How can I play midi and/or audio files?

[Stephen Kellett]

Hi Folks,

How can I play midi and/or audio files using JavaScript?
I'm hoping there are some calls/APIs I can use that I am unaware of. My
JavaScript book from O'Reilly seems rather lacking in this area.

I'm looking for something like:

playMidiNote(pi tch, duration);
playSoundFile(s oundFileURL);

but more complex answers are also welcome :-)

Stephen
--
Stephen Kellett
Object Media Limited http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/software.html
Computer Consultancy, Software Development
Windows C++, Java, Assembler, Performance Analysis, Troubleshooting

[Randy Webb]

el*********@ele ctrician.com said the following on 3/27/2006 12:12 AM:

<Randy
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly
Javascript Best Practices -
http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/ >

I have looked at your library and don't see a cotton picking thing that
I could have used when I wrote my 17 calculators at electrician.com .
Maybe, maybe not. But that is not my library. Had you read it, and did a
little research on it, you would have know it was Matt Kruse's library
site. Or did you miss the image in the top left corner of the
bestpractices page that says "Matt Kruse's Javascript Toolbox"?
I see from you bio that you started in 1993.
Again, that isn't my bio.
I started in 1962 programming a VAC machine in Fortran 2 using punch
cards. From there to Fortran 4, PL/1, Basic, Cbasic, Sbasic, Olivettie
programma 101 using the Taylor series to find trig functions, Javascript,
and Perl.
And in 44 years you haven't learned to write efficient code?
Experienced Idiots are still Idiots.
And you call me stupid?
Actually, what I said was "You really are as stupid as you act" and as
long as you act stupid, my opinion of you will stay that way. Want me to
think of you as intelligent? Then act that way.
Your library may have protability but it does not have functionality and
is not practical for real world applications. You had better stay in
cyberland, kid.

Again, they are not my libraries. If you bothered to research at all you
would know that I am probably the *last* person in this group to use a
library as I don't care for them. I prefer a single, one off, solution
to a specific problem. Always have and probably always will.

--
Randy
comp.lang.javas cript FAQ - http://jibbering.com/faq & newsgroup weekly
Javascript Best Practices - http://www.JavascriptToolbox.com/bestpractices/

[Stephen Kellett]

In message <11************ *********@e56g2 000cwe.googlegr oups.com>,
Stephen Chalmers <ig******@lycos .co.uk> writes

How can I play midi and/or audio files using JavaScript?

I have never seen a satisfactory answer to playing sound files
interactivel y, so here's my solution:

Thanks Stephen, you clearly understood the question. An answer that
doesn't involve HTML tags.

Stephen
--
Stephen Kellett
Object Media Limited http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/software.html
Computer Consultancy, Software Development
Windows C++, Java, Assembler, Performance Analysis, Troubleshooting

[Stephen Chalmers]

el*********@ele ctrician.com wrote:

What a bunch of crap!

That certainly would be reaction of any interpreter to 'your' solution.

You might want to pass that on to the Hispanic from whom you stole it.

--
S.C.

[Gernot Frisch]

"Stephen Kellett" <sn***@objmedia .demon.co.uk> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:Bx******** ******@objmedia .demon.co.uk...

Hi Folks,

How can I play midi and/or audio files using JavaScript?
I'm hoping there are some calls/APIs I can use that I am unaware of.
My
JavaScript book from O'Reilly seems rather lacking in this area.

I'm looking for something like:

playMidiNote(pi tch, duration);
playSoundFile(s oundFileURL);

but more complex answers are also welcome :-)

Try a shockwave of flash object that plays the file for you. This is
the most x-browser compatible solution.

[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

Stephen Chalmers wrote:

Stephen Kellett wrote:

How can I play midi and/or audio files using JavaScript?
I have never seen a satisfactory answer to playing sound files
interactively, so here's my solution:

<html>

Not Valid. <URL:http://validator.w3.or g/>
[...]
<a href='#'>Blip</a> - <a href='#'>Ding</a> - <a href='#'>Dumb</a> - <a
href='#'>Dumb</a> - <a href='#'>Chime</a>
Displays even if client-side script support and DOM support is not
available.
[...]
SCmediaPlay.pro totype.playSoun d=function()
{

this.removeObj( );

this.objRef=doc ument.createEle ment('embed');
There is no `embed' element in HTML, so this is not supposed to work in a
standards compliant UA. And any UA that supports DOM Level 2 Core should
also support the standards compliant `object' element, so you should create
that.

You do not do any feature test, which is error-prone.

