Cannot access context menu item in iTunes using AppleScript

I'm not sure I understand:

does not exist any api for that in the Dictionary

Sure you can.

tell application "iTunes"

set sel to (get selection)

set theArt to artworks of item 1 of sel

end tell

This avoids the whole UI scripting mess, no?

Maybe the issue is that tracks can have multiple artworks, therefore what you get back is a list of artworks, which you may have to iterate through, even though there's only 1 artwork for the given track.

I want to write a applescript that works like the meny alternative in iTunes when you select a track and right-click othe track and select "Get Album Artwork" from the context menu and art is set for that track.

Here's the best I was able to do:

tell application "iTunes" to activate

tell application "System Events"

keystroke "3" using {option down, command down} -- view as list

tell process "iTunes"

tell window "iTunes"

set theRow to row 1 of outline 1 of scroll area 3 whose selected is true

tell theRow to perform action "AXShowMenu"

repeat 8 times

key code 125 -- down arrow (no reaction for several seconds)

end repeat

keystrokereturn

end tell

delay 1

clickbutton 1 of window 1 -- button 1 to cancel, button 2 to get artwork

end tell

end tell

(In its present state, the script won't work properly if more than one track is selected.)

Hope it can help.

Message was edited by: Pierre L.

I guess I'm still not seeing the issue.

Problem is that I want to query the artwork in iTunes to set the high quality artwork from Apple for the select

OK, I get that, but I've already shown you that it's possible to get the artwork via AppleScript - setting it a little more complex, but still doable.

What's missing, of course, is where you're definging what the artwork should be set to. I assume you have some handle on that. If that's the case then you can set the artwork of any given track via something like:

set myImgFile to (choose fileof type "JPG")

set myPic to readmyImgFileasJPEG picture

tell application "iTunes"

set sel to (get selection)

set curTrack to item 1 of sel

set data of front artwork of curTrack to myPic

end tell

This example prompts you for a JPEG image on disk and then sets it as the artwork for the selected track. Still no UI scripting required. 🙂

(In its present state, the script won't work properly if more than one track is selected.)

A better (though not faster) solution, which works even when more than one track is selected, is obtained by replacing

repeat 8 times

key code 125 -- down arrow

end repeat

with

keystroke "Get Album Artwork"

Is there any way to boost performance of the script ?

Did you try lessening the number of tracks in the iTunes window by entering some criteria in the search field?

Is there any way to boost performance of the script ?

Maybe you might want to try the following version of my previous script. It assumes you have selected “as List” from the View menu of the menu bar and also “Song” (ideally) or “All” (minimally) from the context menu of the iTunes window Search field.

tell application "iTunes"

activate

if selection is {} then return

set theTrack to item 1 of selection

revealtheTrack

tell application "System Events"

keystroketab-- select the search field

tell process "iTunes"

tell window "iTunes"

set value of text field 1 to name of theTrack

end tell

end tell

end tell

revealtheTrack

tell application "System Events"

tell process "iTunes"

tell window "iTunes"

tell scroll area 3

tell outline 1

tell (row 1 whose selected is true)

perform action "AXShowMenu"

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

keystroke "Get Album Artwork" & return -- no reaction for several seconds

delay 1

tell process "iTunes"

tell window 1

clickbutton 1 -- button 1 to cancel, button 2 to get artwork

end tell

end tell

keystroketab-- select the search field

key code 51 -- ⌫

end tell

revealtheTrack

end tell

Message was edited by: Pierre L. (a lot of small corrections)

I'm glad the script ended up being useful for you. On the other hand, it seems to me that the first 10 lines of your script aren't necessary and just duplicate what the first part of mine does. You could manually select any number of tracks before launching the script, since the script will reveal and search just the first one of them.

Could you update the script for iTunes 11?

I'm having a hard time with UI Browser to access the context menu 😉

The following version should work with iTunes 11, although the script is still overly slow.

tell application "iTunes"

activate

if selection is {} then return

set theTrack to item 1 of selection

revealtheTrack

tell application "System Events"

keystroketab-- select the search field

tell process "iTunes"

tell window "iTunes"

set value of text field 1 to name of theTrack

end tell

end tell

end tell

revealtheTrack

tell application "System Events"

tell process "iTunes"

tell window "iTunes"

tell splitter group 1

tell splitter group 1

tell scroll area 1

tell outline 1

tell (row 1 whose selected is true)

performaction "AXShowMenu"

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

end tell

keystroke "Get Album Artwork" & return-- no reaction for several seconds

tell process "iTunes"

repeat until exists (window 1 whose subrole is "AXDialog")

end repeat

click button 2 of (window 1 whose subrole is "AXDialog")

-- button 1 to cancel, button 2 to get album artwork

end tell

keystroketab-- select the search field

key code 51 -- ⌫

end tell

revealtheTrack

end tell

Thanks, Pierre L.

Why is selecting a menu item of context menu so slow?

Thinking of workarounds, have you tried clicking by calculating coordinates for a menu item from those of the context menu? Would that be quicker?

Why is selecting a menu item of context menu so slow?

I really don't know. Actually, any command that follows the performaction "AXShowMenu" line of code seems to be delayed in time.

You might try this for instance:

tell (row 1 whose selected is true)

perform action "AXShowMenu"

return "That's really slow"

end tell

Thinking of workarounds, have you tried clicking by calculating coordinates for a menu item from those of the context menu? Would that be quicker?

I don't remember if I've tried that. I know I've tried a lot of things without success. Initially though, I just wanted to show the OP that it was possible to access the menu item "Get Album Artwork". And frankly, since then I've lost interest in that script.

Message was edited by: Pierre L. (added an example)

I tried revealing a track and clicking with MouseTools and it's very fast. Only problem is I've done this with fix coordinates and I'd like to share my script with others regardless of display and app configuration.

I can get AXPosition for row 1 > text field 1, but I cannot get any reference for the context menu and its child elements — Accessibility Inspector reads window 1 > menu 1, but ASE always returns an invalid index. Any ideas?