I’m very new to AS but have been programming in Perl for a number of years.
I have a need for a script to extract the artist, album & URL from an email, download the track and then import it into iTunes.
This was working reasonably well until last night. Now - for some reason - my global variables that are declared at the top of the script do not seem to be in scope (that is they don’t exist with the repeat loop). Would some learned AS programmer please cast his/her eye the script and tell me where I’m going wrong.
I haven’t tackled functions/subroutines/methods in AS so it is all inline. Sorry!
set downloadLocation to "Macintosh HD:Users:davidg:Desktop:"
set iTunesBaseDir to "Macintosh HD:Users:davidg:Music:iTunes:iTunes Music:"
using terms from application "Mail"
on perform mail action with messages theMessages
repeat with thisMessage in theMessages
-- extract required info
set theContents to content of thisMessage
set oldDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
-- get artist and album details
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" request for "}
set parseString to text items of theContents
set parseString to item 2 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {", "}
set theArtist to text item 1 of parseString
set theAlbum to text item 2 of parseString
-- extract theURL
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" at "}
set parseString to text item 2 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {return}
set theURL to text item 1 of parseString
-- extract filename
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"/"}
set parseString to text items of theURL
set parseString to item 5 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"
"}
set theTrack to text item 1 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelimiters
try
set fullDestPath to iTunesBaseDir & theArtist & ":" & theAlbum & ":"
on error theError
display dialog theError
end try
set partDestPath to iTunesBaseDir & theArtist & ":"
set fullSrcFile to downloadLocation & theTrack
set fullDestFile to fullDestPath & theTrack
display dialog fullDestFile
display dialog fullSrcFile
-- download track
-- if not (fullSrcFile exists) or not (fullDestFile exists) then
tell application "Safari"
try
open location theURL
close window 2
on error theError
display dialog "Safari: " & theError
end try
end tell
-- Check to see if artist/album dir already exists. if not then create it
tell application "Finder"
if not (the folder fullDestPath exists) then
if not (the folder partDestPath exists) then
make new folder at alias iTunesBaseDir with properties {name:theArtist}
end if
make new folder at alias partDestPath with properties {name:theAlbum}
end if
repeat until item fullSrcFile exists
delay 5
end repeat
move item fullSrcFile to folder fullDestPath
end tell
-- delete messsage
tell application "Mail"
try
set read status of thisMessage to true
set deleted of thisMessage to true
on error theError
display dialog "Mail: " & theError
end try
end tell
-- import track into iTunes
tell application "iTunes"
try
add fullDestFile to playlist "Library"
on error theError
display dialog "iTunes: " & theError
end try
end tell
end repeat
end perform mail action with messages
end using terms from
display dialog "complete"
To make a variable a global, you explicitly have to declare it as such at the top of your script. Using properties alone will probably suffice for you, though:
OK Now I’m confused. The iTunesBaseDir and downloadLocation variables are now null again.
Here’s the complete code:
global downloadLocation, iTunesBaseDir
property downloadLocation : ""
property iTunesBaseDir : ""
set downloadLocation to (path to desktop) as Unicode text
set iTunesBaseDir to (((path to music folder) as Unicode text) & "iTunes:iTunes Music") as Unicode text
using terms from application "Mail"
on perform mail action with messages theMessages
repeat with thisMessage in theMessages
-- these variables are blank again!?!
display dialog iTunesBaseDir
display dialog downloadLocation
-- extract required info
set theContents to content of thisMessage
set oldDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters
-- get artist and album details
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" request for "}
set parseString to text items of theContents
set parseString to item 2 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {", "}
set theArtist to text item 1 of parseString
set theAlbum to text item 2 of parseString
-- extract theURL
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {" at "}
set parseString to text item 2 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {return}
set theURL to text item 1 of parseString
-- extract filename
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"/"}
set parseString to text items of theURL
set parseString to item 5 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {"
"}
set theTrack to text item 1 of parseString
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldDelimiters
set fullDestPath to iTunesBaseDir & theArtist & ":" & theAlbum & ":" as Unicode text
set partDestPath to iTunesBaseDir & theArtist & ":"
set fullSrcFile to downloadLocation & theTrack
set fullDestFile to fullDestPath & theTrack
-- download track
tell application "Safari"
try
open location theURL
on error theError
display dialog "Safari: " & theError
end try
end tell
-- Check to see if artist/album dir already exists. if not then create it
tell application "Finder"
try
if not (the folder fullDestPath exists) then
if not (the folder partDestPath exists) then
make new folder at alias iTunesBaseDir with properties {name:theArtist}
end if
make new folder at alias partDestPath with properties {name:theAlbum}
end if
on error theError
display dialog "Finder" & theError -- I always get an error here
end try
try
repeat
if (file fullSrcFile exists) then
exit repeat
else
delay 5
end if
end repeat
on error theError
display dialog theError
end try
move item fullSrcFile to folder fullDestPath
end tell
-- delete messsage
tell application "Mail"
try
set read status of thisMessage to true
set deleted of thisMessage to true
on error theError
display dialog "Mail: " & theError
end try
end tell
-- import track into iTunes
tell application "iTunes"
try
add fullDestFile to playlist "Library"
on error theError
display dialog "iTunes: " & theError
end try
end tell
end repeat
end perform mail action with messages
end using terms from
display dialog "complete"
So within the repeat block these vars are blank. I’ve tried setting these vars the “old” way, i.e. as a string. but that makes no difference.
Turns out that the global variables weren’t so global after all - again!
By changing the code to:
global downloadLocation, iTunesBaseDir
property downloadLocation : ""
property iTunesBaseDir : ""
using terms from application "Mail"
on perform mail action with messages theMessages
set downloadLocation to (path to desktop) as Unicode text
set iTunesBaseDir to (((path to music folder) as Unicode text) & "iTunes:iTunes Music") as Unicode text
repeat with thisMessage in theMessages
"Script properties are labeled containers for values that you can use in much the same way you use variables. The value of a script property persists until you recompile the script that contains it, and you can easily set the property’s initial value without resetting it each time the script is run. You can accomplish the same thing with a global variable, but it is usually more convenient to use a property for this purpose. "
