Launchy

Hi,

I've made an iTunes Control "plugin" for Launchy. It supports pausing/starting a song, going to the next or previous songs, stopping a song and exiting iTunes.

It is not really a plugin, but a small autoit executable (198 kb) + some shortcuts. It works pretty well for me and I'd like to release it, but I don't have any web page to put it it. Is there some way to post a zip file to the forum or to add the file to the Launchy project files or something?

It is quite simple to install and use. I just need some way to release it. I will also include the source code so that other people can see how it works and perhaps improve it.

So any suggestions or ideas into how to release this?

Cheers,

Angel

Cool! Hmm, you could try uploading it to rapidshare.com

Josh

I didn't know about that Josh. Thanks for the tip!

Ok, so I uploaded it into http://rapidshare.com/files/38220940/iTuny.zip

In the file, there is a README file with instructions on how to install and use. Basically, just unzip the iTuny _FOLDER_ into the Launchy\Plugins folder and add the new Plugins\iTuny folder to the list of directories monitored by Launchy.

Please, let me know if it works for you guys. Hopefully it shold work for non US windows versions as well.

Cheers,

Angel

It'd be really nifty if you could make it change volume through a similar control:

"volume 90%"

and then it throws the volume bar to that point. Just wondering. And its running fine on WinXP+Flyakite OSX. [I love flyakite.]

Hi again,

I have just uploaded an updated version of the "plugin". There are some new commands:

iTunes Mute - Mute/UnMute iTunes
iTunes Track - Show the current track info
iTunes Volume (followed by a number from 0 to 100, e.g. iTunes Volume 30) - Set the volume % to a certain value.

In order to get the iTunes Volume to work I tried to use Runny, but it seems that there are some problems with running programs that have spaces on their name and using command line parameters.

Josh, is there a work around for that?

Cheers,

Angel

Hi,
Could you please re-upload it? Seems to have been deleted.
Thanks

Sorry, I did not realize that when I updated the file the old link would stop working.
Please, try this new one:

http://rapidshare.com/files/38470772/iTuny.zip

hey, great work! Although I managed to get launchy to do the same with the Runny plugin and some customized executables earlier on, but I must say this works better! By the way, one feature I love in your plugin is the iTunes Track feature. Useful for people who minimize iTunes to the system tray. However, it seems to have problems showing Unicode characters such as Japanese and Chinese. Is there any way to get that to work?

In fact, while you're at it, why not throw in the artwork to the track info window as well? Just a suggestion but thanks for the great effort!

amadawn, if you want i can host your plugin on my site, i will credit you only of course (that is if you are uncomfortable with rapidshare.com)

grtz

jiq

I suggest uploading this extension to http://www.hostfile.org in stead of rapidshare.
Hostfile.org is completely free.

if you want i can host it on my site, itll show up like the rest of the launchy plugins there crediting you only ofcourse.

grtz

jiq

first of all, very nice work! it is really sweet to be able to control itunes with launchy.

now having used it for a while, i wonder if it is possible to extend the information shown when i use 'itunes track'? i would like to have also the rating of the song and then another command like 'itunes rate [0-5]' to be able to rate the songs with launchy.

don't know if it is possible, but i'd really appreciate it, if ituny would get this additional command.

greetz
sunny

another great advantage would be, to be able to filter the itunes library with launchy.
like "itunes query searchterm". as if you use the itunes quick search...

greetz sunny

on Vista I'm having problems to makin this app working correctly.
Seems like it has no access to iTunes from the Launchy/Plugins folder.

Seems to work really good from any other folder outside Program files, don't know if this is your app or my vista config.

by the way i'm thinking on making a full launchy plugin, by now i'm working on a vbs version of this idea and adding some extras like rating, visualisation control, toggle the mini player, show and hide the iTunes Window.

thanks for your inspiration.

I really like the idea of being able to search songs from the iTunes library.
Also, a nice feature might be the ability to activate playlists.

Hi, I have just recently uploaded the first version of the vbscript I wrote, you can get it from here:

http://dev.idgrouponline.com/Launchy/iTuny_v0.1.rar

To install unpack the rar, read the readme and configure it at your please.

In Vista I'm still having problems with the "Program files" directory and permisions, so to avoid that I installed the script on my documents folder. If you are using XP there's got to be no issues.

Thanks to amadawn for the inspiration and starting point.

Any suggestions are welcome.

