I’m having trouble (yes, I’m a novice indeed!) opening files using the “open” applescript command. To be a little more specific: what I want to do is to tell MPlayer to open a movie of my choice. Now, if I tell Mplayer to “open [“file.avi”]” it opens the file using the default application that the file is set to open with (Quicktime, for example), instead of MPlayer. Changing the line to "open alias [“file.avi”] works fine, the file is opened in MPlayer just like I want it to, but when I’m using a variable (which is what I want to do) instead of typing the filename manually, I get the following applescript error:
“Can’t make «class docf» “MOVIE.AVI” of «class cfol» “MOVIE_FOLDER” of «class cfol» “SUB_FOLDER” of «class cfol» “Users” of «class sdsk» of application “Finder” into the expected type.”
I’ve tried telling Finder to “open the_selection using MPlayer” as well, but it doesn’t work either. Below is a simplified (and rather pointless) version of the script. Any kind of help is really appreciated.
Thanks!
Arnold
property movie_folder : alias “HD:Movies:”
tell application “Finder”
set movie_library to choose folder with prompt “Choose a folder:”
set current_folder to movie_library
set folder_name to name of current_folder
set file_list to name of every item of current_folder
set folder_list to {current_folder}
set the_selection to item 1 of current_folder
end tell
tell application “MPlayer OS X 2”
open alias the_selection
end tell
No, not really. That opens MPlayer, but returns the following error (just as it does if I tell Finder to “open the_selection using MPlayer”, except that it in that case the file opens with its default app): “MPlayer OS X 2 got an error: alias “HD:Movies:Movie.avi” doesn’t understand the open message.”
As far as I know MPlayer is not scriptable, the version (2.0b4) I have does not have a scripting library. You might have better luck with VLC, which is scriptable and free…
Works like a charm now. Oh, and by the way, VLC is not scriptable either, at least not yet, altough I’ve heard that it’s going to be in future versions.
Hi Arnold, I think VLC started adding AppleScript support in versin 0.5.2. Anyhow the current version 0.6.0 has a Scripting Library that looks pretty solid. Drag and drop VLC’s icon onto the Script Editor’s icon to open it. I haven’t tried scripting the app myself, but since it has a library it should be scriptable.