According to http://dougscripts.com/ setting shuffle and repeat modes via applescript is broken in iTunes 11.
According to this stackoverflow answer shuffle is now a playlist independent setting.
Thus, I tried to set the shuffle value via the UI, either by the LCD-ish display of iTunes or via the menu bar. All I could get was "unknown UI index" errors when trying to click the shuffle button/menu item, either in the LCD area or the menu bar. (I'm new to applescript).
If some of you could come up with a way to toggle shuffle mode on iTunes 11, that would be great. Also I'd prefer a solution based on the menu bar rather than the LCD display since the shuffle button is not always visible in the latter.
Ideally, I'd prefer a semantic-based solution over a UI-based solution but I'm not sure if it's possible (iTunes 11 applescript library seems to be outdate since it mention a "shuffle" property for "playlists" items).
I liked John Sauer's approach so much I wrote myself some getters/setters for these properties using his approach. It's works well because you do not have to activate iTunes before using them. Anyway, I thought I'd post them in case they're of help to anyone. You will get or set their values using the "types" (modeled after the menu item names) as follows:
Repeat types are "Off", "All", or "One".
Shuffle types are "Off", "By Songs", "By Albums", or "By Groupings"
on getRepeatType() -- the return value is a string: Off/All/One
tell application "System Events"
tell process "iTunes"
set menuItems to menu items of menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Repeat"'s menu 1
set currentChoice to "unknown"
repeat with anItem in menuItems
try
set theResult to value of attribute "AXMenuItemMarkChar" of anItem
if theResult is not "" then
set currentChoice to name of anItem
exit repeat
end if
end try
end repeat
end tell
end tell
return currentChoice
end getRepeatType
on setRepeatType(repeatType) -- repeatType is a string: Off/All/One
set currentValue to my getRepeatType()
ignoring case
if currentValue is not repeatType then
tell application "System Events" to tell process "iTunes"'s menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Repeat"'s menu 1
if repeatType is "all" then
perform action "AXPress" of menu item "All"
else if repeatType is "one" then
perform action "AXPress" of menu item "One"
else
perform action "AXPress" of menu item "Off"
end if
end tell
end if
end ignoring
end setRepeatType
on getShuffleType() -- the return value is a string: Off/By Songs/By Albums/By Groupings
tell application "System Events"
tell process "iTunes"
set menuItems to menu items of menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Shuffle"'s menu 1
set onOffItemName to name of item 1 of menuItems
end tell
end tell
-- is shuffle off
ignoring case
if onOffItemName contains " on " then return "Off"
end ignoring
-- shuffle is on so find how we are shuffling
set currentChoice to "Unknown"
tell application "System Events"
tell process "iTunes"
repeat with i from 2 to count of menuItems
set anItem to item i of menuItems
try
set theResult to value of attribute "AXMenuItemMarkChar" of anItem
if theResult is not "" then
set currentChoice to name of anItem
exit repeat
end if
end try
end repeat
end tell
end tell
return currentChoice
end getShuffleType
on setShuffleType(shuffleType) -- shuffleType is a string: Off/By Songs/By Albums/By Groupings
set currentValue to my getShuffleType()
script subs
on toggleShuffleOnOff()
tell application "System Events" to perform action "AXPress" of (first menu item of process "iTunes"'s menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Shuffle"'s menu 1 whose name ends with "Shuffle")
end toggleShuffleOnOff
on pressBySongs()
tell application "System Events" to perform action "AXPress" of (first menu item of process "iTunes"'s menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Shuffle"'s menu 1 whose name ends with "Songs")
end pressBySongs
on pressByAlbums()
tell application "System Events" to perform action "AXPress" of (first menu item of process "iTunes"'s menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Shuffle"'s menu 1 whose name ends with "Albums")
end pressByAlbums
on pressByGroupings()
tell application "System Events" to perform action "AXPress" of (first menu item of process "iTunes"'s menu bar 1's menu bar item "Controls"'s menu 1's menu item "Shuffle"'s menu 1 whose name ends with "Groupings")
end pressByGroupings
end script
ignoring case
if shuffleType contains "off" then -- we have to make sure it's off
if currentValue does not contain "off" then subs's toggleShuffleOnOff()
else
-- make sure it's on
if currentValue contains "off" then subs's toggleShuffleOnOff()
-- select the shuffle menu item for the type
if shuffleType contains "song" and currentValue does not contain "song" then
subs's pressBySongs()
else if shuffleType contains "album" and currentValue does not contain "album" then
subs's pressByAlbums()
else if shuffleType contains "group" and currentValue does not contain "group" then
subs's pressByGroupings()
end if
end if
end ignoring
end setShuffleType