Women in Technology

Article:		Controlling iTunes with Perl
Subject:		If only I could install it
Date:		2002-11-25 23:10:33
From:		brian_d_foy
Response to: If only I could install it
As you say, Mac::ITunes is not ready for prime time. It is a work in progress. However, all of the modules it needs are on CPAN. The easiest way to find any module is to go directly to http://search.cpan.org. For some reason CPAN.pm does not find Mac::Path::Util, but it is on CPAN. Everything else is in the Perl modules list. Some of the tests for the AppleScript portion seem to depend on the state of iTunes (e.g. docked or not). However, you can install the module even if the controller tests fail and the controller portion should still work. The parts of the module that deal with the library parsing do not depend on the other parts. If you want to parse the XML music library, then you do not want Mac::iTunes anyway. The module will parse teh binary format, which, by the way, has more information about each track. The XML format does not expose everything. If you send me any error messages you get I would be happy to help you sort it out.

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

• If only I could install it
  2002-11-26 15:46:19  hondo77 [View]
  
  
  Good news about Mac::iTunes reading more than the XML file. Actually, I want the information however I can get it. I assumed the XMl file had all of it.
  
  Okay, so I tried the installation again. Mac::Path::Util was missing, of course, so I installed it (I thought I had done that last week...hmmm...). Then I had to install Test::Prereq. Now I get the following error messages:
  
  CHECK failed--call queue aborted.
  B::Module::Info,modules_used use failed with 255 saying:
  Can't locate object method "ARRAY" via package "B::begin_av" at /Library/Perl/B/Module/Info.pm line 49.
  
  I decide to just go for it and force an install of Test::Prereq. That done, I now try and install Mac::iTunes. It looks like (after a LONG time testing) I need to install Test::Data. Make that force an install of Test::Data (I don't know what that B::Module message above is all about but it sure keeps coming up).
  
  Now to try to install Mac::iTunes again. After hours of things like this:
  
  t/controller.......NOK 12-1753 at t/controller.t line 43
  # Failed test (t/controller.t at line 43)
  # got: undef
  # expected: 'true'
  
  I finally fail with this:
  
  Failed Test Stat Wstat Total Fail Failed List of Failed
  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  t/controller.t 39 9984 44 39 88.64% 2 7-44
  t/position.t 5 1280 6 5 83.33% 2-6
  t/track_info.t 3 768 4 3 75.00% 2-4
  4 subtests skipped.
  Failed 3/17 test scripts, 82.35% okay. 47/448 subtests failed, 89.51% okay.
  
  I'll have to do a forced install tomorrow as there aren't enough hours left today to go through all those tests today.
  
  Anyway, you see what I mean. It's a rough install and it takes forever.
• If only I could install it
  2002-11-26 20:18:09  brian d foy | [View]
  
  
  I've uploaded new versions of Mac::iTunes and Mac::Path::Util.
  
  If you have more problems, please send the complete output from make directly to me.
  
  Thanks.
• If only I could install it
  2002-12-02 11:01:56  hondo77 [View]
  
  
  Woo hoo! That did it! Thanks, Brian. I had to do a force but at least it's in. Time to play.