controlling iTunes

March 29, 2004 8:10 PM

I'd like to control iTunes for Windows programmatically, but I'm not sure if this is possible. More.

I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on whether or not iTunes for Windows has any kind of API that would allow me to control it programatically via VB/VC++. It's not looking like it right now, but it almost seems as though I could code a visual plugin to get the access I want - the only problem is that I'm not trying to do anything visual. I want to be able play/pause/ff/skip, etc, from another program. Possible?

Partial credit for directing me to somewhere better to ask this question. I scoured the newsgroups with no luck, and Apple's developer support is strange (nonexistant?) to me. All the apple developer stuff is about mac software, and none of the windows developers are talking about iTunes.

posted by tirade to computers & internet (3 comments total)

I'm not sure if there's any official API, but the mac-like dock I use in windows, YZdock, has a iTunes plugin that lets you control iTunes via a right-click menu. You can see it in the screenshot here.

So it's definitely possible.
posted by mathowie at 8:38 PM on March 29, 2004

Matt:

From that page:
The advanced menu currently works only if the following criteria are met:
- iTunes system tray icon must be enabled
- iTunes system tray icon must be viewable
- iTunes system tray icon must be the first one in the system tray, which means that iTunes icons should be the last one added to the system tray.

That looks to me like it's just controlling the tray icon menu.
posted by abcde at 8:50 PM on March 29, 2004

Sorry about the bleeding italics.
posted by abcde at 8:50 PM on March 29, 2004