Rod, will this ap work with tunein.com or are we dealing with two completely
different animals?
-----Original Message-----
From: Rod Hutton via Talk
Sent: Monday, January 04, 2016 3:59 PM
To: 'Window-Eyes Discussion List'
Subject: New app - Itunes Enhance!
Hi everyone,
Just a quick note to let you know that I’ve submitted a new app which
enhances the accessibility and functionality of Itunes.
I have included the documentation for the app below for your convenience.
The app, called Itunes Enhance, is found in the Program Enhancements
category, next to the Itunes app, created by AI Squared.
The App Central URL is:
https://www.gwmicro.com/App_Central/Apps/App_Details/?scriptid=1432
In summary, the app defines three program-specific hotkeys for toggling
playback, as well as rewind and fast ford.
I hope you enjoy the added functionality provided by this app, and, for the
perennially curious, please read on for the details. <grin>
All the best,
Rod Hutton
Welcom to Itunes Enhance!
This app enhances the accessibility and functionality of Itunes, Apple’s
popular media player.
Features of the initial release of Itunes Enhance
This app was initially created to correct two problems for screen-reader
users of Itunes:
First, you will notice that the first option in the Controls menu is Play,
and the hotkey assigned to it is Space. However, you may have noticed that
pressing the spacebar does not, in fact, always toggle playback, and this
depends on the control which has focus in Itunes. It certainly works when
focus is on a tree view or list view, but not when on the many static boxes,
and certainly not when focus is on buttons which serve other purposes, such
as the sorting of content. Clearly, there is need for a hotkey which the
user can count on to toggle the playback of the current item.
Second, you will also notice that the Controls menu contains no option for
rewinding and fast forwarding the currently playing track; indeed, a search
for Itunes hotkeys on the web will lead to many independent web pages which
include hotkeys for these two functions in their lists, and, typically,
Control-Alt-Left arrow and Control-Alt-Right arrow, for rewind and fast
forward, respectively. Further evidence that these hotkeys once worked in
Itunes is that the set file supplied by AI Squared have these hotkeys
configured as program-specific and left undefined; normally, they are
configured as global, and are two of the four used to adjust speech
parameters. Certainly there is evidence that rewind and fast forward once
were part of the functionality of Itunes, and clearly there is a need for
access to these functions,if Itunes supports them, and, if so, for
easily-accessible hotkeys for them.
Controlling Itunes behind the scenes
The result of my search of the web has revealed that there is a way to
control Itunes other than through the normal user interface, namely, through
its programmable COM object. In the same way that app developers can create
apps to control Window-Eyes for specific purposes, and this is because it
also has a programmable COM object, the functions of Itunes can be
controlled in the same way. My examination of the Itunes COM object has
revealed that, among many functions, the playback of the current track can
be started, paused, rewound and fast forwarded. It was a simple matter for
me, then, to create an app which assigns these functions to Window-Eyes
hotkeys.
The app menu
In the initial release of the app, the Itunes Enhance option on the
Window-Eyes Apps menu has a single option, namely, Help, which opens the
typical Help dialog for the app. This contains the read-only edit box
containing the present documentation, as well as a button which opens the
Hotkey Manager dialog where you can review and reassign the app hotkeys.
The hotkeys and their functions
In the initial release of Itunes Enhance, three program-specific hotkeys are
assigned:
PlayPause. This hotkey (F12, by default) will start and pause playback of
the current track; it will also resume normal playback if the track is in
rewind or fast forward mode. If you wish to completely stop rather than
pause the current track, press the dedicated Itunes hotkey, which, as of
this writing, is Control-..
Rewind. When a track is playing, this hotkey (F10, by default) will start
rewind mode, where you can hear fragments of the track audio as it skips
backward; normal playback can be resumed by pressing the PlayPause hotkey;
also, normal playback will resume automatically when the beginning of the
track is reached.
FastForward. When a track is playing, this hotkey (F11, by default) will
start fast forward mode, where you can hear fragments of the track audio as
it skips forward; normal playback can be resumed by pressing the PlayPause
hotkey; if the end of the track is reached, normal playback will resume with
the next track in the currrent list of tracks, or, if no tracks remain,
playback will stop.
The Future
It is possible to add features to Itunes Enhance in the future.
Feel free to write to me about your experiences with Itunes and this app.
I hope you enjoy using Itunes Enhance!
Rod Hutton
January 2016
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