's window handle. XLSHwnd = GetActiveWindow

'Opens the AVIVideo and creates a child window on the sheet 'where the video will display. "Animation" is the device_id. CmdStr = ("open " & FileSpec & _     " type AVIVideo alias animation parent " & _      LTrim$(Str$(XLSHwnd)) & " style " & LTrim$(Str$(WS_CHILD)))

Ret = mciSendString(CmdStr, 0&, 0, 0)

'Put the AVI window at location 25, 120 relative to the 'parent window (Microsoft Excel) with a size of 160 x 160. Ret = mciSendString("put animation window at 25 120 160 160", _   0&, 0, 0)

'The wait tells the MCI command to complete before returning 'control to the application. Ret = mciSendString("play animation wait", 0&, 0, 0)

'Close windows so they don't crash when you quit the application. Ret = mciSendString("close animation", 0&, 0, 0)

End Sub

