[Fixed] Search iTunes Store w/ feedback

phyllisstein · January 25, 2013

Hey all! I've written a minor riff on Pedro Lobo's App Store Linker workflow that searches the iTunes Store, generating feedback in Alfred and linking directly to the selected item in iTunes. You can get it on AlfPT or at this link.

Edited March 29, 2013 by phyllisstein

phyllisstein · January 26, 2013

Updated to include caching of HTTP requests, to somewhat more reliably return only music tracks, to return 15 results instead of 10, and to fix a silly mistake with the cache folder. This version also adds an app-store search.

This is probably going to be the last update before it's rewritten to use the module I'm working on, but please let me know if anything breaks in the meantime.

palobo · January 26, 2013

Excellent. I didn't manage to bundle requests_cache either. I need to update my workflow with a few requested features and implement some sort of cache, not only for images but for all other results. As is, it's woefully slow.

phyllisstein · January 26, 2013

Excellent. I didn't manage to bundle requests_cache either. I need to update my workflow with a few requested features and implement some sort of cache, not only for images but for all other results. As is, it's woefully slow.

Yeah, the iTunes API seems a little sluggish. I found that just caching images was enough, but that doesn't do a lick of good with new searches. As for bundling requests_cache, if you have both "requests" and "requests_cache" in your workflow's folder, you can alter `requests_cache/core.py` so that its imports look like this:

import os
import sys

superpath = os.path.realpath("../")
if superpath not in sys.path:
    sys.path.insert(0, superpath)

from requests import Request
try:
    from requests.hooks import dispatch_hook
except ImportError:
    dispatch_hook = None

That'll cause it to find the requests module and patch it appropriately, at least as far as I can tell from eyeballing the speed pre- and post-change. When downloading a bundleable requests, be sure to check their git repository for a version tagged 0.14.2; 1.x.x won't work with requests_cache.

laurindel · January 26, 2013

Simply great. Awesome job.

hankydysplasia · January 26, 2013

Love it! Any way to put specific triggers that load apps instead of music?

palobo · January 26, 2013

Love it! Any way to put specific triggers that load apps instead of music?

Check my workflow here: App Store Linker It's specific to apps, iOS and Mac.

Needs improvements though, but hopefully this weekend I'll get some time to do those.

palobo · January 26, 2013

Yeah, the iTunes API seems a little sluggish. I found that just caching images was enough, but that doesn't do a lick of good with new searches. As for bundling requests_cache, if you have both "requests" and "requests_cache" in your workflow's folder, you can alter `requests_cache/core.py` so that its imports look like this:
import os
import sys

superpath = os.path.realpath("../")
if superpath not in sys.path:
    sys.path.insert(0, superpath)

from requests import Request
try:
    from requests.hooks import dispatch_hook
except ImportError:
    dispatch_hook = None
That'll cause it to find the requests module and patch it appropriately, at least as far as I can tell from eyeballing the speed pre- and post-change. When downloading a bundleable requests, be sure to check their git repository for a version tagged 0.14.2; 1.x.x won't work with requests_cache.

Sweet!! Thanks for the tip. I'll try and work that into the next version of App Store Linker this weekend.

phyllisstein · January 26, 2013

Love it! Any way to put specific triggers that load apps instead of music?

Try this version.

It's basically not that different from Pedro's workflow, it just doesn't attach an affiliate link. Haven't yet figured out how to generate a link directly to the store, so it just bounces you to the App Store webpage for the app.

hankydysplasia · January 27, 2013

Try this version: http://d.pr/f/lhYg

It's basically not that different from Pedro's workflow, it just doesn't attach an affiliate link. Haven't yet figured out how to generate a link directly to the store, so it just bounces you to the App Store webpage for the app.

That's a nice workflow because it includes a link to both the Mac App Store and iTunes which is a good consolidation. However, I'm interested in searching iTunes App Store for iOS Apps. For example, the query "its Carcassonne" yields the useless music below instead of my favorite iOS app.

hollowm4n · January 27, 2013

Could you add a delay before it starts searching the iTunes store?

