macOS Play Alert Sound

│ English (en) │

This article applies to macOS only.

See also: Multiplatform Programming Guide

The Apple macOS operating system has many possible alert sounds which you can play to alert your user to various situation that need their attention. You can use System Sound Services to play short (30 seconds or shorter) sounds. The interface does not provide level, positioning, looping, or timing control, and does not support simultaneous playback: You can play only one sound at a time.

The example application code below shows how to play those alert sounds. In this example the alert sound is being played by choosing a menu item which is just for the purposes of the demonstration.

Note that the choice of 2 for the alert sound to play in this example is purely arbitrary. You should choose the number for the appropriate sound you want to play. Sound number 4096 is particularly interesting for deaf users. Try it :-)

unit unit1;

{$mode objfpc}{$H+}
{$linkframework AudioToolbox}

interface

uses
  Forms,
  Menus;

type

  { TForm1 }

  TForm1 = class(TForm)
    MainMenu1: TMainMenu;
    MenuItem1: TMenuItem;
    procedure MenuItemPlaySoundClick(Sender: TObject);

  private

  public

  end;

var
  Form1: TForm1;

implementation

{$R *.lfm}

{ TForm1 }

// Sound procedure declaration 
Procedure AudioServicesPlayAlertSound (inSystemSoundID: UInt32)
   external name '_AudioServicesPlayAlertSound';

// Menu item OnClick Event
procedure TForm1.MenuItemPlaySoundClick(Sender: TObject);
begin
  AudioServicesPlayAlertSound(2);  // Use the appropriate value for the sound you want
end;

end.

Playing a sound from a file

Not only can you play the existing operating system alert sounds, you can also play your own .wav sound files. The example application below demonstrates this. The Button1 OnClick event handler plays your sound from the specified file and updates the button caption with the number assigned to the sound.

unit Unit1;


{$mode objfpc}{$H+}
{$linkframework AudioToolbox}

interface


uses
 Classes,
 SysUtils,
 Forms,
 Controls,
 StdCtrls,
 Dialogs,
 MacOSAll;

type

 TSystemSoundID = UInt32;
 pSystemSoundID = ^TSystemSoundID;

 { TForm1 }

 TForm1 = class(TForm)
   Button1: TButton;
   procedure Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
 private

 public

 end;


var
 Form1: TForm1;


implementation


{$R *.lfm}


{ TForm1 }

// Sound procedure and function declarations
procedure AudioServicesPlayAlertSound (inSystemSoundID: TSystemSoundID); external name '_AudioServicesPlayAlertSound';
function AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(inFileURL: CFURLRef; outSystemSoundID: pSystemSoundID):OSStatus; external name '_AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID';

procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
   newSoundID:TSystemSoundID;
   filePathURL: CFURLRef;
   filePathCFStringRef: CFStringRef;
   filePathStr: String;
   status: Integer = -1;
begin
 // Play sound from file
 filePathStr := '/usr/local/share/fpcsrc/fpc-3.0.4/packages/libndsfpc/examples/audio/maxmod/basic_sound/audio/Ambulance.wav';
 filePathCFStringRef := CFStringCreateWithPascalString(kCFAllocatorDefault, filePathStr, CFStringGetSystemEncoding);
 filePathURL := CFURLCreateWithFileSystemPath(kCFAllocatorDefault, filePathCFStringRef, kCFURLPOSIXPathStyle, false);

 status := AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID(filePathURL, @newSoundID);

 if(status = kAudioServicesNoError) then
   begin
      Button1.Caption := IntToStr(newSoundID);
      AudioServicesPlayAlertSound(newSoundID);
   end
 else
   ShowMessage('Error in AudioServicesCreateSystemSoundID()');
end;

end.

External links

• Apple: System Sound Services