Customize away message for live feed?

Question

I would like to set up an away message where the content is pulled from a live feed. I assume this is possible because that's essentially what it does when it displays the current song on iTunes.
Does anyone know any shareware/freeware that can do this, or other way to set this up? Specifically, there is an online queryable database I'd like to pull the away message from.
MacBook Pro 15"/2.16Ghz/2GB RAM   Mac OS X (10.4.8)  

Answer 1

Hi RKNYC,
AppleScript is the way.
There is a basic one here
http://www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com/page11.html#Where_canI
You need to scroll down a bit (Blue text)
This takes several pre typed messages and rotates them to give a partial scroll.
<hr>
This is a real scroll of a saved/typed message
---------- script start ----------
-- idea and script: [email protected]
set a to every character in " Read the FAQs at www.ralphjohnsuk.dsl.pipex.com :-D "
set h to ""
set i to 1
set c to count every item in a
repeat
repeat with n from 1 to c
repeat with m from 1 to c
set h to h & item i of a
if (n = 1 or n mod c = 1) and i = (c) then
set i to i - (c - 2)
else if i = (c) then
set i to i - (c - 1)
else if m = c then
set i to i + 2
else
set i to i + 1
end if
end repeat
tell application "iChat"
delay 0.2
set status message to h & ""
set h to ""
end tell
end repeat
set i to 1
end repeat
---------- script end ----------
This gets past the 42 character limit
<hr>
Next is to Scroll the current Status Message
------Start Script----------
tell application "iChat"
get status message
set b to status message
set a to every character in b
set h to ""
set i to 1
set c to count every item in a
repeat
repeat with n from 1 to c
repeat with m from 1 to c
set h to h & item i of a
if (n = 1 or n mod c = 1) and i = (c) then
set i to i - (c - 2)
else if i = (c) then
set i to i - (c - 1)
else if m = c then
set i to i + 2
else
set i to i + 1
end if
end repeat
tell application "iChat"
delay 0.1
set status message to h & ""
set h to ""
end tell
end repeat
set i to 1
end repeat
end tell
----------End Script -----------
<hr>
This one shows that you can call from other Apps
It actually swops the Buddy icon for iTunes Pics/artwork
------Script Start----
tell application "System Events"
if ((application processes whose (name is equal to "iTunes")) ¬
count) is greater than 0 then
tell application "iTunes"
if player state is playing then
set the_artist to artist of current track
set the_song to name of current track
if artworks of current track exists then
set currentArt to data of front artwork of current track
my iChatIconFromArtwork(currentArt)
end if
if the_artist is not missing value then
return the_artist & " - " & the_song
else
return the_song
end if
else if player state is paused then
return "iTunes is paused"
else if player state is stopped then
return "iTunes is quiet"
end if
end tell
else
return "iTunes is Off"
end if
end tell
on iChatIconFromArtwork(inArt)
tell application "System Events"
if ((application processes whose (name is equal to "iChat")) ¬
count) is greater than 0 then
tell application "iChat"
try
set file_name to ":tmp:artwork2avatar.pict" as string
try
do shell script "rm /tmp/artwork2avatar.pict"
end try
open for access file_name write permission 1
copy the result to file_reference
write inArt starting at 0 to file_reference as picture
close access file_reference
set theImage to open for access file file_name ¬
without write permission
set imageData to read theImage as TIFF picture
set image to imageData
close access theImage
on error errStr
try
close access file_reference
end try
display dialog "Error: " & errStr
end try
end tell
end if
end tell
end iChatIconFromArtwork
-------End Script---------
This one will run once and change the pic. It then needs running again to change to the next pic. Saves putting a loop to check the pic every minute or so and using Processor time.
All these need to copy and pasted into Script Editor
They can be run from there on a individual basis or you Can save them as App and then run them.
They are heavy on the 5190 port and can effect Video chats on slower machines or sending Files or Pics in Text Chats ("Too much data too quickly" is the normal error message).
9:11 PM Sunday; December 24, 2006
Merry Christmas