kJams Wiki - User contributions [en]

Code/new Video Backdrop Generator

2026-01-28T18:40:45Z

DeusExMachina:

Finally. After WAY too many false starts, and dead ends due to Apple bugs and screw ups, it is finally working. So, presenting, for your viewing pleasure, the kJams video backdrop generator!
As with my other scripts lately, you can save as either a script or a service.
To use, run, and select either a pic file, a video file, or a folder of pictures. If you select a sigle file, that file becomes your background. If it is a video file, it will play behind your lyrics. If you select a folder, in will play as a slide show behind your lyrics. You can change the playback speed by editing the secondsperframe value. Note: for reasons you can blame Apple for, set this value to 1/2 the desired rate.

To save as service, open automator, drag "Ask for Finder Items" to the stage. Type in "Chose a file or folder of images to display behind Video window:" into the prompt. Set Start at: to "kJams" or wherever else you think might be good, and set Type: to "Files and Folders". Leave "Allow Multiple Selection" unchecked.

Next, drag "Run Applescript" to the stage, and copy the code below into the script, overwriting all the default text.
Note: if you prefer to run as a script from the script menu, you will have to edit the on run" handler to a file selection block, and you will not be able to use one script for both single files AND folders.

Save as service and you are done!

(Note: You will need to download Quicktime Player 7 (not QuickTime Player X) if you do not have it installed already.)

If you totally love this, please feel free to [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=manifold_sky%yahoo%2ecom&item_name=kJams%20Video%20Backdrop%20Donation&no_shipping=2&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8 paypal the author].

<iimg>https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=manifold_sky%yahoo%2ecom&item_name=kJams%20Video%20Backdrop%20Donation&no_shipping=2&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8
!http://kjams.com/resources/paypal.gif</iimg>

<pre>

on run {input, parameters}

--initialize kJams command variables
set kPlayModeType_STOPPED to 0
set kPlayModeType_PLAYING to 1
set kPlayModeType_PAUSED to 2

set kScriptCommand_PLAY_PAUSE to 1
set kScriptCommand_TOGGLE_TRANSPARENT_VIDEO to 24
set kScriptCommand_IS_TRANSPARENT_VIDEO to 25
set kScriptCommand_GET_VIDEO_WINDOW_DISPLAY_ID to 26

-- create list of available movie types
set movieFileTypeList to {"mov", "mp4", "m4v", "mpg", "mpeg", "avi", "dv", "flv", "gif"}
set pictureFileTypeList to {"jpg", "jpeg", "tiff", "tif", "pict", "png", "psd", "gif", "bmp", "raw"}
set secondsPerFrame to 10 -- set to half the value for seconds per frame (bad QuickTime)
-- choose file for backdrop
set fileName to first item in input

-- determine file type
tell application "Finder"
ignoring case
-- is the input a folder?
if kind of fileName is "folder" then
set isFolder to true
-- select a folder
-- make aliases of every picture file and copy to new directory
-- play image sequence*)
set slideshowFolder to ((path to music folder) as string) & "kJams:"
try
make new folder at slideshowFolder with properties {name:"imageAliases"}
end try
set slideshowFolder to (POSIX path of (slideshowFolder & "imageAliases"))
--delete entire contents of folder (POSIX file slideshowFolder as string)
do shell script "rm " & slideshowFolder & "/*.*"
set fileList to every file of folder fileName whose name extension is in pictureFileTypeList
set fileIndex to 1
repeat with theFile in fileList
-- set theFileType to the name extension of theFile (see comment below)
set theFile to POSIX path of (theFile as string)
do shell script "ln " & the quoted form of theFile & " " & the quoted form of slideshowFolder & "/image" & fileIndex & "." & "jpg" -- should be -> theFileType (if QT was not broken)
set fileIndex to fileIndex + 1
do shell script "ln " & the quoted form of theFile & " " & the quoted form of slideshowFolder & "/image" & fileIndex & "." & "jpg"
set fileIndex to fileIndex + 1
-- I do this twice because, again, QT is broken, and this forces it to show every frame.
end repeat
else
set isFolder to false
if name extension of fileName is in movieFileTypeList then
set isMovie to true
else
set isMovie to false
if name extension of fileName is not in pictureFileTypeList then error -128
end if
end if
end ignoring
end tell
tell application "kJams Pro"
-- make video window opaque, to cover up Quicktime tomfoolery
set videoTransparency to docommand kScriptCommand_IS_TRANSPARENT_VIDEO
if videoTransparency is not equal to 0 then docommand kScriptCommand_TOGGLE_TRANSPARENT_VIDEO
set displayID to (docommand kScriptCommand_GET_VIDEO_WINDOW_DISPLAY_ID) as integer
tell application "System Events"
set visible of process "QuickTime Player 7" to false
end tell
-- bring to front
activate
tell application "QuickTime Player 7"
if front document exists then close front document without saving

