Hi, I'm Ethan Zoller, the program manager for the extensibility platform we provide in Windows XP Media Center Edition. Since you landed on my page, you probably already know that our 2005 version shipped this morning.
As part of our launch today, the Media Center Software Development Kit is now available, and, for the first time, directly browsable from MSDN. The content on MSDN is a mirror of the compiled help file we include with the downloadable SDK, so you won’t have to do a download if you want to get an overview of Add-ins or look up the details for an API call. All this, from a single, easy-to-remember location:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/mce
This is not just a minor revision to the SDK. Based on tons of feedback from our ISV, IHV, OEM and hobbyist customers, we grew our page count from the 2004 version's ~150 pages to nearly 500 pages: the SDK covers broader subject matter (the aforementioned add-ins, working with Media Center Extenders, building applications that use our triple-tap control, scheduling recordings, technical information on components of the Plus! pack included in our product, and so on), more overview material and deeper exploration of many areas including a checklist for reviewing your application, links to community sites like our developer newsgroup and blogs, and Much Much More.
We still have downloadable content, of course, and in addition to an off-line version of the documentation on MSDN, you’ll find:
- Dramatically simplified templates for building hosted HTML applications
- A redistributable triple-tap activex control, allowing ISVs to do text-input from HTML pages on our 2004 product as well as the 2005 version
- Printable map of our object model
- Sample add-ins with source code
- Visual Studio project files to help you build, install and register add-ins
- MSAS (aka Front Panel Display) sink and sample app that providing external .NET applications easy access to media center events and state.
An important caveat about what’s live right now: because our data is so new, it’s not yet indexed as part of search.microsoft.com. We should be fully indexed by early next week (probably sooner).
We couldn’t have shipped the new SDK without a lot of help. Giant thanks go to everybody on the development and partner teams, and of course, all the external and internal partners and customers who gave us great (and sometimes wonderfully pointed) feedback along the way.
What are you writing?
Z.
