play_sound(id)

function status= play_sound(id)
%
% Version 1.0, 27 Jun 2008
%
% Dr. Phillip M. Feldman
%
%
% SYNTAX
%
% status= play_sound(id)
%
%
% OVERVIEW
%
% play_sound loads and plays the specified sound file.
%
%
% INPUTS
%
% id identifies the sound file to be loaded, and can be either a string or
% an integer.  If id equals zero, play_sound returns immediately without
% playing any sound.  If id is an integer between 1 and 6, the value is
% mapped to a Windows system sound as follows:
%
%    1: chimes
%    2: chord
%    3: ding
%    4: notify
%    5: tada
%    6: Windows XP Battery Critical
%
% If id is a string, the string may include the full path to the file.  If
% the path is not provided, play_sound looks in the current directory, and then
% in the directory C:\Windows\media.

% We start by pessimistically assuming that an error condition will occur:
status= 0;

if (nargin ~= 1)
   fprintf('play_sound requires exactly one input.');
   return;
end

if (isa(id,'numeric'))

   if (numel(id) ~= 1)
      fprintf(['When invoking play_sound with a numeric argument, please ' ...
      'specify a single\n' 'integer between 1 and 6.\n']);
      return;
   end

   if (id == 0)
      % Return without playing any sound:
      status= 1; % success
      return;
   elseif (id == 1)
      id= 'chimes';
   elseif (id == 2)
      id= 'chord';
   elseif (id == 3)
      id= 'ding';
   elseif (id == 4)
      id= 'notify';
   elseif (id == 5)
      id= 'tada';
   elseif (id == 6)
      id= 'Windows XP Battery Critical';
   else
      fprintf(['When invoking play_sound with a numeric argument, please ' ...
      'specify a single\n' 'integer between 1 and 6.\n']);
      return;
   end

end

% If id does not end with the string ".wav", append this extension:

if (~strcmp(substr(id,-4,4),'.wav'))
   id= [id '.wav'];
end

name= id;

if (~exist(id, 'file'))
   id= ['C:\\Windows\\media\\' id];
   if (~exist(id, 'file'))
      fprintf(['The input file "%s" was not found.  (I looked in the ' ...
      'current\n' 'directory, in the Matlab path, and in ' ...
      'C:\\Windows\\media).\n'], name);
      return;
   end
end

[Y,Fs,Nbits]= wavread(id);

sound(Y, Fs);

status= 1; % success