Tech198
Level 1 (48 points)
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Q: automating smart playlists

Is this possible to automatically execute this from Action script ?

 

I think the issue is not what the smart playlist does, just the automation of accomplishing it ?

 

Basically, after u create a smart playlist u must manually switch back and forth between main playlist and smart (based on the set rules)

 

is there a way for Apple script to go from the top smart playlist and continue till the end...  ?

 

Since Smart playlist rules are in iTunes .. there is no need for this in Action script . Basically my rules set are:

 

Screen Shot 2016-09-05 at 5.37.15 am.png

 

Rather than switch back and force between smart playlists and the content at han,d i wish Apple script to just do this automatically.

 

Can this be done, or would Applescript actually need to over-ride the iTunes in a smart playlist... ?

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10.5)

Posted on Sep 4, 2016 2:47 PM

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Tech198

Q: automating smart playlists

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  • by Camelot,

    Camelot Camelot Sep 4, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Tech198
    Level 8 (47,233 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 4, 2016 5:44 PM in response to Tech198

    I'm at a bit of a loss to understand your question.

     

    What is it, specifically, that you're trying to do?

     

    You say:

     

    Is this possible to automatically execute this from Action script ?

    but it isn't clear just what this is.

     

    When you say:

    is there a way for Apple script to go from the top smart playlist and continue till the end

    do you mean you want to play a specific smart playlist? That's what happens when you say:

     

    tell application "iTunes"

      play playlist "My Cool Playlist"

    end tell

     

    so what am I missing?

  • by Tech198,

    Tech198 Tech198 Sep 4, 2016 9:54 PM in response to Camelot
    Level 1 (48 points)
    Apple Pay
    Sep 4, 2016 9:54 PM in response to Camelot

    Currently i have a smart playlist with, i currently must right click the track "Show in playlist "Music" " and switch back to apply artwork..

     

    I wish Applescript to do this procedure for me... thus saving time...

     

    Either that, or is there a way to sort smart playlist alphabetically ?  as everything is all over the place...

     

    aka...  one song from an album is listed as number # 35, then a few more from the same album show up later on..

     

    While i could just go through the rest of the album in music playlist, it wastes time since i only intend to target specific tracks only.

     

    Basically so all the songs from an given album appear in the smart playlist "together" and not scatted all over the place.

     

    I'd still need to apply manually, if Apple script cannot do this, *but* if the smart playlist was sorted by album them it would sure be quicker at least..

     

    I know how to sort by columns in Music, but i'm not sure if the same sorting can be done in smart playlists, since there are no colums.

  • by Camelot,

    Camelot Camelot Sep 4, 2016 10:14 PM in response to Tech198
    Level 8 (47,233 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 4, 2016 10:14 PM in response to Tech198

    I guess I'm still missing your goal here.

     

    It sounds like you're trying to set album artwork for tracks that are missing. If so, you can do that without the intermediate step of returning back to the Music playlist - just select 'Get Info' from the contextual (right-click) menu. This will bring up the same box where you can edit the track details. Or, if you're using the online album artwork libraries, just choose 'Get Album Artwork' from the same menu

     

    As for sorting, no... because smart playlists are generated on the fly, there's no way to manually sort them.

     

    What you could (potentially) do is have a script walk through your library, looking for tracks that have missing artwork and either create a new (non-smart) playlist in the order you prefer, or just trigger the artwork download en masse.

  • by Tech198,

    Tech198 Tech198 Sep 5, 2016 3:46 PM in response to Camelot
    Level 1 (48 points)
    Apple Pay
    Sep 5, 2016 3:46 PM in response to Camelot

    ok,,, actually i was hoping of just creating a smart playlist, then having Apple script run through that smart playlist and iTunes would do the rest..

     

    However, then i realized all iTunes does is create smart playlist based on rules. it knows nothing abut what else do (eg replace missing artwork), therefore, i guess Applescript would have to do it all..

     

    Either way, I've decided to just switch back and fourth myself..... There are only about 1.600 songs with missing artwork to go though anyway, which are all in smart playlist.

     

    In regards to sorting.. I think i now know u can only sort playlists alphabetically...  I tried  this following 'short cut'

     

    Since I had all the missing album artwork songs listed together in smart playlist. I thought i could just select all in this list and create new playlist.. This did not work... Although it created a list, the list was not a normal playlist... it just duplicated it... with no columns. to sort by...  Thus... this won't do for me, because the reason i created a smart playlist was so i didn't have to sift though the missing songs and try and find them.

     

    This would only then prove, u can only sort normal playlists.. ad u cannot sort smart playlists, nor can u create new one out of, to sort by