When I search for James Horner it will feedback results for Ja, after a few seconds I get results for James and after a few more seconds I get the results for James Horner.

Cheers

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

That's a nice workflow because it includes a link to both the Mac App Store and iTunes which is a good consolidation. However, I'm interested in searching iTunes App Store for iOS Apps. For example, the query "its Carcassonne" yields the useless music below instead of my favorite iOS app.

I'll change the next version so that the "app" query searches iOS apps as well as Mac software.

Could you add a delay before it starts searching the iTunes store?
When I search for James Horner it will feedback results for Ja, after a few seconds I get results for James and after a few more seconds I get the results for James Horner.

Cheers

I haven't come up with a way to do this that I especially like. The script is executed over and over again as the user types, so adding a fixed delay would just reproduce the problem you're seeing with the scripted delay added to the delay that's already endemic to the search. David suggested not executing a search until after a few letters are typed, which is what I'll try next, but you'll still see the same problem: if you want abcdefgh, it'll search for abc, abcde, abcdefgh. Meaning it eliminates maybe one useless search from the sequence.

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

Well, in spite of my skepticism, David was naturally correct: waiting until a few characters have been typed seems to greatly improve the perceived speed of the search. Let me know if it looks that way on your end. I've also changed the "app" query so that it searches for both iOS and Mac apps, and reworked the code to take advantage of PyAl. You can download it at the original link above.

Edit: Further updated to reflect some changes in PyAl, it now appears to be just blazingly fast on my end. Hope you're all noticing similar improvements.

Edit Edit: However, the bundled libraries have made it too large for AlfPT, so keep an eye on this thread for further updates.

hollowm4n · January 27, 2013

Well, in spite of my skepticism, David was naturally correct: waiting until a few characters have been typed seems to greatly improve the perceived speed of the search. Let me know if it looks that way on your end. I've also changed the "app" query so that it searches for both iOS and Mac apps, and reworked the code to take advantage of PyAl. You can download it at the original link above or here: http://d.pr/f/XEwn

Edit: Further updated to reflect some changes in PyAl, it now appears to be just blazingly fast on my end. Hope you're all noticing similar improvements.

Edit Edit: However, the bundled libraries have made it too large for AlfPT, so keep an eye on this thread for further updates.

I'm not getting any results after installing this update. It keeps 'Searching...'

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

I'm not getting any results after installing this update. It keeps 'Searching...'

It's working fine for me. What are you searching for? If it's under three characters the search won't be executed anymore. If that's not the problem, please change the command in the workflow to "python its.py '{query}' 2>&1 | tee output.log" and post what output.log shows.

hollowm4n · January 27, 2013

It's working fine for me. What are you searching for? If it's under three characters the search won't be executed anymore. If that's not the problem, please change the command in the workflow to "python its.py '{query}' 2>&1 | tee output.log" and post what output.log shows.

Here is the log:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "its.py", line 3, in <module>

import PyAl

File "/Users/christophe/Library/Application Support/Alfred 2/Alfred.alfredpreferences/workflows/user.workflow.EA4B5E15-822A-41B9-A595-FE41EAAB4526/PyAl/__init__.py", line 1, in <module>

from .core import *

File "/Users/christophe/Library/Application Support/Alfred 2/Alfred.alfredpreferences/workflows/user.workflow.EA4B5E15-822A-41B9-A595-FE41EAAB4526/PyAl/core.py", line 9, in <module>

import requests_cache

File "/Users/christophe/Library/Application Support/Alfred 2/Alfred.alfredpreferences/workflows/user.workflow.EA4B5E15-822A-41B9-A595-FE41EAAB4526/PyAl/requests_cache/__init__.py", line 28, in <module>

from .core import(

File "/Users/christophe/Library/Application Support/Alfred 2/Alfred.alfredpreferences/workflows/user.workflow.EA4B5E15-822A-41B9-A595-FE41EAAB4526/PyAl/requests_cache/core.py", line 18, in <module>

from requests import Request

ImportError: No module named requests

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

Here is the log:

Oh how embarrassing. I forgot I'd installed requests and requests_cache separately and wasn't testing from a clean installation. Working on the fix now; give me a few minutes.

