info command

The info command retrieves a hardware description from a device. All MCI devices recognize this command.

To send this command, call the mciSendString function with the lpszCommand parameter set as follows.

_stprintf_s(
  lpszCommand, 
  TEXT("info %s %s %s"), 
  lpszDeviceID, 
  lpszInfoType, 
  lpszFlags
); 

Parameters

lpszDeviceID

Identifier of an MCI device. This identifier or alias is assigned when the device is opened.

lpszInfoType

Flag that identifies the type of information required. The following table lists device types that recognize the info command and the flags used by each type.

Value	Meaning	Meaning
cdaudio	info identityinfo upc	product
digitalvideo	audio algorithmaudio qualityfileproductstill algorithmstill quality	usageversionvideo algorithmvideo qualitywindow text
overlay	fileproduct	window text
sequencer	copyrightfile	nameproduct
vcr	product	version
videodisk	product
waveaudio	fileinput	outputproduct

The following table lists the flags that can be specified in the lpszInfoType parameter and their meanings.

Value	Meaning
audio algorithm	Returns the name of the current audio compression algorithm.
audio quality	Returns the name for the current audio quality descriptor. This might return "unknown" if the application has set parameters to specific values that do not correspond to defined qualities.
copyright	Retrieves the MIDI file copyright notice from the copyright meta event.
file	Retrieves the name of the file used by the compound device. If the device is opened without a file and the load command has not been used, a null string is returned.
info identity	Produces a unique identifier for the audio CD currently loaded in the player being queried.
info upc	Produces the Universal Product Code (UPC) that is encoded on an audio CD. The UPC is a string of digits. It might not be available for all CDs.
input	Retrieves the description of the current input device. Returns "none" if an input device is not set.
name	Retrieves the sequence name from the sequence/track name meta event.
output	Retrieves the description of the current output device. Returns "none" if an output device is not set.
product	Retrieves a description of the device. This information often includes the product name and model. The string length will be 31 characters or fewer.
still algorithm	Returns the name of the current still image compression algorithm.
still quality	Returns the name for the current still image quality descriptor. This might return "unknown" if the application has set parameters to specific values that do not correspond to defined qualities.
usage	Returns a string describing usage restrictions that might be imposed by the owner of the visual or audio data in the workspace.
version	Returns the release level of the device driver and hardware.
video algorithm	Returns the name of the current video compression algorithm.
video quality	Returns the name for the current video quality descriptor. This might return "unknown" if the application has set parameters to specific values that do not correspond to defined qualities.
window text	Retrieves the caption of the window used by the device.

lpszFlags

Can be "wait", "notify", or both. For digital-video and VCR devices, "test" can also be specified. For more information about these flags, see The Wait, Notify, and Test Flags.

Return Value

Returns zero if successful or an error otherwise.

Examples

The following command retrieves a description of the hardware associated with the "mysound" device.

info mysound product

Requirements

Requirement	Value
Minimum supported client	Windows 2000 Professional [desktop apps only]
Minimum supported server	Windows 2000 Server [desktop apps only]

See also

MCI

MCI Command Strings

load