Bash scripting with mtp-tools

[Cerapter]

In lack of compatible software for an old MP3 player like mine (I've tried it all), I'm writing my own bash scripts for transfering playlists. I got libmtp/mtp-tools, and the commands work perfectly, but are difficult to implement in a script.

For example, mtp-newfolder, upon completion, outputs something like this:

libmtp version: 1.3.3

New folder ID: 43722

And I want the ID for subsequent commands. After hours of painstaking testing with sed and grep, I gave up and succeded to obtain the ID using this script:

    oput=`mtp-newfolder ${gFolder} ${ind_music} 0`
    oput=${oput//[a-zA-Z]/ }
    set -- $oput
    folder_ID=$4

The output of the other tools make this method hard, if not impossible, and I don't like doing it this way. Now, I'm an amateur at most of this scripting, but I have two hopes in mind:

A) Somewhere, someplace, the ID is actually sent alone, and I can fetch it if only I know where to look.
B) I can rewrite the mtp-tools and change the output, or write my own that work as I wish. I know C, so I should manage this if only I knew how.

[codemaniac]

If I have understood your requirement clearly , you want to extract ID from the below output .

libmtp version: 1.3.3

New folder ID: 43722

try this below commandline .

echo 'libmtp version: 1.3.3\
> New folder ID: 43722' | awk -F":" '/ID/{print $2}'

[Cerapter]

Thank you, I am still considering this kind of method. However, I run into problems with the following output, from mtp-sendtr:

libmtp version: 1.1.3 /home/cerapter/Musikk/Roteskuff/Hayley Westenra - Listen To The Wind.mp3,/Music/07.19 World collide/Hayley Westenra - Listen To The Wind.mp3,Hayley Westenra,(null),Listen to the Wind,(null),(null),(null),00,0,0,1 Sending track /home/cerapter/Musikk/Roteskuff/Hayley Westenra - Listen To The Wind.mp3 to /Music/07.19 World collide/Hayley Westenra - Listen To The Wind.mp3 type: mp3, 2 Sending track: Codec: ISO MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 Title: Listen to the Wind Artist: Hayley Westenra Storage ID: 0 Sending track... New track ID: 1475434407225 (100%)

Where I wish to extract the ID, which I know (from later testing) to be only 147543. Here it is merged with the filesize in bytes, and both ID and this size can be any number of numerals!

So I'm primarily looking for a way of manipulating the tools themselves, to give the output I want.

[glennric]

Have you tried playedit? You can install it by adding the ppa with

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glennric/mtp

I had a similar problem with an mp3 player that used the mtp protocol and so I wrote this program to create and edit playlists on the device. I can't guarantee it will work for your mp3 player, but if it does it may make things easier for you. Please let me know if you try it, and if it works or not.

[codemaniac]

Thank you, I am still considering this kind of method. However, I run into problems with the following output, from mtp-sendtr:

Where I wish to extract the ID, which I know (from later testing) to be only 147543. Here it is merged with the filesize in bytes, and both ID and this size can be any number of numerals!

So I'm primarily looking for a way of manipulating the tools themselves, to give the output I want.

The output you have shared is not in a standard format for a Unix filter or text processing Utility to be parsed as per wish.

Can you please post a screenshot of your terminal , to understand the output layout better .I think the text you have posted above is wrapped up .

[Cerapter]

Have you tried playedit?

I have tried my luck with playedit, and I'm willing to give it another try. I've been unable to install it correctly, because I cannot figure out how to meet this dependency:

checking for GUDEV... no
configure: error: Package requirements (gudev-1.0) were not met:

No package 'gudev-1.0' found

Consider adjusting the PKG_CONFIG_PATH environment variable if you
installed software in a non-standard prefix.

Alternatively, you may set the environment variables GUDEV_CFLAGS
and GUDEV_LIBS to avoid the need to call pkg-config.
See the pkg-config man page for more details.

I cannot seem to find this gudev-package (I'm on Precise). I do have gir1.2-gudev-1.0, and this might do, but I'm not sure how to define this for playedit.

---

The output you have shared is not in a standard format for a Unix filter or text processing Utility to be parsed as per wish.

Can you please post a screenshot of your terminal , to understand the output layout better .I think the text you have posted above is wrapped up .

In the terminal, the output continually updates with the progress of the file transfer:

What I posted was the value I got when I tried to catch the output in this way:

oput=$(mtp-sendtr <args>)

---

I have downloaded libmtp-dev and found the original C code of the mtp-tools. I will attempt to modify, compile and run these to see if that works. EDIT: I might have been wrong about this, I have been unable to compile these files, and I also can't seem to understand how to get at the source code, either.

[Vaphell]

use [code][/code] tags to preserve formatting
what happens when you echo "$oput"? is id on a separate line?

[glennric]

I have tried my luck with playedit, and I'm willing to give it another try. I've been unable to install it correctly, because I cannot figure out how to meet this dependency:
[CODE]checking for GUDEV... no
configure: error: Package requirements (gudev-1.0) were not met:

No package 'gudev-1.0' found

I cannot seem to find this gudev-package (I'm on Precise). I do have gir1.2-gudev-1.0, and this might do, but I'm not sure how to define this for playedit.

The correct package is libgudev-1.0-dev. However, you do not need to compile it. If you add the repository ppa:glennric/mtp that I mentioned before you can simply install it with "sudo apt-get install playedit" (or use the software center).

[Cerapter]

use tags to preserve formatting
what happens when you echo "$oput"? is id on a separate line?

Unfortunately, it is not, and this is why I used the quote tag:

libmtp version: 1.1.3 /home/cerapter/Musikk/Roteskuff/Hayley Westenra -  Listen To The Wind.mp3,/Music/07.19 World collide/Hayley Westenra -  Listen To The Wind.mp3,Hayley Westenra,(null),Listen to the  Wind,(null),(null),(null),00,0,0,1 Sending track  /home/cerapter/Musikk/Roteskuff/Hayley Westenra - Listen To The Wind.mp3  to /Music/07.19 World collide/Hayley Westenra - Listen To The Wind.mp3  type: mp3, 2 Sending track: Codec: ISO MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 Title:  Listen to the Wind Artist: Hayley Westenra Storage ID: 0 Sending  track...  New track ID: 1475434407225 (100%)

---

The correct package is libgudev-1.0-dev. However, you do not need to compile it. If you add the repository ppa:glennric/mtp that I mentioned before you can simply install it with "sudo apt-get install playedit" (or use the software center).

That's great news! I successfully installed playedit, started it, and it was about to load up my music player when this happened:

cerapter@Ancalagon:~$ playedit
Device 0 (VID=041e and PID=4162) is a Creative ZEN X-Fi.
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'Gdk::PixbufError'
Aborted (core dumped)
cerapter@Ancalagon:~$

I can try and access the core dump if there's anything useful there.

[glennric]

That's great news! I successfully installed playedit, started it, and it was about to load up my music player when this happened:

cerapter@Ancalagon:~$ playedit
Device 0 (VID=041e and PID=4162) is a Creative ZEN X-Fi.
terminate called after throwing an instance of 'Gdk::PixbufError'
Aborted (core dumped)
cerapter@Ancalagon:~$

I can try and access the core dump if there's anything useful there.

Hmm, that is odd. Yeah, if you can send me the core dump it would help. It seems to be having a problem loading album art from the device.