The Playlist’s the Thing<\/b><\/p>\n
By default all your songs are included in the iTunes library and can be accessed through the LibraryPlaylist object. However, songs can also be included in one or more custom playlists. Have a hankering for Beatles songs and nothing but<\/i> Beatles songs? Then create a custom playlist consisting of only Beatles songs. Dying to hear some reggae? Then create a custom playlist consisting of only reggae songs. Got a bad case of disco fever? Then create a custom playlist of – well, forget that one. There are some things even the Scripting Guys can’t recommend; you’re on your own when it comes to disco. <\/p>\n
The important thing – at least for our purposes – is that you can use scripts to create, delete, and manage custom playlists. Let’s start with a simplest task – retrieving information about all your playlists – and then go on from there. <\/p>\n
Retrieving All Your Playlists<\/b><\/p>\n
Let’s start out by retrieving a list of all our iTunes playlists. In other words, let’s start out with a script that looks like this:<\/p>\n
Set objApp = CreateObject(“iTunes.Application”)<\/p>\n
Set colSources = objApp.Sources<\/p>\n
For Each objSource in colSources<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo objSource.Name<\/p>\n
Set colPlaylists = objSource.Playlists<\/p>\n
For Each objPlaylist in colPlaylists<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo ” ” & objPlaylist.Name<\/p>\n
Next<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo<\/p>\n
Next<\/p>\n
Yes, it’s a little crazy, but that’s because the iTunes object model can be a bit convoluted at times: in this case we need to create a Sources object, get a list of the playlists found in the Sources object, then get a list of the playlists found in each of those playlists. Confusing? Maybe it will help to take a look at the output:<\/p>\n
Library<\/p>\n
Library<\/p>\n
Party Shuffle<\/p>\n
Purchased<\/p>\n
90’s Music<\/p>\n
My Top Rated<\/p>\n
Recently Added<\/p>\n
Recently Played<\/p>\n
Top 25 Most Played<\/p>\n
Videos<\/p>\n
My Playlist<\/p>\n
Podcasts<\/p>\n
Radio<\/p>\n
Radio<\/p>\n
As you can see, we have two primary sources – Library and Radio – and each of these sources contains at least one playlist. A bit confusing at first glance, but there’s a method to the madness. <\/p>\n
As for the script itself, we start out by creating an instance of the iTunes.Application object; we then use this line of code to retrieve a list of all our iTunes sources (which, on our test computer, is a collection with just two items: Library and Radio):<\/p>\n
Set colSources = objApp.Sources<\/p>\n
Once we have the collection we set up a For Each loop to walk through all the items. Inside that loop we echo back the source name, then use this line of code to retrieve a collection of all the playlists included in that source:<\/p>\n
Set colPlaylists = objSource.Playlists<\/p>\n
From there we set up a second For Each loop to echo back the name of each of those playlists:<\/p>\n
For Each objPlaylist in colPlaylists<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo ” ” & objPlaylist.Name<\/p>\n
Next<\/p>\n
After we’ve done that we loop around and repeat the process with the next item in the Sources collection. <\/p>\n
We know. But remember, you can always use the code as-is without having to worry too much about how it all works. (Although if you play around with this a little bit you’ll catch on in no time.) <\/p>\n
Incidentally, playlists contain more properties than simply the playlist name. For example, here’s a script that echoes back property values for the Library playlist:<\/p>\n
Set objApp = CreateObject(“iTunes.Application”)<\/p>\n
Set objPlaylist = objApp.LibraryPlaylist<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Kind: ” & objPlaylist.Kind<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Duration (seconds): ” & objPlaylist.Duration<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Shuffle enabled: ” & objPlaylist.Shuffle<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Size (bytes): ” & objPlaylist.Size<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Repeat mode: ” & objPlaylist.SongRepeat<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Playing time: ” & objPlaylist.Time<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Visible: ” & objPlaylist.Visible<\/p>\n
