[Itms-backup-beta-testing] XML file and revised GUI

[Mario D. <mar...@ma...>]

Greetings,

(Note: What follows is long and perhaps mildly tedious, so you may want 
to flag this e-mail to read later! Basically, I'm thinking about 
simplifying the GUI for the reasons that follow and asking for 
feedback.)

I was wondering some days back about the "iTunes Music Library.xml" 
file, and whether it will always be at the same location. If it is, I'm 
not sure it's a good idea to ask the user to set the location. Anyway, 
I think I've gotten to the bottom of this. Understanding the 
explanation requires understanding the distinction between a Macintosh 
Alias and a Unix soft-link.

It seems that the XML file is dependent on the file named "iTunes 4 
Music Library" (which I will hereafter refer to as the "DB" file).

iTunes looks for the DB file at "~/Music/iTunes/" at startup. The DB 
file must be located there, or alternately a soft-link to the file must 
be at that location. If neither is there, iTunes will open with no 
songs, just like when it launches for the first time on a new 
installation. When iTunes quits, it will write a DB file and and XML 
file.

Here comes the important part: The XML file will be written to the same 
folder as the DB file. If the DB file at "~/Music/iTunes/" is a 
soft-link, the original DB file will be updated and the XML file will 
be written to the same location as the original DB file.

The DB file in "~/Music/iTunes/" cannot be an Alias. (Try it and see!) 
Just for the record, if the DB file is a hard-link, iTunes treats it as 
an original (which is understandable).

I think it will be only in very unusual setups where the DB file in 
"~/Music/iTunes/" will be a soft-link and not simply the original.

Therefore, I think the application should be redesigned to find the XML 
file automatically. Here is my reasoning for how this will work.

The XML file will almost always be in "~/Music/iTunes/". If a soft-link 
to the DB file is present (and the XML file is not), the application 
can follow the soft-link and look for the XML file in that folder. If 
either the DB is not present, or is present as a soft-link, but the XML 
file is not present in the same folder as the original DB, the 
application can alert the user, prompting him or her to launch and quit 
iTunes, which will then create an XML file. (I may be able to cycle 
iTunes from within the application via AppleScript.)

(My apologies if this is more technical than anyone is interested in 
reading!)

The new GUI could be simplified. I've posted a draft of it here:

     http://itms-backup.sourceforge.net/iTmsBackup-GUI-revised.jpg

My understanding is the Human Interface Guidelines supports reducing 
superfluous actions for the user. I don't think the new interface is 
more confusing than the old, but if any of you think so or have some 
other comments, I would be happy to hear them.

Mario

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Mario Diana                        Mobile: 845-380-8428
50 Forest Drive                      Home: 845-221-3989
Poughquag, NY 12570         Email: ma...@ma...
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Programmer - Web development, Java, XML, LAMP, Mac OS X
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