The DirectSound Helper

The DirectSound Helper

The following sections document the routines, variables and constants available in our DirectSound helper module for Visual Basic. Use this module in conjunction with Patrice Scribes DirectX TLB's. This is a very basic sound module, providing only simple playback services. Routines facilitating multiple playbacks of one buffer may be added to this module. These routines must be used with DirectX 3.0 or higher. They were compiled and tested using DirectX 5.0

Interface Contents :

Inititalization Functions:

dsInit : Initialize the DirectSound interface
dsUnload : Releases the DirectSound components

Wave File Functions:

dsLoadWave : Loads a wave sound from a disk file
dsPlay : Play a sound buffer
dsStop : Stops a sound buffer
dsStopCurrent : Stops the last buffer played
dsPlayLooped : Starts a sound buffer looping forever
dsGetVolume : Returns a buffer current volume
dsIsPlaying : Determines if a buffer is currently playing
dsRewind : Resets a buffer current position to the beginning
dsDuplicate : Returns another object for a sound buffer
dsToggleSound : Toggles the SoundOn variable
dsSoundOn: Determines whether sounds are on or off
dSound : The main DirectSound interface

Function Descriptions

dsInit : Initialize the DirectSoundinterface

Sub dsInit(Owner as Form)

Use this routine as a general initialization routine. It initializes the DirectSound interface, and stores it in the dSound variable. It sets SoundOn to TRUE, and sets a normal co-operative level.

dsUnload : Release the DirectSound interface

Sub dsUnload

Use this routine to release the DirectSound system. You must physically release
any sound buffers you have created, as this routine only releases the dSound interface. Be sure that a sound buffer has been stopped before you release it.

dsLoadWave : Loads a wave file into a DirectSoundBuffer

Sub dsLoadWave(FileName as String) as DirectSoundBuffer

This routine will load a wave file off a disk file, create a sound buffer for it, and load the wave data onto the buffer. This routine cannot load waves out of a resource.

FileName : The full path to the wave file
Returns Success : The DirectSoundBuffer containg the wave file
Returns Failure : Nothing

dsPlay : Plays a DirectSoundBuffer

Sub dsPlay(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer)

If SoundOn is true, then the sound buffer will be played. If the buffer is already playing, nothing will happen.

dsb : The sound buffer to be played

dsPlayLooped : Plays a DirectSoundBuffer

Sub dsPlayed(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer)

If SoundOn is true, then the sound buffer will be played looping forever. Whenever the end of the buffer is reached, the sound will be started again immediatly. If the buffer is already playing, nothing will happen.

dsb : The sound buffer to be played

dsStop : Stops a buffer playing

Sub dsStop(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer)

Stops a sound buffer from playing, regardless of its current state.

dsb : The sound buffer to be stopped

dsStopCurrent : Stops the last buffer played

Sub dsStopCurrent

Stops the last buffer played using dsPlay or dsPlayLooped. This will have no effect on buffers played directly using the DirectSoundBuffer.Play method.

dsGetVolume : Returns the sound buffers volume

Function dsGetVolume(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer) as Long

Returns the volume of the sound buffer. The volume is measured in hunderths of decibels.

dsb : The sound buffer whose volume you desire

dsIsPlaying : Determines if a buffer is playing

Function dsIsPlaying(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer) as Boolean

Returns TRUE is the sound buffer is currently playing.

dsb : The sound buffer in question

dsDuplicate : Returns a duplicate object for a buffer

Function dsDuplicate(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer) as DirectSoundBuffer

This routine returns a duplicate of the sound buffer. Only the object is duplicated, not the actual wave data. This is used to allow you to play a sound buffer multiple times at once. I.E, if you have an explosion sound, you may want to play it each time something explodes. For each explosion, you'll duplicate the explosion buffer, and set it playing. When you're done, release the duplicated buffer.

dsb : The sound buffer you want to duplicate

dsRewind : Reset the play position

Sub dsRewind(dsb as DirectSoundBuffer)

Resets the current position of a sound buffer to the beginning.

dsb : Sound buffer to reset

dsToggleSound : Turn sound on/off

Sub dsToggleSound

This routine will switch the value of dsSoundOn between TRUE and FALSE. If dsSoundOn becomes FALSE (i.e no sound) the dsStopCurrent is used to stop the last played buffer. Buffers played directly with DirectSoundBuffer.Play will not be stopped.

dsSoundOn : Determines if sounds are played or not

Public dsSoundOn as Boolean

This variable can be used to determine whether sound is on or off. Use dsToggleSound to switch between sound on and sound off. dsPlay and dsPlayLooped will only play a buffer if dsSoundOn is TRUE.

dSound : Main DirectSound interface

Public dSound as DirectSound

This variable can be used to access all the DirectSound interface methods as described in the DirectX SDK documentation.

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