--save QT state
set playMovieBeginnigWhenOpened to play movie from beginning when opened
set play movie from beginning when opened to false

if isFolder then
-- The following should really be -> open image sequence (slideshowFolder as string) & "/image1." & the name extension of the first item of fileList seconds per frame secondsPerFrame (if Quicktime was not hopelessly broken!)
-- sometime open Image sequence still foil. Apple's fault. Grrr!
open image sequence (slideshowFolder as string) & "/image1.jpg" seconds per frame secondsPerFrame
set kJamsVideoBackground to the name of front document

-- make video loop
set the looping of document kJamsVideoBackground to true
else -- if single movie or picture file
open fileName
set kJamsVideoBackground to the name of the front document

-- make video loop, and kill sound
if isMovie then
set the looping of document kJamsVideoBackground to true
else
set the looping of document kJamsVideoBackground to false
end if
set the sound volume of document kJamsVideoBackground to 0
end if
--show movie full screen
present document kJamsVideoBackground display displayID
set the muted of document kJamsVideoBackground to true
set play movie from beginning when opened to playMovieBeginnigWhenOpened
end tell
activate
docommand kScriptCommand_TOGGLE_TRANSPARENT_VIDEO
-- play karaoke track (if mode is not currently "playing" then play)
if (get mode) is not kPlayModeType_PLAYING then docommand kScriptCommand_PLAY_PAUSE
end tell
return input
end run</pre>

As always, let me know back in the forum if this is useful, and if it makes you feel overwhelmingly generous, I wouldn't turn down a little [https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=manifold_sky%yahoo%2ecom&item_name=kJams%20Video%20Backdrop%20Donation&no_shipping=2&no_note=1&currency_code=USD&lc=US&bn=PP%2dBuyNowBF&charset=UTF%2d8 PayPal contribution] to my motivation fund :)

KayJayPro

2008-10-08T09:33:55Z

DeusExMachina:

==But Wait==
'''KJ Pro is not ready to accept your money yet!!!'''. So you can't get an account with them. I've told them to get on the ball and that they're losing money but i'm not sure why they're moving so slowly. Meanwhile use this:
'''user:''' kj pro tester
'''pass:''' secret sauce
When KJ Pro gets their act together and actually let's you pay them, the password will expire if you wish to keep using the service. At that time you will be expected to pay a nominal subscription fee (i think $5/month?).
==Introduction==
KJ Pro™ is a commercial database that contains a subset of meta data for just about every single karaoke disc that exists. That is, it contains entries that specify, for each CD, all the artist, album, and track title information. Presently there are over 331 thousand entries in the database. kJams incorporates access to this database so that, when you insert a CD, all you have to do is supply the correct "database ready" title of the disc, then the database is queried for the CD's meta info, so that you don't have to type it in.
==Local and Remote Access==
kJams will always attempt to find the information about a disc using a local copy of the database. If nothing is found, will then attempt to reach the database over the internet (if you have this option enabled). The Local database is entirely optional and many people will choose not have the local database installed, as it is quite large and does not automatically stay up to date like the internet database. It does come in handy, however, if you plan to play discs when you do not have access to the internet (eg: if you're a professional KJ and you're taking your laptop to a venue with no internet access). To install the local database, see below.
==Getting Track Data==
Any time a CD is selected in kJams, you can attempt to get the disc info using this database. Currently, when you go to the "Advanced" menu and choose "Get CD Tracks from KJ Pro...", kJams will then ask you for the "database ready" name of the disc. This means you first need to find the disc name that KJ Pro uses to reference the disc, and paste it into the dialog. When found, kJams will update the copy of the meta data that kJams keeps for that disc. Note you will loose any info currently stored for that disc.

