On 9 Dec, 00:17, John Joyce <dangerwillrobinsondan... / gmail.com> wrote: > Quick question for you: can AppleScript like that be used with iTunes > for Windows as well? No. The Windows version of iTunes has a COM API, however, so I'd suggest looking into that. BTW, I believe there's a project on RubyForge to develop a cross-platform iTunes module; I don't know how far along it is, but you may want to look it up. > If you have any other appscript or applescript tips, general ones > even, by all means clue me in! Understand how the Apple Event Object Model works - while every application API is different, the basic rules by which they operate are generally the same. When figuring out a specific application API, start by reading the dictionary, then hunt around for any supplementary documentation, sample scripts, scripts written by other users, previous online discussions, etc. to fill in the various bits of information that dictionaries don't tell you. Expect to do some trial-and-error exploration and testing yourself to figure things out, and don't be shy to ask for advice when you get stuck - AppleScripters are well used to exchanging knowledge this way. Read the appscript manual. (You may also find some useful stuff on the appscript site's links page.) ASDictionary and ASTranslate are your friends. Appscript's built-in #help method rocks for exploring applications in irb. File feature requests with scriptable application developers asking them to improve their documentation. File feature requests with the appscript developer (me) asking for improvements in the appscript documentation. (If you can be specific about which bits need improved, that will be a big help.) > Making sense of sdef libraries is definitely a tough thing to do with > the sparse docs. Tell us about it. If it's any consolation, figuring out applications' scripting interfaces does get easier with practice. You should find Matt's book some help in getting started here, and if you've any specific questions then just ask. > by the way, is appscript the same as the appscript-rb gem? > Seems to be. Yep. Ruby appscript (rb-appscript) is available in source, gem and binary installer formats. Python and ObjC versions of appscript are also available (py-appscript, objc-appscript). Unfortunately, the use of prefixes is somewhat inconsistent, and they quite often get omitted due to laziness, oversight or (in the case of py-appscript) historical reasons. e.g. Use 'gem install rb-appscript' to install the Ruby appscript gem and 'require "appscript"' to import it. HTH has -- http://appscript.sourceforge.net http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org