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

Here is the log:

Okay, I cleaned the two libraries from my Python setup, forcing it to rely on what's in PyAl, and it appears to be working now. Try this version, and do let me know if it's better.

Sorry for the inconvenience!

hollowm4n · January 27, 2013

Okay, I cleaned the two libraries from my Python setup, forcing it to rely on what's in PyAl, and it appears to be working now. Try this version, and do let me know if it's better: http://d.pr/f/E5r7
Sorry for the inconvenience!

It's working great job!

hollowm4n · January 27, 2013

I'm not getting any results in your amazon and kindle workflows. Might be a similar issue.

Cheers

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

I'm not getting any results in your amazon and kindle workflows. Might be a similar issue.

Cheers

Thanks for the heads-up. I'm actually somewhat excited to be able to blame Amazon for this one: they've placed a redirect between my script and the results page I was trying to parse. I'm going to break for lunch and rewrite later this afternoon.

phyllisstein · January 27, 2013

I'm not getting any results in your amazon and kindle workflows. Might be a similar issue.

Cheers

Well, I spent the afternoon rewriting it, and it appears to be working now. You can download it in the thread I created for it.

phyllisstein · March 29, 2013

I've updated this workflow so that it now searches in three ways: the Mac App Store with the keyword "app," the iTunes Music Store with the keyword "its," and the iTunes Store's iThing apps with "iph." Previously, results from iThings were crowding out Mac App Store results. It also now supports Alleyoop and alp.

jphorn · March 30, 2013

We are a member/user of the iTunes affiliate program. It would be awesome if we would be able to parse the found url as ready-made affiliate URL's. Ours is trough Tradedoubler (iTunes Affiiate Europe), but I know US uses Linksynergy.

iTunes Affiliate Resources

Our (European) iTunes affiliate URLs look like this:

https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/iculture/id504842981?mt=8&partnerID=2003&tduid=NL1380330

This part is the affiliate part.

&partnerID=2003&tduid=NL1380330

I've already changed the iph.py and app.py myself (wasn't able to change the its.py), but since the workflow is now Alleyoop compatible it would be awesome if I don't have to think about this to change this every time.

Thanks for the excellent workflow!

phyllisstein · March 30, 2013

We are a member/user of the iTunes affiliate program. It would be awesome if we would be able to parse the found url as ready-made affiliate URL's. Ours is trough Tradedoubler (iTunes Affiiate Europe), but I know US uses Linksynergy.

iTunes Affiliate Resources

Our (European) iTunes affiliate URLs look like this:
https://itunes.apple.com/nl/app/iculture/id504842981?mt=8&partnerID=2003&tduid=NL1380330
This part is the affiliate part.
&partnerID=2003&tduid=NL1380330
I've already changed the iph.py and app.py myself (wasn't able to change the its.py), but since the workflow is now Alleyoop compatible it would be awesome if I don't have to think about this to change this every time.

Thanks for the excellent workflow!

Sure. But because I see this as sort of a fringe case and because I don't want to muddy the workflow with a user-visible settings interface, the setup is going to be a little complex. You'll have to run a search once to create the file ~/Library/Application Support/Alfred 2/Workflow Data/com.danielsh.alfred.its/settings.json. That file should contain an empty JSON object. You just need to add the key--value pair "affiliate_string": "&partnerID=2003&tduid=NL1380330" and your affiliate information will be added to the links that the workflow generates. Other users can of course do this as well, with their own affiliate strings.

Edited March 30, 2013 by phyllisstein

[Fixed] Search iTunes Store w/ feedback

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