remote itunes and Error: Cannot find process on host

[General]

I have this script to check if iTunes i running on one of my remote machines but when i run it i get the error: “Cannot find process on host”. Is there a way to make this work? I’m wanting to check if the process is running and then save it as a variable name.

set runningiTunes to {}
tell application "Finder" of machine "eppc://user:passwd@192.168.0.104"
	set runningiTunes to (name of every process whose name is "iTunes")
end tell
if runningiTunes is "iTunes" then
	return
else if runningiTunes is {} then
	tell application "iTunes"
		run
	end tell
end if

[General]

can someone help me?

[jonn8]

You can try this:

–Open this script in a new Script Editor window.

property user_name : “”
property user_password : “”
property remote_machine_ip : “192.168.0.104”
property remote_machine : missing value

repeat while user_name = “”
activate
set user_name to text returned of (display dialog “What is your user name?” default answer “” buttons {“Cancel”, “OK”} default button 2 with icon 1)
end repeat

repeat while user_password = “”
activate
set user_password to text returned of (display dialog “What is your password?” default answer “” buttons {“Cancel”, “OK”} default button 2 with icon 1)
end repeat

set remote_machine to “eppc://” & user_name & “:” & user_password & “@” & remote_machine_ip
if my [color=green]launch_remote_iTunes/color = false then display dialog “Could not launch iTunes on remote machine (” & remote_machine_ip & “).” buttons {“OK”} default button 1 with icon 2

on [color=green]launch_remote_iTunes/color
using terms from application “Finder”
tell application “Finder” of machine remote_machine
try
get (item 1 of (get name of processes whose name = “iTunes”))
return true
on error
try
–this next line should work but didn’t on my machine (don’t know why):
–tell application “iTunes” of machine remote_machine to launch
–so, let the Finder do it instead:
open (application file id “hook” as alias)
on error
return false
end try
repeat 20 times
try
delay 1
–check to see if it really is open:
get (item 1 of (get name of processes whose name = “iTunes”))
return true
end try
–check for 20 seconds, if it hasn’t launched in that time, quit checking
end repeat
return false
end try
end tell
end using terms from
end launch_remote_iTunes

Jon

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[somethingkindawierd]

If anyone is still having problems remotely controlling an application be sure that “Remote Apple Events” is turned on in the Sharing preferences on the remote computer, otherwise it will not accept apple events from your computer.

Once Remote Apple Events was activated on my remote computer Jon’s suggestion above did launch iTunes for me.

I also discovered that you cannot tell a remote application to launch, you must tell the Finder to launch it. Then you can tell the remote application to do what you like.

jON bEEBE
BIG Images

[somethingkindawierd]

I think I spoke a bit to soon. After trying to edit Jon’s script (posted above) the code line

tell application "iTunes" of machine remote_machine to launch

does not work. It is the next line

open (application file id "hook" as alias) 

that does the trick. If I try to replace “iTunes” with “FileMaker Pro” the script still opens iTunes. If I remove the “hook” as alias line then the script does nothing. What is the “hook” in the above code and how is it associated with iTunes? How can I find what to replace “hook” with so that another application such as FileMaker Pro will open instead?

And another problem I noticed. While iTunes does open if I run Jon’s script as is, the code following it:

 repeat 20 times
                         try
                              delay 1
                              --check to see if it really is open:
                              get (item 1 of (get name of processes whose name = "iTunes"))
                              return true
                         end try
                         --check for 20 seconds, if it hasn't launched in that time, quit checking
                    end repeat

does not recognize iTunes as launched, even when it is. If anyone has ideas as to why this is not working correctly and what needs to change for it to work correctly I would greatly appreciate the knowledge.

Just to outline my purposes of needing to access a remote application: I need to verify that FileMaker Pro is running on a remote computer and if it is not then launch the app and open a specified database. Then my script will access the database and do the work it needs.

Thanks for your time,
jON bEEBE
BIG Images

[jonn8]

I clearly state in my code that telling the application to launch didn’t work (though I don’t know why) but telling the Finder to open the application file does work. To find the application file, I use the application’s creator code. For iTunes, the creator code is “hook”. For FileMaker Pro, it depends on the version. For FMP 5.x, it is “FMP5”, for FMP v6.x, it is “FMP6”, and for FMP v7.x, it is “FMP7”. So, here’s a more generic bit of code for launching an application based on part of it’s name and the creator code:

–Open this script in a new Script Editor window.

property user_name : “”
property user_password : “”
property remote_machine_ip : “192.168.0.104”
property remote_machine : missing value

repeat while user_name = “”
activate
set user_name to text returned of (display dialog “What is your user name?” default answer “” buttons {“Cancel”, “OK”} default button 2 with icon 1)
end repeat

repeat while user_password = “”
activate
set user_password to text returned of (display dialog “What is your password?” default answer “” buttons {“Cancel”, “OK”} default button 2 with icon 1)
end repeat

set remote_machine to “eppc://” & user_name & “:” & user_password & “@” & remote_machine_ip
if my [color=green]launch_remote_app/color = false then
display dialog “Could not launch FMP on remote machine (” & remote_machine_ip & “).” buttons {“OK”} default button 1 with icon 2
end if

on launch_remote_app(app_name, app_code)
using terms from application “Finder”
tell application “Finder” of machine remote_machine
try
get (item 1 of (get name of processes whose name contains app_name))
return true
on error
try
open (application file id app_code as alias)
on error
return false
end try
repeat 20 times
try
delay 1
–check to see if it really is open:
get (item 1 of (get name of processes whose name contains app_name))
return true
end try
–check for 20 seconds, if it hasn’t launched in that time, quit checking
end repeat
return false
end try
end tell
end using terms from
end launch_remote_app

Opening the specific database file (or checking to see if it is already open) is another matter…

Jon

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