Accessing Multimedia Content

Accessing multimedia content (audio or video data) in the browser is quite difficult. There are a lot of plug-ins, and every version seems to change something in respect to its predecessor. So for up-to-date or version-specific information regarding accessing the various plug-ins, the vendor's website is the best choice.

However, there's some good news as well. The major plug-ins for multimedia data, currently Windows Media Player, Real Player, and Apple QuickTime, are quite similar with regard to method names. So after you've accessed the plug-in as described at the beginning of this chapter, the methods from Table 12.1 provide you with the essential functionality you need for working with the embedded media.

Table 12.1. Methods for Multimedia Functionality

Action	Windows Media Player	Real Player	QuickTime
Play	play()	DoPlay()	play()
Stop	stop()	DoStop()	stop()
Pause	pause()	DoPause()	pause()
Volume	volume	GetVolume()/ SetVolume()	GetVolume()/ SetVolume()