QuickTime for .NET and COM Developers

At the heart of Apple's hugely popular iLife software suite―iMovie, iPhoto, iDVD, GarageBand, and iTunes―is QuickTime, the powerful media engine that drives elegant applications for managing movies, images, and audio files. The enduring success of QuickTime is in no small part attributable to its component architecture. This key feature has allowed it to embrace emerging digital media technologies and standards one by one as they have appeared over the 12 or so years since its launch. None of the competing technologies even comes close, let alone on both Mac OS X and Windows.

QuickTime for .NET and COM Developers is the first guide to QuickTime for developers using popular RAD tools such a Visual Basic .NET, C#, and Visual Basic 6. A general introduction to QuickTime is followed by a detailed explanation of the QuickTime architecture from a.NET and COM perspective, liberally accompanied by code snippets. A number of implementation examples illustrate key QuickTime features, ranging from a simple movie player to a sophisticated interactive application. Also covered is QuickTime scripting in both QuickTime Player (using Windows Scripting) and in Microsoft Office applications (using VBA). Brief guides to developing with QuickTime in Delphi and ATL/WTL are also included.

Part of the official Quicktime Developer Series, publishing the finest books on QuickTime in cooperation with Apple.

John Cromie is one of the architects of Apple’s QuickTime ActiveX/COM control for Windows and is the principal at the software development and consulting company, Skylark Associates. Skylark specializes in software design, website architecture, and interface design, and has clients in both Europe and the United States. With a strong portfolio of successful projects, many of which feature QuickTime, Skylark has established a reputation for innovative software development of interactive and web applications on both Windows and Mac platforms. Having worked with QuickTime for over 12 years, John is a long-time QuickTime developer, first using HyperCard on the Mac, and then moving on to Windows with the advent of QuickTime for Windows. An experienced developer, John has successfully delivered numerous CD/DVD-ROM titles, websites and interactive applications using RAD tools, C++ and the QuickTime API. Skylark is also responsible for the cross-platform software behind the award-winning BirdGuides range of CD/DVD-ROM titles for birdwatchers—again largely QuickTime based. John has overseen the development of birdguides.com into the leading bird information website in Europe. Consulting clients include Cambridge University, Esat/BT, The International Post Corporation and Apple Computer. Whenever the fickle weather in the northwest of Ireland permits, John gets out and about birding or walking in the mountains, and he is actively involved in nature conservation.