# stick in your disc
# either the KJ Pro dialog will automatically pop up, or you can pick "Advanced -> Get Tracks from KJ Pro…"
# now switch to your web browser
# go to the [http://kjpro.com/browse/ KJPro web site]
# enter the disc number (do not enter any letters, eg: if you have Pocket Songs 1234, just enter 1234) into the "Disc #" field
# if you do not see your disc, then it's not in the database.
# if you see your disc, click the link to it
# verify that this is, in fact, your disc
# in the URL bar, you will see "DiscNo=" followed by the actual "database ready" name of the disc
# double click on that, so that you have selected all the text that follows "DiscNo="
# Edit->Copy
# go back to kJams
# paste it into the KJ Pro dialog and press return
# that's it!

This also works for playlists with less than 30 songs in them. The songs MUST be in the correct track order and MUST contain every song in the album. [[User_Sort_Order|Sort the playlist by "#" first]] (NOT by track number), and drag-reorder them to get them into the correct order. Then select the playlist and then go Advanced->Get CD Tracks from KJ Pro. Note, if the songs are in the wrong order, it will still "work" but you will have set the wrong meta data on the wrong songs!! Simply re-order the songs into the correct order, and re-get, and they should reset to being correct.
==Using KJPro to Assign Metadata to Playlists==
So the metadata of your tracks is all messed up. Maybe you have a bunch of files with names like "Track 01.zip" or some such. You know the album name, so you can check the KJPro database for the information, and fix everything by hand, but that can be very time consuming, especially if you have multiple albums that need to be fixed. Perhaps you don't like the names that get assigned by any of the other databases accessible from the Advanced menu (TrackType, freedb, or MusicBrainz) or perhaps they do not have a listing for your album. Here is a (somewhat) simple procedure that will allow you to pull metadata from the KJPro and apply it to your tracks, assigning them the correct ID3 tags.

# First, make a playlist with the tracks in the album you wish to fix. (Click the "+" button on the lower left of the browser window and then drag your tracks to the new playlist. To save time later, you may wish to drag them in track order.)
# Next, browse the KJPro site to find the information for that album. Make sure that you have all the necessary tracks. You MUST have the same number of tracks in your playlist as KJPro lists in their database. If you do not, either get them, or if you can't, follow the suggestions in the Notes below.
# If you do not have the tracks ordered by track number, and you have the track numbers, sort this playlist by track. Then select "Set User Sort Order" from the "Special" submenu under the Advanced menu. This will make the playlist "#" order correspond to the Track order. If you do not have track numbers, sort by the "#" field. (If you do not have the "#" field visible, right click on any column header and scroll through the pop-up menu to "#", and then sort.) Then drag each track to the correct position in the playlist corresponding to its track order as shown by KJPro. In either case, double check to make sure that you have all tracks listed, and that the order of the "#" field corresponds with the correct track order from KJPro. This is EXTREMELY important. If the tracks are not in the correct order, they will be incorrectly named, and you will have to sort it all out by hand. (See Notes, below.)
# Did you double check to make sure the tracks are in EXACTLY the same order as on the KJPro site?
# Select "Get CD Tracks from KJPro™…" from the Advanced menu.
# Enter the album name into the dialog box that comes up. Make sure you type it exactly as you see it on the KJPro site. To be safe, you can cut and paste it. To save time you can type it in whatever format you use in your library (all caps, lower case, first letter caps, etc.. The way you type it is the way it will be assigned to the individual tracks.)
# Click OK.

And there you go. All your tracks will be renamed to match the KJPro database.

Notes:
As stated above, you MUST have the same number of tracks in your playlist as KJPro lists for that album. If you do not have all the tracks you need (say you are missing one of the songs on the album) you can create a dummy placeholder by going to the correct album folder in the Finder, duplicating a song (by selecting a song and typing CMD-D) renaming it something informative, like the name of the missing track or just "dummy track.zip", dragging it into your playlist, and then placing it at the position corresponding to the missing track. This dummy track takes the place of the missing track. After you have finished the metadata assignment procedure above, feel free to now delete this dummy track (or keep it around to use again later for fixing additional metadata. Just remove it from your Library, in the Finder drag it to a location where you can find it again, reimport it to your Library, and give it its own playlist in kJams.)