By the way, I forgot to mention the features.
Sorry to clutter this thread, but I don't know how to edit a post.

As Amadawn's plugin, this script can:
play, pause, stop, next and previous a song,
see the track info
set the volume
mute and unmute iTunes

The new features are:

Toggle the Miniplayer
Toggle the Visualizer
Show and hide the main window
Show and hide the EQ window
Rate a song
And search your library.

Hope you like it.

Hi, I've finished the new release of the vbscript with some bug fixes and a new feature.

Bug fixed:
*When toggle the eq window and then use the show command the eq appears instead of the main browser window.

New feature:
*Select an existent playlist from your library.
iTuny | pl "name of the playlist"

Hope you like it.

Download: http://dev.idgrouponline.com/Launchy/iTuny_v0.2.rar

Hey, is anyone else having trouble getting prev to work? I keep getting error messages and I don't know why.

ChopstickNINJ4, are you using the amadawn version or the vbscript version?

Hi, I've been playing arround with AutoIt and made some changes to amadawn's original script. Here is the result.

http://dev.idgrouponline.com/Launchy/iTuny_v0.3.rar

This comes with all the features from the vbscript and some extras.
Fixed Bugs:
* Prev Bug fixed

New Features:
* Installation GUI (Beta)
* Create Playlists
* Add current song to a Playlist

Older Features (but new to Amadawn's version):
* Search Songs
* Rate Songs
* More Info from the current song, including Rate, Play Count, Song Length
* Toggle MiniPlayer
* Toggle Visualizations
* Toggle EQ Window
* Search a playlist

To install just dobleclick the iTunes Control EXE and the Install GUI will appear, choose your locations and press install.

I'm still having issues on Vista running the exe and installing the links, so if you are using Windows Vista install the controller and links in another location outside "Program Files".

Hope you like it.
Source included.
Comments can be posted here.

Love iTuny!

However one of my most used shortcuts in iTunes (Shift + -> to skip an album) was missing... so I had go at adding it. It's working for me so I am posting the code in the hope it's useful to someone else.

It's my first time with au3 so apologies for the code quality.

Code (added into the main switch statement):

Case "nextalbum"
Dim $track = $iTunesApp.CurrentTrack().Name()
Dim $trackColl = $iTunesApp.CurrentPlaylist().Tracks()
Dim $found = false
Dim $foundTrack = false
For $trackCount = 1 To $trackColl.Count()
If $found And Not($currentAlbum = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Album()) Then
Dim $nextTrack = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount)
$foundTrack = true
$trackCount = $trackColl.Count() + 1
ElseIf Not($found) And $track = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Name() Then
Dim $currentAlbum = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Album()
$found = true;
EndIf
Next
If $foundTrack Then
$nextTrack.Play()
EndIF
Case "prevalbum"
Dim $track = $iTunesApp.CurrentTrack().Name()
Dim $trackColl = $iTunesApp.CurrentPlaylist().Tracks()
Dim $found = false
Dim $foundPrev = false
Dim $foundTrack = false
For $trackCount = $trackColl.Count() To 1 Step -1
If $foundPrev And Not($previousAlbum = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Album()) Then
Dim $nextTrack = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount + 1)
$foundTrack = true
$trackCount = 1
ElseIf $found And Not($currentAlbum = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Album()) Then
Dim $previousAlbum = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Album()
$foundPrev = true
if $trackCount = 1 Then
Dim $nextTrack = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount)
$foundTrack = true
EndIf
ElseIf Not($found) And $track = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Name() Then
Dim $currentAlbum = $trackColl.ItemByPlayOrder($trackCount).Album()
$found = true
EndIf
Next

If $foundTrack Then
$nextTrack.Play()
EndIf

Nice jarethbone! :D that's really great. :) i'll add it to the standard iTuny release so it can have this featured. :) of course all the credit to you on this feature. :)

Have a great and happy new year :D

I love Launchy!! It's not Quicksilver but a very good and simple solution vor Win. I installed the ituny plugin, it works perfect except the query function. I think the problem is that i have the german version of iTunes. That means my Mediathek folder is not called Music rather Musik. I don't know if that is the real problem but if it is, is it possible to fix it?

greetz
la kriz

Thanks for the comment and bug reporting Lakriz, I think that's the problem. I'm gonna fix it in 0.4. I hope to release it tomorrow or friday. :)