Reading currently playing track in macOS using ScriptingBridge not working

Question

I am trying to read the currently playing track of iTunes using ScriptingBridge. I found a couple of other threads here but no one seems to be working for me (macOS Mojave and iTunes 12.9.4).

I have created the iTunes.h file using the following command:

sdef /Applications/iTunes.app | sdp -fh --basename "iTunes"

I am creating an instance of the Scripting Bridge as follows:

if let itunes: AnyObject = SBApplication(bundleIdentifier: "com.apple.iTunes")
{
  if itunes.isRunning
  {
    Swift.print("iTunes is running...")
  }

  Swift.print(itunes.currentTrack?.name)
  Swift.print(itunes.currentTrack?.album)
}

The code compiles fine. When I run the code, I get the following output:

iTunes is running...
nil
nil

The currentTrack is nil, but iTunes is playing a song. What am I missing here? I already tried disabling the sandbox, but to no avail. I am using macOS Mojave, Xcode 10.2 and iTunes 12.9.4. Also, when iTunes is not running, it will be started? Why?

Would there be another way to get the currently playing song of iTunes?

Stab in the dark, but seems like a scope issue. What if you put the last two lines in the preceding if block? — Robert Hartshorn
You are right, when no track is playing, this would be correct, but now for testing purposes I do not need to move the code - although a song is playing, it is still printing "nil". — inexcitus
Isn't there a currentTrack() property you can access to traverse to the song that's currently playing? — Robert Hartshorn
Yes there is...and I am using it, just take another look at the code above. — inexcitus
Well, I wouldn't assume that. This is Mojave! Things are much more tightly locked down. Easy way to test that one: try running your app on a lower system. If it works there and not in Mojave, it's Mojave getting in your way. — matt

matt matt · Accepted Answer · 2019-04-27T01:58:34

The key thing is that you must at some point see the dialog that says

MyApp wants access to control “iTunes“. Allowing control will provide access to documents and data in “iTunes“, and to perform actions within that app.

If you have not seen that dialog:

In the Entitlements, turn sandboxing off.
In the Info.plist, add a Privacy - AppleEvents Sending Usage Description entry with some arbitrary string as its value.

Run the app. If it still doesn't work, then say this in the Terminal:

tccutil reset AppleEvents

and run the app again.

Reading currently playing track in macOS using ScriptingBridge not working

2 Answers