<URL:http://pointedears.de/scripts/test/whatami#inferen ce>
this.objRef.set Attribute("widt h","0");

this.objRef.set Attribute("heig ht","0");

this.objRef.set Attribute("hidd en","true");

this.objRef.set Attribute("src" , this.soundFile) ;
Neither of this is supposed to work. Especially, setAttribute() is known
to have buggy implementations . Both the proprietary `embed' element and
the standards compliant `object' element have `param' child elements that
should be used. (Otherwise there is no sound with certain non-common
plugins, such as the mplayer-plugin on GNU/Linux.)
[...]
document.write( "<embed src='"+this.sou ndFile+"' hidden='true'
autostart='fals e' width='0' height='0'>");

See above.
PointedEars

[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

Stephen Kellett wrote:

[...] Stephen Chalmers <ig******@lycos .co.uk> writes

How can I play midi and/or audio files using JavaScript?
I have never seen a satisfactory answer to playing sound files
interactively , so here's my solution:

Thanks Stephen, you clearly understood the question.

It is not a question of understanding the question. It is about
knowing (or not knowing) that there is no such API yet as it would
have to access different plugins, some of which not even provide
an ECMAScript language binding. Standardization of plugins has
started, but is not finished yet. So solutions are all based on
speculation.
An answer that doesn't involve HTML tags.

Yet it is a solution for a certain kind of Web browsers (not
standards compliant) and a certain kind of plugins (Windows Media
Player). Nothing that qualifies as viable in a Web context.
PointedEars

[Stephen Chalmers]

Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn wrote:

Stephen Chalmers wrote:

<a href='#'>Blip</a> - <a href='#'>Ding</a> - <a href='#'>Dumb</a> - <a
href='#'>Dumb</a> - <a href='#'>Chime</a>
Displays even if client-side script support and DOM support is not
available.
That was the intention. Presumably in practice the links would actually
go somewhere regardless.

[...]
SCmediaPlay.pro totype.playSoun d=function()
{

this.removeObj( );

this.objRef=doc ument.createEle ment('embed');
There is no `embed' element in HTML, so this is not supposed to work in a
standards compliant UA. And any UA that supports DOM Level 2 Core should
also support the standards compliant `object' element, so you should create
that.

It's a matter of what can be made to work. You should know that the
existence of standards does not mean that they can be relied upon
unconditionally . One has to work with what is known to exist.

I tried to use 'object' but IE wouldn't hide the plugin. Is there a
standard for that?

You do not do any feature test, which is error-prone.
if(document.bod y && document.create Element)

The way things are now, I considered the above to be adequate. If
course if someone knows different...

this.objRef.set Attribute("widt h","0");

this.objRef.set Attribute("heig ht","0");

this.objRef.set Attribute("hidd en","true");

this.objRef.set Attribute("src" , this.soundFile) ;

Neither of this is supposed to work.
Is that according to a standard or just folklore? As far as I could
test, it does.
Especially, setAttribute() is known
to have buggy implementations .

Initially I tried to avoid using setAttibute, but it didn't work on one
browser.
I can test only within the scope of platforms and software available to
me.

--
S.C.

[Stephen Kellett]

In message <48************ @individual.net >, Gernot Frisch
<[e-mail] > writes

Try a shockwave of flash object that plays the file for you. This is
the most x-browser compatible solution.

Thank you.

Stephen
--
Stephen Kellett
Object Media Limited http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/software.html
Computer Consultancy, Software Development
Windows C++, Java, Assembler, Performance Analysis, Troubleshooting

[Stephen Kellett]

In message <94************ ****@PointedEar s.de>, Thomas 'PointedEars'
Lahn <Po*********@we b.de> writes

Stephen Kellett wrote:
Yet it is a solution for a certain kind of Web browsers (not
standards compliant) and a certain kind of plugins (Windows Media
Player). Nothing that qualifies as viable in a Web context.

Given that that identifies 90% of the target market, it does qualify as
viable in a web context. I'd rather have 100% and platform neutral, but
90% is good enough (*). But really what I wanted was a simple javascript
API as I described, and this was the only answer that got close.

I think the real answer is that none exists yet. Which is a shame and
thus I have to consider using the Flash/Shockwave solution suggested by
another poster.

Thank you to all that answered.

Stephen
(*) I asked the question so I get to decide what % qualifies.
--
Stephen Kellett
Object Media Limited http://www.objmedia.demon.co.uk/software.html
Computer Consultancy, Software Development
Windows C++, Java, Assembler, Performance Analysis, Troubleshooting

[Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn]

Stephen Kellett wrote:

[...] Thomas 'PointedEars' Lahn [...] writes

Yet it is a solution for a certain kind of Web browsers (not
standards compliant) and a certain kind of plugins (Windows Media
Player). Nothing that qualifies as viable in a Web context.

Given that that identifies 90% of the target market, it does qualify
as viable in a web context. [...]

Your figures are wrong, and they do not matter.
PointedEars