Selecting dynamically changing file

Question

Hi everyone
I'm creating a script that will copy the currently selected track from itunes to the desktop and import into iMovie. The following is what I have thus far:
-- check if itunes is open
tell application "Finder"
if (get name of every process whose visible is true) ¬
contains "iTunes" then
my convertSong()
else
display dialog ¬
"You have not selected a song from iTunes!" buttons ¬
"Cancel" default button 1 giving up after 10
end if
end tell
on convertSong()
-- dupe selected track
tell application "iTunes"
if selection is not {} then
set _location to get location of selection
else
display dialog "You have not selected a song from iTunes!" buttons ¬
"Cancel" default button 1 giving up after 10
end if
end tell
set _theSong to (choose file with prompt "Choose Song" default location _location)
tell application "Finder" to duplicate _theSong to "Macintosh HD:Users:OAC:Desktop"
delay 2
-- create new movie, import song from desktop.
tell application "iMovie HD"
try
open
end try
activate
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "n" using {command down}
delay 1
keystroke "iMovieSong"
delay 1
tell process "iMovie HD"
click button "Create" of window "Create Project"
end tell
delay 15
-- brings up the Import dialog from iMovie menu
keystroke "i" using {command down, shift down}
-- select file statements here
end tell
end tell
end convertSong
the problem is I don't know how to reference the duplicated song (which will be changing periodically). What kinds of statements will work in this situation?
thanks!

Answer 1

Ahh, that's one of the vagaries of the Finder - it has its own unique way of referencing files.
There are two ways around it, one is to tell the Finder to open the file with a specific application:
tell application "Finder"
  set theDupeFile to duplicate _theSong to "Macintosh HD:Users:OAC:Desktop"
  open theDupeFile using application "iMovie"
end tell
the other is to coerce the result of the duplicate command to an alias, the universal file reference:
tell application "Finder" to set theDupeFile to duplicate _theSong to "Macintosh HD:Users:OAC:Desktop" as alias
That simple as alias on the end coerces the Finder reference to an alias which any other application should be able to handle.