anybody knows how to autoplay an .avi files(Not animation, its a video files)?Which component should I use? I also want to control the length of the movie using timer...any help will be appreciated thanks

P.S.: the autoplay part I want it to play without having me to click any command button

the easiest way is to use the "Miscrosoft Multimedia Control", in the MSDN there is also a simply example on how to use it.
If you have more control and do it yourself, you can use the mciSendString API in winmm.dll