If for some reason you get the message "Disc not found" After you select "Get CD Tracks from KJPro™…" from the Advanced menu, Check to make sure that the blue "focus border" is around the browser frame. If it is and you still get the error message, this is a good indication that one or more of your tracks have become separated from the original file(s). Play each one until you find the ones that will not play, and re-link them to the original files in your Library.

If you mess up, and did not put the tracks in the correct order (was I not clear enough about how important this is?) do not freak out. Play each track to identify it, and assign it the correct track number from the KJPro database. Do not worry about any of the other fields. After all the tracks have the correct track number, sort by track order, and then select "Set User Sort Order" from the "Special" submenu under the Advanced menu. This will make the playlist order correspond to the Track order.
Follow the steps above starting at Step 4, double checking the track order!
==Installing the Local Access database==
This section will be expanded when that option is available. Come back soon for more info.
==Preferences==
http://www.kjams.com/screenshots/prefs/kjpro.png<br>
First you will need to purchase a subscription to the KJ Pro database. To do that, press the "Get Account…" button and follow the onscreen instructions. (presently this does not do anything, the option will be available soon). Enter your user name and code number into the provided spaces. If you do not check the "Use KJ Pro™ Online Database", then only the local database will be used, if it is found.

KayJayPro

2008-10-03T22:35:16Z

DeusExMachina:

==But Wait==
'''KJ Pro is not ready to accept your money yet!!!'''. So you can't get an account with them. I've told them to get on the ball and that they're losing money but i'm not sure why they're moving so slowly. Meanwhile use this:
'''user:''' kj pro tester
'''pass:''' secret sauce
When KJ Pro gets their act together and actually let's you pay them, the password will expire if you wish to keep using the service. At that time you will be expected to pay a nominal subscription fee (i think $5/month?).
==Introduction==
KJ Pro™ is a commercial database that contains a subset of meta data for just about every single karaoke disc that exists. That is, it contains entries that specify, for each CD, all the artist, album, and track title information. Presently there are over 331 thousand entries in the database. kJams incorporates access to this database so that, when you insert a CD, all you have to do is supply the correct "database ready" title of the disc, then the database is queried for the CD's meta info, so that you don't have to type it in.
==Local and Remote Access==
kJams will always attempt to find the information about a disc using a local copy of the database. If nothing is found, will then attempt to reach the database over the internet (if you have this option enabled). The Local database is entirely optional and many people will choose not have the local database installed, as it is quite large and does not automatically stay up to date like the internet database. It does come in handy, however, if you plan to play discs when you do not have access to the internet (eg: if you're a professional KJ and you're taking your laptop to a venue with no internet access). To install the local database, see below.
==Getting Track Data==
Any time a CD is selected in kJams, you can attempt to get the disc info using this database. Currently, when you go to the "Advanced" menu and choose "Get CD Tracks from KJ Pro...", kJams will then ask you for the "database ready" name of the disc. This means you first need to find the disc name that KJ Pro uses to reference the disc, and paste it into the dialog. When found, kJams will update the copy of the meta data that kJams keeps for that disc. Note you will loose any info currently stored for that disc.

# stick in your disc
# either the KJ Pro dialog will automatically pop up, or you can pick "Advanced -> Get Tracks from KJ Pro…"
# now switch to your web browser
# go to the [http://kjpro.com/browse/ KJPro web site]
# enter the disc number (do not enter any letters, eg: if you have Pocket Songs 1234, just enter 1234) into the "Disc #" field
# if you do not see your disc, then it's not in the database.
# if you see your disc, click the link to it
# verify that this is, in fact, your disc
# in the URL bar, you will see "DiscNo=" followed by the actual "database ready" name of the disc
# double click on that, so that you have selected all the text that follows "DiscNo="
# Edit->Copy
# go back to kJams
# paste it into the KJ Pro dialog and press return
# that's it!

