Using "Ripped?" more efficiently?

hi thomas,

are you familiar with the script editor at all.. i can take you through moding the code or you could try dropping an email to the author, the address is included in the read-me.. they'll probably be able to knock up a custom version for you..

i tried limiting the playlists selected in that line but is failed for me so instead this will limit the playlists searched to just those containing the word Dylan by checking the playlists after we have them all and discarding those we dont want...

set the_userplaylists to name of every user playlist
set the_playlists to {}
repeat with aPlaylist in the_userplaylists
if aPlaylist does not contain "Dylan" then
-- noop
else
set the_playlists to the_playlists & aPlaylist
end if
end repeat

note: applescript ignores case unless asked so it would find dylan/Dylan/dyLan etc..

i did originally write Ripped? to just scan the library file but someone asked for it to include a playlist scan as well.. you could cut out alot of the code if all you want to do is scan for a given track, something along the lines of...

--
-- declare the variables for later use
--
set track_to_check to ""
-- start of script
tell application "iTunes"
if selection is {} then
display dialog "This script requires you to have selected a track in iTunes before running"
else
set track_to_check to (item 1 of selection)
end if
if track_to_check is not equal to "" then
set album_to_check to album of track_to_check
set trackname to name of track_to_check
set found to false
tell source "library"
tell playlist "library"
repeat with i from 1 to the count of tracks
tell track i
if (name of track i is equal to trackname) & (album of track i is equal to album_to_check) then
set found to true
exit repeat
else
-- noop
end if
end tell -- end of each track check
end repeat -- end of all track checks
end tell -- end of library playlist chat
end tell -- end of library source chat
-- display results
if found then
display dialog "you have already imported this track"
else
display dialog "you have not imported this track"
end if
end if -- end of check for album
end tell

would probably do it.. it checks both the album and trackname since you might have different versions from different albums.. if you are not concerned about that then just remove the album name checks and leave the trackname check..

By intuitive copy/pasting, I now have altered the script so that it does what I wanted. It will not check for the use of a track in previous playlists which have "Dylan" as part of the playlist name:

--
-- declare the variables for later use
--
property old_versions : {"2.0.2", "2.0.1"} -- old versions of itunes used by get_the_playlists
global the_playlists -- list of all user playlists
global found_in -- which playlists the track was found in
set the_playlists to {}
set found_in to {}
set track_to_check to ""

-- start of script

tell application "iTunes"
if selection is {} then
display dialog "This script requires you to have selected a track in iTunes before running"
else
set track_to_check to (item 1 of selection)
end if

if track_to_check is not equal to "" then

-- what would they like to check ?




set track_to_check to database ID of track_to_check -- get the id of the track we are interested in
set the_userplaylists to name of every user playlist whose name contains "dylan"



my gettheplaylists() -- call sub routine to get all the user playlists

if (count of items in the_playlists) > 0 then -- we have some playlists to check

set show_result to true -- we have something to show them

repeat with p in the_userplaylists -- check each playlist

-- keep them informed of progress

set the_name to p as string

display dialog "checking playlist " & the_name buttons {"KLF"} giving up after 1

tell playlist p -- chat with the playlists

set include_playlist to false

repeat with i from 1 to the count of tracks -- check all tracks in playlist

tell track i

set a_test to false

-- if the track matches what we are looking for update found_in

if (database ID = track_to_check) then
set include_playlist to true
end if

end tell -- end of each track check

end repeat -- end of all track checks

-- add playlist to list of playlists..

if include_playlist then
set end of found_in to p
end if

end tell -- end of chat with the playlist

end repeat
else
display dialog "no user playlists found" buttons {"KLF"} giving up after 5
set show_result to false -- we have nothing to show them
end if

if show_result then -- we have something to tell them

if (count of items in found_in) > 0 then -- track has been found in some lists

-- show the user

set x to (choose from list found_in with prompt ?
" Your selected track has been located in the following playlists" with empty selection allowed) as string

-- allows the user to display the playlist of desired

if x is not equal to "" then
tell application "iTunes"
set the view of the front browser window to playlist x
end tell
end if

else -- not found in any playlists
display dialog "Your track is not in any playlist" buttons {"KLF"} giving up after 5
end if

end if

end if
end tell

--
-- subroutine to get the playlists
--

on gettheplaylists()

tell application "iTunes"

-- get the current version of itunes

set itunes_version to version

-- get which playlists exist

if old_versions contains itunes_version then -- cannot use "every" command
set theLists to {}
set pCount to (get index of last user playlist)
repeat with i from 1 to pCount
copy (get name of user playlist i) to end of the_playlists
end repeat
else
set the_playlists to name of every user playlist
end if

end tell -- end of chat with itunes

-- set what to return

return (the_playlists)

end gettheplaylists

Yes, I will get around to cleaning it up a bit, but it's working for me now.

As to thephoto, no there is no special effect being applied there. just some Photoshopping to control contrast, saturation, etc.