NowPlaying Addon

Read active media session metadata and control playback. For volume control, see audio and AppVolume — play, pause, skip, seek, shuffle, and repeat.

What is NowPlaying?

The NowPlaying addon lets you interact with whatever media is currently playing on your computer — whether it's Spotify, YouTube in a browser, Windows Media Player, or any app that uses the Windows SMTC (System Media Transport Controls) API.

You can:

• Read the current track's title, artist, album, and thumbnail
• Control playback — play, pause, stop, skip tracks, seek
• Toggle shuffle and repeat modes

Getting Started

First, load the addon in your script:

import { addon } from "novadesk";

// Load the NowPlaying addon DLL
const nowPlaying = addon.load("path/to/NowPlaying.dll");

TIP

Replace "path/to/NowPlaying.dll" with the actual path to the NowPlaying.dll file on your system.

Table of Contents

• What is NowPlaying?
• Getting Started
• Quick Example
• Playback Controls
• Full Example

Quick Example

Here is a minimal example that shows what's currently playing:

import { addon } from "novadesk";
const nowPlaying = addon.load("path/to/NowPlaying.dll");

const s = nowPlaying.stats();
if (s.available) {
  console.log(`${s.artist} - ${s.title}`);
  console.log(`Progress: ${s.progress}%`);
} else {
  console.log("Nothing is playing right now");
}

nowPlaying.stats([options]) #

NowPlaying

Returns current media session metadata. Call on a short interval (500–1000ms) to keep the UI updated.

Options:

Option	Type	Default	Description
includeThumbnail	boolean	true	Whether to include the thumbnail path in the result. Set to false for faster response.
includeGenres	boolean	true	Whether to include genre information. Set to false if not needed.

Return value properties:

Property	Type	Description
available	boolean	true when a media session is active. Check this first!
player	string	Player/app name (e.g. "Spotify", "Chrome").
artist	string	Track artist.
album	string	Track album.
title	string	Track title.
thumbnail	string	Cached thumbnail path, or empty string. Only present when includeThumbnail is true.
duration	number	Track duration in seconds.
position	number	Current playback position in seconds.
progress	number	Playback progress from 0 to 100.
state	number	0 = stopped/unknown, 1 = playing, 2 = paused.
status	number	0 = closed, 1 = opened.
shuffle	boolean	Whether shuffle is enabled.
repeat	boolean	Whether repeat is enabled.
genres	string	Genre information (when includeGenres is true).

PARAMETERS

options object OPTIONAL

Optional config. Accepts includeThumbnail (boolean, default true) and includeGenres (boolean, default true).

RETURNS: object An object with media session details. Always returns an object — check available before using other fields.

const s = nowPlaying.stats();

if (s.available) {
  console.log(s.artist, "-", s.title);
  console.log("Progress:", s.progress + "%");

  // Check playback state
  if (s.state === 1) console.log("Playing");
  else if (s.state === 2) console.log("Paused");
  else console.log("Stopped");
} else {
  console.log("Nothing playing");
}

nowPlaying.backend() #

NowPlaying

Returns the active backend name. Useful for checking if the NowPlaying addon is functional on this system.

RETURNS: string "smtc_v2" when the backend is active, "disabled" otherwise.

console.log("Backend:", nowPlaying.backend());
// Output: "smtc_v2" if active, "disabled" if not

Playback Controls

All playback control functions return true if the action was queued (backend is enabled), false otherwise.

TIP

These controls send commands to the active media session. If no media is playing, the commands are simply ignored.

nowPlaying.play() #

NowPlaying

Sends a play command to the active media session.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent to the active session.

nowPlaying.play();

nowPlaying.pause() #

NowPlaying

Sends a pause command to the active media session.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent to the active session.

nowPlaying.pause();

nowPlaying.playPause() #

NowPlaying

Toggles play/pause on the active media session. This is the most common control — it plays if paused, pauses if playing.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent to the active session.

nowPlaying.playPause();

nowPlaying.stop() #

NowPlaying

Stops the active media session.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent to the active session.

nowPlaying.stop();

nowPlaying.next() #

NowPlaying

Skips to the next track.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent to the active session.

nowPlaying.next();

nowPlaying.previous() #

NowPlaying

Goes to the previous track.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent to the active session.

nowPlaying.previous();

nowPlaying.setPosition(value [, isPercent]) #

NowPlaying

Seeks to a position in the current track. You can specify the position in seconds or as a percentage.

PARAMETERS

value number

Position in seconds, or 0–100 percent if isPercent is true. Throws TypeError if not a number.

isPercent boolean OPTIONAL

true to interpret value as a percentage of track duration. Defaults to false.

RETURNS: boolean true if the seek command was sent, false otherwise.

// Seek to 30 seconds into the track
nowPlaying.setPosition(30);

// Seek to 50% of the track
nowPlaying.setPosition(50, true);

nowPlaying.setShuffle(enabled) #

NowPlaying

Sets the shuffle state of the active media session.

PARAMETERS

enabled boolean

true to enable shuffle, false to disable.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent.

nowPlaying.setShuffle(true);  // Enable shuffle
nowPlaying.setShuffle(false); // Disable shuffle

nowPlaying.setRepeat(mode) #

NowPlaying

Sets the repeat mode of the active media session.

Repeat modes:

Value	Meaning
0	No repeat
1	Repeat current track
2	Repeat all tracks

PARAMETERS

mode number

0 = no repeat, 1 = repeat one track, 2 = repeat all. Throws TypeError if not a number.

RETURNS: boolean true if the command was sent.

nowPlaying.setRepeat(2); // Repeat all tracks
nowPlaying.setRepeat(1); // Repeat current track
nowPlaying.setRepeat(0); // No repeat

Full Example

Here is a complete example that creates a simple media info display with playback controls:

import { addon } from "novadesk";
const nowPlaying = addon.load("path/to/NowPlaying.dll");

// Poll for media info every 1 second
setInterval(() => {
  const s = nowPlaying.stats();

  if (s.available) {
    console.log("Now Playing:");
    console.log(`  ${s.artist} - ${s.title}`);
    console.log(`  Album: ${s.album}`);
    console.log(`  Progress: ${s.progress}%`);
    console.log(`  State: ${s.state === 1 ? "Playing" : s.state === 2 ? "Paused" : "Stopped"}`);
    console.log(`  Shuffle: ${s.shuffle}, Repeat: ${s.repeat}`);
  } else {
    console.log("No media session active");
  }
}, 1000);

// Example playback controls
// nowPlaying.playPause();     // Toggle play/pause
// nowPlaying.next();          // Skip to next track
// nowPlaying.previous();      // Go to previous track
// nowPlaying.setPosition(30); // Seek to 30 seconds
// nowPlaying.setShuffle(true); // Enable shuffle
// nowPlaying.setRepeat(2);    // Repeat all