using cron to schedule iTunes?

I'm not the cron guy--deeg is--but have a look at:

"CLI, Applescript, and cron"
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/7550

and

"Alarm Clock with iTunes & Cron Solution"
http://www.oreillynet.com/cs/user/view/cs_msg/12839

Then its just a matter of writing the applet in Script Editor. You'll need the address of each stream:

tell application "iTunes" to open location "http://pri.kts-af.net/redir/index.pls?esid=858120ba998171abe313ee76a94b1349&url_no=4&client_id=7&uid=68efed4d03ec7e45fd3978262c107180&clicksrc=xml"

to get the address, run this script on a single selection:

tell application "iTunes"
get address of selection
end tell

OR, you could put each stream in its own playlist (named "stream1", "stream2", etc) by itself and write this script:

tell application "iTunes" to play playlist "stream1"

Save as an application, uncheck show startup screen.

Load 'em up in cron. Enjoy

saved as application from within Script Editor, added to cron with Cronnix, and it worked just fine.

default-format saved scripts (after 'check syntax' and the variable and term highlighting is added) did not run from the command line even after chmod 777; console reported 'cannot execute binary file'

Now I need to add some error checking based on 'am i burning a CD?' sort of things.

Thanks!

Hm, I thought I'd tried that simpler version, but test flight sez you are right.

Here's where I've gotten to. I should note that I'm in OS X.

There are two things not yet done:

1. I'd love to break the script up into named functions to fix the end-if confusion that will happen if it ever gets bigger (plus, the string variables could be entered as declared variables, hey?)

2. I need to understand how to get the disc-inserted status of iTunes to test - I think that may be all I need to test for to meet my needs.

Finally, I punched the "burn" button in Finder to see if I could get some status from it regarding that process and the whole script halted with a "Finder busy" error, which is actually fine with me if it doesn't override a burn.

Thanks for your help and feedback!

-- This is a script intended to permit cron-based scheduling of internet radio streams in iTunes.
-- In order not to interrupt disc burning operations, I test for apps that need a burner.
-- then I test iTunes to make sure iTunes is not ripping or burning.
-- this last problem is still under research.

-- ideally the script should be broken out of the if - then nesting and called by subroutine names

tell application "Finder"
set _apps_ to the name of every process as string
-- this works to present an array of all processes, coercing to string so i can check on the app name
repeat with i from 1 to 1
-- invoking 'repeat' to get breakpoints in if-then tests
if _apps_ contains "Toast" then
say "Toast is active."
-- beep
-- or you could just have it beep, how boring
exit repeat
else
if _apps_ contains "iDVD" then
say "i-D-V-D is active"
exit repeat
else
-- if iTunes is doing something
-- say iTunes is busy
-- else
tell application "iTunes"
set thePlaylist to playlist "a radio selection"
tell thePlaylist to play track "KUOW Live 96 kbps"
end tell
-- end if
end if
end if
end repeat
end tell

I couldn't find a "code" button so i just manually enered the tags I've seen elsewhere - sorry if it comes out kooky

Try blocks, eh?

cool! my docs are a bit aged and don't seem to include it ("the Tao of Applescript"), and the apple-hosted stuff is a bit hard to wade through. That's quite helpful.

Do you have a reference to disc-state testing, by any chance?

Getting more ambitious. Haven't figured out how to get the dialog and the speech to happen simultaneously.

Ideally, I'd like to declare the tested apps at the top and do some form of looping, but I'm not conversant enough with how to do that.

the declaration is easy:

set theTestList to ("app1", "app2", . . .)

but over that I'm unsure.

Also see my sloppy repeated call to iTunes.

The other problem is that there's no obvious way to get "burn" status. Fortunately it doesn't seem to cause problems with iTunes. the other small problem is that modals seem to create difficulties - the script just waits, no biggie; but it makes me uneasy - wil the script just die on a timeout?

-- This is a script intended to permit cron-based scheduling of internet radio streams in iTunes.
-- In order not to interrupt disc burning operations, I test for apps that need a burner.
-- the iTunes Dictionary does not appear to contain specific ebets or properties that reflect ripping or burning

set theStation to "KUOW Live 96 kbps"
set myPlaylist to "a radio selection"
-- I have a subset of internet radio in a custom playlist; you might have one too, with a different name
-- We find the list item for the sation by name

tell application "System Events"
if ejectable of disks contains true then
-- assumption being that the CD is DOING something, and you don't want iTunes jumping to a radio station all willy-nilly
-- inserted blank CDs will not be caught: they are not mounted, see?
set CDMounted to 1
-- a CD is mounted
end if
end tell

tell application "System Events"
set running_apps to (get name of processes)
-- what's running?
end tell

-- now we'll test for CD and DVD-oriented replication apps

if running_apps contains "Toast" then
set theDiscApps to 1
-- Toast is running
else if running_apps contains "iDVD" then
set theDiscApps to 1
-- iDVD is running
-- add your own tests if you'd like
end if

if CDMounted = 1 or theDiscApps = 1 then

copy (display dialog "A CD or DVD-related process is active. Switch iTunes to " & theStation & " anyway?" buttons {"OK", "Cancel"} default button "Cancel") to dialogResults

if the button returned of dialogResults is "OK" then
try
tell application "iTunes"
set thePlaylist to playlist myPlaylist
tell thePlaylist to play track theStation
end tell
on error
say "iTunes is busy at the moment."
-- if iTunes is presenting a modal dialog, the script hangs and has to be escaped from.
-- running the script after "burn disc" is engaged in iTunes does not interrupt the burn.
end try
end if

else
try
tell application "iTunes"
set thePlaylist to playlist "a radio selection"
tell thePlaylist to play track theStation
end tell
on error
say "iTunes is busy at the moment."
-- if iTunes is presenting a modal dialog, the script hangs and has to be escaped from.
-- running the script after "burn disc" is engaged in iTunes does not interrupt the burn.
end try
end if

In AppleScript a "function" is a subroutine or handler. Use this in replace of the coded block:

to play_stream()
try
tell application "iTunes"
set thePlaylist to playlist myPlaylist
tell thePlaylist to play track theStation
end tell
on error
say "iTunes is busy at the moment."
-- if iTunes is presenting a modal dialog, the script hangs and has to be escaped from.
-- running the script after "burn disc" is engaged in iTunes does not interrupt the burn.
end try
end play_stream

-- call like this

tell me to play_stream

Or something. See Tao in subroutines.

aha!

should it be

tell me to play_stream()

including the trailing parens?

Yes, declare globals at the top, especially the playlist stuff...otherwise, stick your variables in the calling statements (), like

tell me to play_stream(myPlaylist)

then later, declaring the subroutine, start like:

to play_stream(myPlaylist)

Although, I usually use globals and properties...hate keeping track of what was sent where when.

Keep on keepin' on!

Looks good!
To avoid the modal problem, wrap the error handler in a try too!

try
tell application "iTunes"
set thePlaylist to playlist myPlaylist
tell thePlaylist to play track theStation
end tell
on error
try
say "iTunes is busy at the moment."
-- if iTunes is presenting a modal dialog, the script hangs and has to be escaped from.
-- running the script after "burn disc" is engaged in iTunes does not interrupt the burn.
end try
end try