QuickTime Player won't load files with Unicode names?

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

I’m trying to open some files with QuickTime Player (Pro) so that I can manipulate them. I’ve tried a few different ways and I can load the file just fine IF the filename does NOT contain any international characters. When the filename containes international characters I get a message that the file cannot be found.

I am using QuickTime Player Pro 6.2 on Mac OS X 10.2.6. I’m trying to open AIFF files from a CD. I’ve tried getting my filename info from both the Finder and iTunes with pretty much the same results.

Can someone give me a short snippet of AppleScript that’ll reliably open AIFF files from CD that might contain international characters? Thanks in advance!

– Naaff

Simplified Examples:

tell application “QuickTime Player” to open (“Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok:1 Be Så Skal Du Få.aiff” as alias)
→ File Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok:1 Be Så Skal Du Få.aiff wasn’t found.

tell application “QuickTime Player” to open (“Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok:2 Dine Ord.aiff” as alias)
→ document “2 Dine Ord.aiff”

(Notice that the disk name CAN have international characters… just not the file name)

Help!

#2

This is untested and I’m guessing at what the problem might be but does something like this work?

set path_ to "Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok:1 Be Så Skal Du Få.aiff" as Unicode text
tell application "QuickTime Player" to open file path_

– Rob

#3

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried the following:

set path_ to "Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok:1 Be Så Skal Du Få.aiff" as Unicode text
tell application "QuickTime Player" to open file path_
--> QuickTime Player got an error: the file was not found

set path_ to "Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok:2 Dine Ord.aiff" as Unicode text
tell application "QuickTime Player" to open file path_
--> document "2 Dine Ord.aiff" of application "QuickTime Player"

So… no luck.

But I just discovered something new. I tried to open the file “1 Be Så Skal Du Få.aiff” off of the CD directly in the QuickTime Player and I got an error message: “Could’t open the file because the file was not found.” The other track, “2 Dine Ord.aiff” opened right off the CD without a problem. However, when I tried to first copy the tracks to a folder on my hard drive they both opened without any problem.

So I guess this looks more like a QuickTime problem than anything, but maybe there is some kind of work-around using AppleScript that would be easier than copying every file as that would add a significant amount of time to the process.

I appreciate your help!

– Naaff

#4

I wonder if it would help to run it through the Finder.

tell application "Finder"
	open file "path:to:file" using "path:to:QuickTime Player"
end tell

– Rob

#5

I just tried variations on the following:

tell application "Finder"
	set cdFolder to folder "Sanger Fra Bøkenes Bok"
	open the file 1 in the cdFolder using "Eks:Applications:QuickTime Player"
end tell

When I change the file index to point to a track that does not contain international characters in its title everything works great. No such luck for tracks with international characters. In that case QuickTime gives the error it gave before. (can’t open because it is not found)

It looks to me that, for some reason, QuickTime cannot recognize international filenames on a CD no matter where the information comes from. Is there maybe an alternate form of the filename that could be used (similar to the “short” and “long” forms used because OS 9 [and older] could only handle 31 character filenames)?

Thanks again for the help,
– Naaff

#6

Aside from the fact that I have no relevant CDs to test with, I don’t know enough about this issue to make any other suggestions. :?

– Rob

#7

Thanks for trying. Maybe someone else will see this posting that has some experience with the matter.

You really ought to pick up another language just so you can have CDs available when someone has an off-the-wall problem like me. :wink:

– Naaff

#8

Would renaming the files in question be an option?

#9

I could rename the file, but I would only want to do it temporarily. I wouldn’t want to have to many side-affects… I supose I could save the name, do my business, and then restore the name. I’d have to admit, however, that I was hoping for a more elegent solution. :slight_smile:

– Naaff