# Quicktime and Ruby **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [July 10, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964 "2007-07-10T03:40:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 3:40am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/1 "2007-07-10T03:40:17Z")
Hey all I read a previous post from early April about working applescript into Ruby. BUT… I need to be able to convert mp3s into hinted movie format (which isn’t covered ANYWHERE). Whats the best way to do this in any applescript wrapper? Thanks, Ari -------------------------------------------| Nietzsche is my copilot ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 5:33am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/2 "2007-07-10T05:33:04Z")
Ari B. wrote: > Hey all > > I read a previous post from early April about working applescript > into Ruby. BUT… > > I need to be able to convert mp3s into hinted movie format (which > isn’t covered ANYWHERE). Whats the best way to do this in any > applescript wrapper? > > Thanks, > Ari > -------------------------------------------| > I’m not sure I understand the question. But does this help [rb-appscript.rubyforge.org](http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org) This isn’t what you’re looking for, but gives an example of working with a movie. I got the following in response to a question I asked from HAS: require ‘appscript’ include Appscript QTP = app(‘QuickTime Player.app’) # To export the middle frame of a movie file to a PICT file: movie = QTP.open(MacTypes::Alias.path(‘/path/to/your movie.mov’))[0] movie.current\_time.set(movie.duration.get / 2) movie.export(:to=\>MacTypes::FileURL.path(‘/path/to/middle frame.pict’), :as=\>:picture) movie.close Hope this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 10:42am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/3 "2007-07-10T10:42:28Z")
12 34 wrote: > This isn’t what you’re looking for, but gives an example of working with > a movie. […] You’re very close. Just needs some minor changes: #!/usr/local/bin/ruby require ‘appscript’ include Appscript QTP = app(‘QuickTime Player.app’) infile = ‘/path/to/your file.mp3’ outfile = ‘/path/to/your file.mov’ movie = QTP.open(MacTypes::Alias.path(infile))[0] movie.export(:to=\>MacTypes::FileURL.path(outfile), :as=\>:hinted\_movie) movie.close HTH ## has [http://appscript.sourceforge.net](http://appscript.sourceforge.net) [http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org](http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org) ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/4 "2007-07-10T14:13:26Z")
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I’m SO glad that all I needed to do was alter the ‘:as’ statement. You have made my life so much easier. You see, there are 9000 songs which I am getting paid to convert. has rules, aRi -------------------------------------------------------| ~ Ari crap my sig won’t fit ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/5 "2007-07-10T14:06:25Z")
On Jul 9, 2007, at 11:33 PM, 12 34 wrote: > require ‘appscript’ > include Appscript > QTP = app(‘QuickTime Player.app’) > > # To export the middle frame of a movie file to a PICT file: > > movie = QTP.open(MacTypes::Alias.path(’/path/to/your movie.mov’))[0] > movie.current\_time.set(movie.duration.get / 2) > movie.export(:to=\>MacTypes::FileURL.path(’/path/to/middle > frame.pict’), :as=\>:picture) > movie.close I saw that, and in fact that’s what I’m using as my library. But I need to convert the file into Hinted Movie format. In quicktime, it’s under File -\> Export -\> Hinted Movie What would I write in ‘:as’ if I wanted to do that? Or where could I get a list of possible file conversions for this? aRi --------------------------------------------| If you’re not living on the edge, then you’re just wasting space. ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 2:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/6 "2007-07-10T14:24:28Z")
Hey, thanks for your help. I just have a quick question. On Jul 10, 2007, at 4:42 AM, hengist podd wrote: > #!/usr/local/bin/ruby > > require ‘appscript’ > include Appscript > > QTP = app(‘QuickTime Player.app’) > > infile = ‘/path/to/your file.mp3’ > outfile = ‘/path/to/your file.mov’ What does the ‘MacTypes::Alias.path(infile))[0]’ do? > movie = QTP.open(MacTypes::Alias.path(infile))[0] > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > I don’t understand what the Alias and the [0] are doing. I guess it > makes an alias of the file? > movie.export(:to=\>MacTypes::FileURL.path(outfile), :as=\>:hinted\_movie) > movie.close -------------------------------------------| Nietzsche is my copilot ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 4:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/7 "2007-07-10T16:23:23Z")
Ari B. wrote: > Hey, thanks for your help. I just have a quick question. > What does the ‘MacTypes::Alias.path(infile))[0]’ do? > > > movie = QTP.open(MacTypes::Alias.path(infile))[0] > > ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ > > I don’t understand what the Alias MacTypes::Alias.path(…) creates a new Alias object. The MacTypes module is discussed in more detail in the appscript documentation. > and the [0] are doing. QTP’s ‘open’ command returns an array of references to the newly opened movies, in this case [app(‘QuickTime Player’).movies[‘some file’]]. However, we just want the first item in that array so we call its #[] method. HTH has p.s. The equivalent line in AppleScript would read: ``` set theMovie to item 1 of (open alias "HD:path:to:your file.mp3") ``` except that AppleScript uses an HFS path string rather than a POSIX one for legacy reasons. – [http://appscript.sourceforge.net](http://appscript.sourceforge.net) [http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org](http://rb-appscript.rubyforge.org) ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/8 "2007-07-11T15:41:50Z")
Ari B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hey all > > I read a previous post from early April about working applescript > into Ruby. BUT… > > I need to be able to convert mp3s into hinted movie format (which > isn’t covered ANYWHERE). Whats the best way to do this in any > applescript wrapper? You can tell QuickTime Player to open each file and export it as a hinted movie. This is not really a Ruby matter, though certainly you might use Ruby as a basis for sending the necessary Apple events. m. ---
**Author:** ![Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/a698b9/32.png) [@Ari\_B](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Ari_B)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2007, 3:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/quicktime-and-ruby/108964/9 "2007-07-11T15:54:54Z")
Ari B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > frame.pict’), :as=\>:picture) > > movie.close > > I saw that, and in fact that’s what I’m using as my library. But I > need to convert the file into Hinted Movie format. In quicktime, it’s > under File → Export → Hinted Movie > > What would I write in ‘:as’ if I wanted to do that? Or where could I > get a list of possible file conversions for this? As I said, this is not a Ruby matter. You have to read the dictionary (the AppleScript dictionary). m.