[hoopz]

So I am an EyeTV user, and for scheduling recordings I have been using Watson's TV tool. You can also use a free online service called TitanTV, but I prefer not to, since it seems to insist on using Internet Explorer and I prefer Safari.

However, every so often, Watson's TV tool has a falling out with www.tvguide.com, where it gets its info, and doesn't work for a day or so, and so I thought I would set up TitanTv as a backup. After configuring everything in IE, just for fun I copied the resulting URL into Safari . . . and whaddayaknow, it works great! Except . . .

When I try to initiate EyeTV recording or viewing from Safari, instead of passing the request directly to the EyeTV application (as IE and Watson do), Safari downloads a small file called program.tvvi (to watch a show) or program.tvpi (to record a show). If I then double click these, the EyeTV application gets the message (and the files then disappear on their own). So I am trying to eliminate the extra step of having to go to the desktop and double clicking these files in order to get the programming to 'take'. Then Safari would work as seamlessly as IE with TitanTV, and everyone would rejoice.

So. I can think of two avenues to explore. Safari has a preference which if activated will automatically open what it considers to be 'safe' files--PDF, .img, etc. upon download. So if there were some way to add .tvvi and .tvpi to Safari's list of safe file formats, it should achieve what I want. But, having searched com.apple.safari.plist and the files contained in the Safari package, I can't find any list of safe file formats, so if it exists, it's beyond my meager understanding of how these things are laid out.

The other option would be to attach a Folder Action to my desktop folder which ideally would tell the application Finder to double-click any file placed on the Desktop ending in .tvvi or .tvpi. But my knowledge of AppleScript is pretty limited, and I haven't found the proper syntax to accomplish that. Also, I wonder if there would be a performance hit somehow--again, my knowledge of such things is meager.

So I throw the floor open to the ingenuity of the MacNN community. Anybody have any suggestions? Thanks!




H

[zachs]

To edit the "safe" files, you'll need to edit the Info.plist file found at Safari.app/Contents. They are under the "CFBundleDocumentTypes". I can edit it for you and email you a copy if you want.

Not positive this will work, but it should.

[Developer]

Folder Action:

Code:
on adding folder items to this_folder after receiving these_items
	tell application "Finder"
		repeat with i from 1 to the count of these_items
			set this_file to item i of these_items
			set the_name to the name of this_file
			if (the_name contains ".tvvi" or the_name contains ".tvpi") then
				say "Now opening the file " & the_name
				open this_file
			end if
		end repeat
	end tell
end adding folder items to

(totally untested)

Save this script in Library/Scripts/Folder Action Scripts/ enable folder actions and attach it to the desktop folder.

(totally untested)

[hoopz]

Thanks for your prompt help, y'all!

zachs, I tried inserting

<string>tvpi</string>
<string>tvvi</string>

between the array tags under <key>CFBundleTypeExtensions</key> without success (also tried <string>.tvvi</string>, etc).
Also tried putting these things between the array tags under <key>CFBundleTypeMIMETypes</key> . . . still no luck. If you would do it differently (ie, correctly), I'll be happy to take you up on your email offer. Try bork (at) san (dot) rr (dot) com. Thanks!



Developer, your AppleScript works perfectly! Performancewise, I do get a beachball for a few seconds as it activates (I'm on a G4/400) but it's hardly a problem. Thanks!

I'd still like to get this functionality from Safari itself without having to invoke Folder Actions, so I hope zachs's solution works too . . . will keep y'all posted.

H