[2005] simultaneous button click

[theopres]

Hello everybody,
i'm making a program in vb 2005 and i have a problem...i m trying to make two buttons work(be clicked and selected) programmatically...by clicking a third button...the only problem is that i want the two buttons to work simultaneously...so here is my code

Button2.PerformClick()
Button2.Select()
Button3.PerformClick()
Button3.Select()

this code is inside Button4 for example...
now, this code performs only the methods for Button3 because it's the last one...
how can i make the two buttons work simultaneously???
i know that this approach is kind of wrong...but i would really appreciate your help...

note:the two buttons contain .wav sounds that i have recorded(just to know)...

thank you for your time
sorry for my english...
theodora

[Shaggy Hiker]

You're going to have the problem that two buttons can never be clicked simultaneously in a single threaded app (and not really in a multithreaded app). Each button click posts a message to the process message queue, and one will always be ahead of the other.

I see that you are playing sounds, which I have never dealt with, so they may work differently, but if each button click event just had a sub like this:

Button2Click()
 PlaySound(2)
End sub

Button3Click()
 PlaySound(3)
End Sub

Then you would simulate clicking the two buttons by calling:

PlaySound(2)
PlaySound(3)

Obviously, this would NOT act like two simultaneous button clicks, since one would happen just before the other one. However, that's how the actual button clicks happen anyways, so this example is the functional equivalent to having each button click event be called specifically.

What I don't know, having never worked with sound, is whether you can play one sound and start a second sound before the first one has finished playing.

[theopres]

Thank you for your help Shaggy...
i knew that was going to be the answer ...i just needed the help of someone more experienced than me...
i m actually making o guitar program and i want to make two strings sound like one but also show that on the fretboard...that's why i needed the buttons to be selected...(each button plays one string)...well....i m going to use flashing lights on the fret to show that...(i'll try)..

as far as i know in vb 2005 you can't make two sounds play simultaneously(that's why i said that my approach is wrong)...specially if you're using System.Media.SoundPlayer...i just wanted to see if i can do that throught the buttons...

Hope i didn't mess things up for you
my english ain't that good
thank you for your time...
theodora

[Shaggy Hiker]

Your english is actually quite good. Doubtless it is better than my inability at whatever is your native tongue.

Actually, what you are trying to do must be possible, because I have played games where there were multiple sound clips overlapping. How it is done I don't know, but I would guess that it may require playing each sound on a different thread, or something like that. In your case, that is probably worth considering, since a guitar string would be a single note fading in volume over time, and without the ability to play two notes at the same time, computer sound would have to be really simplistic. Thus I believe it can be done, but exactly how I don't know. Somebody with more knowledge about playing sounds would be better equipt to answer.

[sparrow1]

Hi,

Perhaps it isn't that what you need, but this is an example how to click simultaneous:

Dim the_clics As Integer
    Dim my_clics As Integer
 
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        If the_clics Mod 2 = 0 Then
            Button1.Text = "Hello"
        Else
            Button1.Text = "Goodbye"
        End If
 
        the_clics += 1
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button2.Click
        If my_clics Mod 2 = 0 Then
            Me.BackColor = Color.Green
        Else
            Me.BackColor = Color.Blue
        End If
 
        my_clics += 1
 
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button3.Click
        Button1.PerformClick()
        Button2.PerformClick()
    End Sub

Hope it's a start,

sparrow1

[wy125]

Generally speaking if you want two things to happen at the "same time" (though not really, just close) you're going to have to use Threads. In that way you can have a thread start doing some work and launch another thread to do something else without having to wait for the first thread to finish it's job.

Now, if all you want to do is play sounds, while I don't know for sure I would wager that the player can play sounds asynchronously. Have you looked at directx?.... Okay a quick search turned up this http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?p=2586544.... I think that will help.

[theopres]

Thank you all for your help...yes, the way to play simultaneous sounds in vb 2005 is through directX SDK...!
Also, thank you sparrow1 for the code...it has been very helpful although i started using a different approach now...
Anyway...
Thank you all for your time...
theodora

[Half]

You can also use MCI. It can sound pretty simultaneously to humans.

[theopres]

oups it seems i have a different kind of problem now...

i managed to play simultaneous sounds by using DirectX like this

Dim Play1 As New DirectX.AudioVideoPlayback.Audio("c:\cuckoo.wav")
Dim Play2 As New DirectX.AudioVideoPlayback.Audio("c:\cuckoo2.wav")

Play1.Play()
Play2.Play()

it seems that DirectX.AudioVideoPlayback.Audio accepts only filenames/URLs to load audio files. i added my sounds to the application's resources but i can't find a way to call them since i'm using directX.
Does anyone know if i can call stored audio files by using directX???
i really want the program to run on other computers,too.

Thank you,
theodora