applescript transforming a list into a txt file - applescript

Question

I'm trying to write all the song names my iTunes to a txt document. The first issue I had was that I can't seem to correctly loop the operation. Here is my test case with the first 15 songs in my iTunes:
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document
end tell
tell application "iTunes"
set trNameID1 to name of track 1
set trNameID2 to name of track 2
set trNameID3 to name of track 3
set trNameID4 to name of track 4
set trNameID5 to name of track 5
set trNameID6 to name of track 6
set trNameID7 to name of track 7
set trNameID8 to name of track 8
set trNameID9 to name of track 9
set trNameID10 to name of track 10
set trNameID11 to name of track 11
set trNameID12 to name of track 12
set trNameID13 to name of track 13
set trNameID14 to name of track 14
set trNameID15 to name of track 15
tell application "TextEdit"
set text of document 1 to {trNameID1 & "
", trNameID2 & "
", trNameID3 & "
", trNameID4 & "
", trNameID5 & "
", trNameID6 & "
", trNameID7 & "
", trNameID8 & "
", trNameID9 & "
", trNameID10 & "
", trNameID11 & "
", trNameID12 & "
", trNameID13 & "
", trNameID14 & "
", trNameID15} as text
end tell
end tell
When I try to loop it, the txt document only contains the last song name, for instance:
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document
end tell
tell application "iTunes"
set trNum to 1
repeat 15 times
set trNameID to name of track (trNum)
tell application "TextEdit"
set text of document 1 to trNameID & "
"
end tell
end repeat
end tell
This will only output the fifteenth song's name onto the txt document.
I realize that this may be very basic, but I have literally been using applescript for about 48 hours, and I can't seem to figure this out. I would like all of the song names to be in a txt document so I can read and analyze the strings in c++. Does anyone have any ideas?
Also, I'm not sure if there is a way, in AppleScript, to look at the entire iTunes library and see the last song, record that song's id in iTunes, and then make a repeat loop that goes through that id. This way the loop would work for exactly the number of songs that are in the library.
Any ideas would be very much appreciated!

Answer 1

You don't really need a repeat loop at all. You can get track names directly from iTunes. You get it in list format so we just convert that list into a string separating the list items with a return character. Then we write it to TextEdit. So this code optimizes #Michele Percich's code by eliminating the repeat loop and using applescript's text item delimiters to convert the list to a string for use in TextEdit.
tell application "iTunes"
set trackNames to name of every track in (first playlist whose special kind is Music)
end tell
set text item delimiters to return
set trackNames to trackNames as text
set text item delimiters to ""
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document
set text of document 1 to trackNames
end tell

Answer 2

You need to increment the value of trNum variable at the end of your repeat loop:
set trNum to trNum + 1
Or better use a different repeat syntax:
repeat with trNum from 1 to 15
And also to add (and not replace) the track name to the document:
set text of document 1 to text of document 1 & trNameID & return
However, this probably is a better way to do what you want:
tell application "iTunes"
set trackList to ""
set allTracks to every track in (first playlist whose special kind is Music)
repeat with currentTrack in allTracks
set trNameID to name of currentTrack
set trackList to trackList & trNameID & return
end repeat
end tell
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document
set text of document 1 to trackList
end tell

Answer 3

i see you all use the:
tell application "TextEdit"
make new document
set text of document 1 to trackNames
end tell
command
You can use a faster way:
set textlocation to "/users/yourusername/desktop/test.txt"
set Line_1 to "Hello this is line one, if you want more lines just copy > this script and change the variables."
do shell script "echo " & quoted form of Line_1 & " >> " & quoted form of textlocation
You can see in the script the 2 ">>" signs, this will add each textline in a new line in a txt file.
If there is only one ">" the text will replace the other text.
Here is an example:
First with 2 ">>" lines
do shell script "echo Hey this is one line. >> /Users/Yourusername/desktop/Add.txt"
do shell script "echo And this is the second one. >> /Users/Yourusername/desktop/Add.txt"
This script will make a txt file like this:
Hey this is one line.
And this is the second one.
Now with 2 ">" lines
do shell script "echo Hey this is one line > /Users/Zl109819/desktop/Add.txt"
do shell script "echo And this is the second one > /Users/Zl109819/desktop/Add.txt"
This script will make a txt file like this:
And this is the second one.