This also works for playlists with less than 30 songs in them. The songs MUST be in the correct track order and MUST contain every song in the album. [[User_Sort_Order|Sort the playlist by "#" first]] (NOT by track number), and drag-reorder them to get them into the correct order. Then select the playlist and then go Advanced->Get CD Tracks from KJ Pro. Note, if the songs are in the wrong order, it will still "work" but you will have set the wrong meta data on the wrong songs!! Simply re-order the songs into the correct order, and re-get, and they should reset to being correct.
==Using KJPro to Assign Metadata to Playlists==
So the metadata of your tracks is all messed up. Maybe you have a bunch of files with names like "Track 01.zip" or some such. You know the album name, so you can check the KJPro database for the information, and fix everything by hand, but that can be very time consuming, especially if you have multiple albums that need to be fixed. Perhaps you don't like the names that get assigned by any of the other databases accessible from the Advanced menu (TrackType, freedb, or MusicBrainz) or perhaps they do not have a listing for your album. Here is a (somewhat) simple procedure that will allow you to pull metadata from the KJPro and apply it to your tracks, assigning them the correct ID3 tags.

# First, make a playlist with the tracks in the album you wish to fix. (Click the "+" button on the lower left of the browser window and then drag your tracks to the new playlist. To save time later, you may wish to drag them in track order.)
# Next, browse the KJPro site to find the information for that album. Make sure that you have all the necessary tracks. You MUST have the same number of tracks in your playlist as KJPro lists in their database. If you do not, either get them, or if you can't, follow the suggestions in the Notes below.
# If you do not have the tracks ordered by track number, and you have the track numbers, sort this playlist by track. Then select "Set User Sort Order" from the "Special" submenu under the Advanced menu. This will make the playlist "#" order correspond to the Track order. If you do not have track numbers, sort by the "#" field. (If you do not have the "#" field visible, right click on any column header and scroll through the pop-up menu to "#", and then sort.) Then drag each track to the correct position in the playlist corresponding to its track order as shown by KJPro. In either case, double check to make sure that you h ave all trracks listed, and that the order of the "#" field corresponds with the correct track order from KJPro. This is EXTREMELY important. If the tracks are not in the correct order, they will be incorrectly named, and you will have to sort it all out by hand.
# Did you double check to make sure the tracks are in EXACTLY the same order as on the KJPro site?
# Select "Get CD Tracks from KJPro™…" from the Advanced menu.
# Enter the album name into the dialog box that comes up. Make sure you type it exactly as you see it on the KJPro site. To be safe, you can cut and paste it.
# Click OK.

And there you go. All your tracks will be renamed to match the KJPro database.

Notes:
As stated above, you MUST have the same number of tracks in your playlist as KJPro lists for that album. If you do not have all the tracks you need (say you are missing one of the songs on the album) you can create a dummy placeholder by going to the correct album folder in the Finder, duplicating a song (by selecting a song and typing CMD-D) renaming it something informative, like the name of the missing track or just "dummy track.zip", dragging it into your playlist, and then placing it at the position corresponding to the missing track. This dummy track takes the place of the missing track. After you have finished the metadata assignment procedure above, feel free to now delete this dummy track (or keep it around to use again later for fixing additional metadata. Just remove it from your Library, in the Finder drag it to a location where you can find it again, reimport it to your Library, and give it its own playlist in kJams.)

If for some reason you get the message "Disc not found" After you select "Get CD Tracks from KJPro™…" from the Advanced menu, this is a good indication that one or more of your tracks have become separated from the original file. play each one until you find the ones that will not play, and re-link them to the original files in your Library.

If you mess up, and did not put the tracks in the correct order (was I not clear enough about how important this is?) do not freak out. Play each track to identify it, and assign it the correct track number from the KJPro database. Do not worry about any of the other fields. After all the tracks have the correct track number, sort by track order, and then select "Set User Sort Order" from the "Special" submenu under the Advanced menu. This will make the playlist order correspond to the Track order.
Follow the steps above starting at Step 4, double checking the track order!
==Installing the Local Access database==
This section will be expanded when that option is available. Come back soon for more info.
==Preferences==
http://www.kjams.com/screenshots/prefs/kjpro.png<br>
First you will need to purchase a subscription to the KJ Pro database. To do that, press the "Get Account…" button and follow the onscreen instructions. (presently this does not do anything, the option will be available soon). Enter your user name and code number into the provided spaces. If you do not check the "Use KJ Pro™ Online Database", then only the local database will be used, if it is found.