VB.net: How to hide the Windows Media Player visualisation pane, leaving control bar visible, on a modal form?

Question

Using VS2017 VB Forms, I've made a little program to play .mp3 files using the AxWindowsMediaPlayer, and I can't seem to reliably fix the size of the control at runtime.

In design, I've set the Size and MaximumSize properties of the control ("size=120,45") so it snuggles up to a PictureBox, and at run time it "misbehaves" when a modal form is displayed for the second time - the player expands in size to show the visualisation pane, which I'm attempting to hide, by setting the control's Height (and Maximum Height) property so only the control bar portion of the player is visible.

I've replicated this behavior with a little code below. Form1 has a button which shows Form2 modally. Form2 has a Picturebox and the AxWindowsMediaPlayer. Clicking the PictureBox plays the "test.mp3" file from the Application.StartupPath. All is well...the first time the audio is played, the player behaves nicely...no visible visualisation!

Closing Form2, clicking the "Load Form2" button on Form1, and then clicking the PictureBox on Form2 again results in the undesired behaviour... the player expands and shows a waveform pattern in the visualisation pane. Showing Form2 NON-modally ( by using Show in place of ShowDialog) does NOT exhibit this behaviour, presumably because the control is displayed using the initial Size set in design. However, I would like to display Form2 modally.

I would be very grateful on suggestions on how I might overcome this unexpected size change. I've researched a little of the extensive documentation of the player, but I've been unable to hide that visualisation pane. Thank you.

Public Class Form1
   Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
       Form2.ShowDialog()
   End Sub
End Class


Public Class Form2
   Private Sub PictureBox1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles PictureBox1.Click
       Dim AudioFile As String
       AudioFile = (Application.StartupPath & "\test.mp3")
       AxWindowsMediaPlayer1.Visible = True
       AxWindowsMediaPlayer1.URL = AudioFile
   End Sub
End Class ``` 

Answer 1

Well, it's a workaround, really: I uses "Show()" in place of "ShowDialog()", and passed data to Form2 (as it initializes) to retain the state of several picture boxes.

Job done, but I'm wary of the media player.