Resources for getting started with MCML?

Question

Can anyone suggest some references or other resources that are useful in learning MCML?

I have a small pet project I have been working on for a while using C# and .Net 3.5. I have reached a point where I want to be able to send output from it to Windows Media Center, but I have been having a hard time finding coherent explanations of how to create MCML elements to represent my C# data objects. Particularly I am having a hard time finding information on creating an MCML element for each element in a C# collection. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

The Windows Media Center Sandbox is probably the best resource. But I guess you knew that already. The media center development blog is also pretty nice. Can this article get you started?

I'm very much a n00b myself though..

Answer 2

In addition to keeping up with sandbox. I would recommend the following.

1. Look at the Media Center SDK, the Z application and the MCML sampler are a good start.
2. Look at some of the open source MCML application like VideoBrowser, OML, MusicBrowser or Vmc Netflix , read the source, try to figure out how they work.

Ideally, I would recommend trying to join an existing project when it comes to learning MCML, since MCML is really hard to get your head around and has a really steep learning curve. Forget about expression blend, when developing in MCML you are pushing XML files in Visual Studio and dealing with a complex, incomplete and buggy framework.

With your issue, you really need to understand data binding, the open source projects and the sample apps all have examples on how this is done.