Parsing iTunes Libary

ruby-talk
1

Hello everybody !

I thought about writing something like that:
http://code.google.com/p/itunes-to-rhythmbox-ratings/

I wanted to parse the library with REXML but the file is quite big.

Is there a possibility to parse only a part of the file ?
Or parses only a certain depth of the tree ?
Does anybody know an existing tool for the iTunes library ?

Thanks

Dominik

2

I just use regular expressions:

http://blog.zenspider.com/archives/2007/03/that_stupid_thing_i_wrote_the_other_day_part_2.html

···

On Jul 20, 2007, at 05:40 , cypher.dp@gmail.com wrote:

I thought about writing something like that:
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.

I wanted to parse the library with REXML but the file is quite big.

Is there a possibility to parse only a part of the file ?

3

Dominik wrote:

I thought about writing something like that:
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.

I wanted to parse the library with REXML but the file is quite big.

You could look into using libxml:

http://libxml.rubyforge.org/
http://raa.ruby-lang.org/search.rhtml?search=libxml

Another option would be to access iTunes via its COM (Windows) or Apple
event (OS X) API. e.g. Using rb-appscript
<http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org> on OS X:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'appscript'
include Appscript

t = app('iTunes').library_playlists[1].tracks

t.name.get.zip(t.artist.get, t.rating.get).each do |name, artist,
rating>
    p name, artist, rating
end

There's also a project to provide a common cross-platform API, although
I don't know how far on it is yet:

http://rubyforge.org/projects/rb-itunes/

HTH

has

···

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http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org

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Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.

4

Thanks a lot Ryan !

You safed me from some nasty work.

Dominik

···

2007/7/20, Ryan Davis <ryand-ruby@zenspider.com>:

On Jul 20, 2007, at 05:40 , cypher.dp@gmail.com wrote:

> I thought about writing something like that:
> Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
>
> I wanted to parse the library with REXML but the file is quite big.
>
> Is there a possibility to parse only a part of the file ?

I just use regular expressions:

http://blog.zenspider.com/archives/2007/03/
that_stupid_thing_i_wrote_the_other_day_part_2.html

5

I also recently needed to parse the AlbumData.xml. Started into it with REXML and realized that it was becoming something of a pain do to the rather inane XML that Apple uses. So I searched around and found the plist gem. It parses it (and other files that use the same strucure_ and gives you hashmaps that you can navigate rather easily.

It is probably slower than the regex code here and it loads everything into memory. But I found it pretty helpful.

Ryan Davis wrote:

···

On Jul 20, 2007, at 05:40 , cypher.dp@gmail.com wrote:

I thought about writing something like that:
Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.

I wanted to parse the library with REXML but the file is quite big.

Is there a possibility to parse only a part of the file ?

I just use regular expressions:

http://blog.zenspider.com/archives/2007/03/that_stupid_thing_i_wrote_the_other_day_part_2.html

6

Thanks a lot everybody !

I tried plist but it didn't work. Don't ask me why.
Know I'm using regexp similar to Ryan.
Maybe I'll also have another look at libxml and so on.

Dominik

···

2007/7/21, hengist podd <has.temp3@virgin.net>:

Dominik wrote:
> I thought about writing something like that:
> Google Code Archive - Long-term storage for Google Code Project Hosting.
>
> I wanted to parse the library with REXML but the file is quite big.

You could look into using libxml:

http://libxml.rubyforge.org/
http://raa.ruby-lang.org/search.rhtml?search=libxml

Another option would be to access iTunes via its COM (Windows) or Apple
event (OS X) API. e.g. Using rb-appscript
<http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org> on OS X:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

require 'appscript'
include Appscript

t = app('iTunes').library_playlists[1].tracks

t.name.get.zip(t.artist.get, t.rating.get).each do |name, artist,
rating>
    p name, artist, rating
end

There's also a project to provide a common cross-platform API, although
I don't know how far on it is yet:

http://rubyforge.org/projects/rb-itunes/

HTH

has
--
http://appscript.sourceforge.net
http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org

--
Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/\.