PDFs and Firefox
I hadn't realized it until five minutes ago, but Firefox does not open PDFs from the web. Can you tell that Firefox is not my weapon of choice? Instead, it downloads PDFs and then relies on a helper-app--Preview in most cases I suppose, perhaps Acrobat--to display the content. Now, most of the script entries here have a "View the Read Me as PDF" link so you can, well, view the script's Read Me as a PDF before downloading the script. Safari will read the PDF online, without downloading it. So, Firefox users: is there a plug-in or something I can recommend to vistors so that Firefox opens the PDF, rather than having a .pdf turd (if you will) getting downloaded? TIA.
UPDATED: Search Wikipedia v1.1
I've updated Search Wikipedia to fix its corrupted Read Me file and also to improve the selected-or-playing track routine. This script will use the Artist, Album, or Composer tag of the playing or selected track as the basis for a search of Wikipedia, the result of which will display in your default browser.
AppleScripts Are Macintosh Only
AppleScript is a Macintosh-only technology. How do I make this any more apparent for Windows users who frequent the site?
Windows users will see this at the top of every page:
Yet I am frequently getting this type of email query (arrived today):
Doug - I'm sure you get way too many questions re: this great script [Make Bookmarkable], but I'm not sure how to begin to use it.
The downloaded zip file has 2 folders + three files. One folder and file are named _MACOSX, there folder and one file are named Make Bookmarkable v2.1 / AE, and the 3rd file is ._Makebookmarkable.
Is this script only for Macs? If not, what do I put into the iTunes Scripts folder?
Do I need to unzip the file or files first?
Thanks for any help you can give me.
Here's another, just arrived as I speak:
Hi Doug ?
I?m unable to locate home -> Library -> iTunes -> to load the script. I have Itunes v7.0.2 on a pc, is the script mac based?
*Sigh*
I feel badly for the Windows people who write me. But I don't know poop about the Windows version of iTunes.
-192 Error...the Finale
Well, I think this thing is nailed.
For those of you who have not been following along: several users have contacted me about a rare "Could not run this script because the required resources were not found. -192" error. This thing is so rare I have probably only seen it once or twice myself in my years of scripting. Here's the problem: my new "Installer" script that accompanies the latest .dmg download packages does not (currently) correctly copy AppleScript Studio apps. Some downloads use the "ProgBar" app, for example. In some download packages, the "ProgBar" app bundle is not completely copied; only its "Contents" folder is copied to your iTunes Scripts folder. This is totally fixable.
But here's the weird thing: when a folder named "Contents" is in your [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder it somehow inhibits other scripts from running correctly.
What will happen is that when you run a script you will see its Splash Screen. None of the scripts from this site have been saved with this option. When you click the Run button, the -192 error appears.
Remove the "Contents" folder from your iTunes Scripts folder and the scripts will run correctly.
Here's what's weirder: create an empty folder named "Contents" in your iTunes Scripts folder and the same error occurs!
I am now updating the "Installer" script to handle AppleScript Studio apps correctly, and then this problem should disappear. If you are experiencing the -192 error, go to your [username]/Library/iTunes/Scripts folder and remove the folder name "Contents". In a few days, downloads which contain an AppleScript Studio application can be re-downloaded and re-installed correctly.
My sincere thanks to Correspondent Christian who figured out the "Contents" folder weirdness.
Definition of a Fanboy
How anxious for an iPhone do you have to be?
Now, who has more time to waste? The guy who makes the mock-up? Or the guy (me) who actually finds the website of the guy who makes the mock-up?
iTunes 7.1 On The Horizon
The AppleTV specs page says iTunes 7.1 is required. Hmmm....got one of those yet? Since AppleTV won't be shipping until February, I think we can expect an iTunes update between now and then, and probably closer to then.
But What About a Phone-less iPhone?
I'm as amazed and excited by Apple's iPhone as anyone. But what I want is just an iPod with Multi-Touch and the landscape/portrait detector. I don't need a phone and I don't need to access the internet or my email away from home. So, what do you figure...sometime this Summer? Oh, and since I'm wishing, how about a way to load and use AppleScripts on the darn thing?
-192 Error Update
As I mentioned earlier, some users of my scripts are getting a "Could not run this script because the required resources were not found. -192" error. I originaly thought this was happening on Intel Macs only, but I received this from a Correspondent last night:
Here's my story: I downloaded some scripts from your site the past few days, and on my Powerbook (G4) with OS 10.3.9 and iTunes 6, several scripts give the same error you mentioned above, when launched from the script menu or by doubleclicking the script in the iTunes Scripts folder. But when I doubleclick the originally downloaded script directly, they all work! So I experimented a bit more: move script out of the scripts folder: it works (except it doesn't show in the script menu, obviously), move it back in, it doesn't work. I don't know enough of this to research it any further, but maybe this is a useful lead.
So, it appears that there is a problem with the Scripts folder?
NEW: Search Wikipedia
Search Wikipedia performs a "Go" search of Wikipedia in your default browser using the Album, Artist, or Composer tag of the single selected or currently playing iTunes track. Wikipedia entries often contain album art, artist photos, and, of course, sundry information, discography, and esoteric factoids for artists, albums, and composers.
MWSF '07 Predictions
Don't have any. And if I did, who cares? And those that do, what do you care? And those that care, what do you expect? And If you expect something, why should you care what I think? And if you care what I think, do you think I care? And if you care what I think, what do you think I think? And if you think what I think, do you care if I think what you care about? If you think I care about what I think I care about then why do you think I should care about what you think?
Have fun tomorrow!