Needless to say, you can get that same information for a single playlist … well, assuming you know how to connect to a single playlist. Which brings us to the next section of this article. <\/p>\n
Binding to an Individual Playlist<\/b><\/p>\n
Any time you have a big, comprehensive object model there will always be multiple ways to achieve the same goal. What we’re going to do here is to show you one reasonably easy way to connect to an individual playlist. Are there other ways to connect to an individual playlist? Sure. But we’ll let you figure those out yourself. <\/p>\n
Here’s a simple way to connect to the playlist named My Playlist (and, while you’re at it, to echo back the properties of that playlist):<\/p>\n
Set objApp = CreateObject(“iTunes.Application”)<\/p>\n
Set colSources = objApp.Sources<\/p>\n
Set objSource = colSources.ItemByName(“Library”)<\/p>\n
Set colPlaylists = objSource.Playlists<\/p>\n
Set objPlaylist = colPlaylists.ItemByName(“My Playlist”)<\/p>\n
Select Case objPlaylist.Kind<\/p>\n
Case 0 strKind = “Unknown playlist kind.”<\/p>\n
Case 1 strKind = “Library playlist.”<\/p>\n
Case 2 strKind = “User playlist.”<\/p>\n
Case 3 strKind = “CD playlist.”<\/p>\n
Case 4 strKind = “Device playlist.”<\/p>\n
Case 5 strKind = “Radio tuner playlist.”<\/p>\n
End Select<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Kind: ” & strKind<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Duration (seconds): ” & objPlaylist.Duration<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Shuffle enabled: ” & objPlaylist.Shuffle<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Size (bytes): ” & objPlaylist.Size<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Repeat mode: ” & objPlaylist.SongRepeat<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Playing time: ” & objPlaylist.Time<\/p>\n
Wscript.Echo “Visible: ” & objPlaylist.Visible<\/p>\n
Yes, we did<\/i> get a little fancy there, didn’t we? We even included a Select Case statement that tells you which kind of playlist you’re dealing with (as opposed to simply echoing back an integer value). For now, though, the only portion of the script we need to concern ourselves with comes in the first few lines:<\/p>\n
Set objApp = CreateObject(“iTunes.Application”)<\/p>\n
Set colSources = objApp.Sources<\/p>\n
Set objSource = colSources.ItemByName(“Library”)<\/p>\n
Set colPlaylists = objSource.Playlists<\/p>\n
Set objPlaylist = colPlaylists.ItemByName(“My Playlist”)<\/p>\n
What we’re doing here is creating an instance of the iTunes.Application object and then retrieving a collection of iTunes sources. From there we call the ItemByName<\/b> method to connect us to the Library, bypassing any other sources (like Radio):<\/p>\n
Set objSource = colSources.ItemByName(“Library”)<\/p>\n
Note<\/b>. Why did we go straight to the Library? Well, that’s where most of your playlists will be found. Therefore, why not go straight to the Source? <\/p>\n
So to speak. <\/p>\n
After connecting to the Library we use this line of code to return a collection of all the Library playlists:<\/p>\n
Set colPlaylists = objSource.Playlists<\/p>\n
And then we once again use the ItemByName<\/b> method to bind us to the My Playlist playlist:<\/p>\n
Set objPlaylist = colPlaylists.ItemByName(“My Playlist”)<\/p>\n
See? That wasn’t so bad, was it? <\/p>\n
Creating Your Own Playlist<\/b><\/p>\n
What’s that? You say you’re looking at your copy of the iTunes application, and you don’t have a playlist named My Playlist? We’re not surprised; that’s a playlist we created ourselves. And we did it using this ridiculously-simple script:<\/p>\n
Set objApp = CreateObject(“iTunes.Application”)<\/p>\n
Set objPlaylist = objApp.CreatePlaylist(“My Playlist”)<\/p>\n
No, we’re absolutely serious: all it takes are two lines of code to create a new playlist. Create an instance of the iTunes.Application object, then call the CreatePlaylist<\/b> method, passing along the name of your new playlist (in this case, My Playlist). The net result? Here’s the net result: <\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\n