retrieving info from the console

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

Hi,

I’m wondering if it’s possible to get a filename from the console using some kind of shell script. My script simply launches a file from a playlist of a non-scriptable application (mplayer) by simulating a keyboard stroke, so I can’t get the name of the launched file from the app itself. Is this possible?

Thanks a lot in advance!

#2

UNTESTED
mplayer shows a list of movies-to-play. So, if you use System Events to simulate a keystroke, you could also use System Events to retrieve the name of the file from the table view… :?:

tell application "System Events"
	tell process "MPlayer OS X 2"
		set move1Name to value of text field 1 of row 1 of table 1 of scroll area 1 of window "MPlayer OS X"
	end tell
end tell
#3

Hi,

thanks for your reply, I really appreciate it. Actually I’m simulating the keystroke with Salling Clicker. But even if I use System Events this code doesn’t seem to work. The variable doesn’t return anything. Also, what I wanted wasn’t really the name of the first item of the playlist, but the name of the launched item (could be any file in the playlist). Any other ideas?

#4

Have you installed the latest beta System Events, aka UI-Scripting?
Anyway, you can try this, which attempts to get the latest-played movie, which should be also the current playing-in-progress:

--> read 20000 last bytes of the console log
set last20000bytes to (do shell script "tail -c 20000 /private/var/tmp/console.log")

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return & "Playing "
set playedFiles to rest of (last20000bytes's text items)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {""}
--> we have now a list of latest played files
--> we are interested in the last one

set ourFile to paragraph 1 of (playedFiles's item -1)
--> eg: "/Users/username/Desktop/musicVideos/scorpions__still_loving_you_live_by_makkor.mpg"
--> extract file name or whatever you want
#5

THANK YOU SO MUCH!
:smiley:

#6

One more variation:

paragraph -1 of (do shell script "tail -c 20000 /private/var/tmp/console.log | grep 'Playing '")
#7

Very nice! You’re a genius! Thanks again!

#8

This don’t work in Leopard. Which way Snow Leopard handles console.log? Is it now real log file or is it still same what it is in Leopard?

I would like to monitor console.log.