Thread: How to display 'now playing' info in a screen saver?

Do you mean in your own screensaver or an existing one? In your own screensaver (if written in Cocoa), you can use following code to get info from iTunes (result is a dictionary with current time and names of the track and playlist).

Code:

  NSMutableDictionary *moduleSetup = [NSMutableDictionary dictionary];
  NSAppleScript *asExecutor;
    NSAppleEventDescriptor *asResult;
    asExecutor = [[[NSAppleScript alloc] initWithSource:@"tell app \"iTunes\" to get {player position, index of current track, index of current playlist}"] autorelease];
    asResult = [asExecutor executeAndReturnError:nil];
    [moduleSetup setObject: [NSNumber numberWithInt:[[asResult descriptorAtIndex:1]int32Value]] forKey:@"CURR_TIME"];
    [moduleSetup setObject: [NSNumber numberWithInt:[[asResult descriptorAtIndex:2]int32Value]] forKey:@"CURR_TRACK"];
    [moduleSetup setObject: [NSNumber numberWithInt:[[asResult descriptorAtIndex:3]int32Value]] forKey:@"CURR_PLIST"];

If you want to display some info over an existing screensaver, check the NSWindow documentation in Cocoa reference. I have not tried it, but it appears that a window in NSScreenSaverWindowLeven might allow you to display something above the screensaver...

Hopefully in an existing one. Thanks for the code, though. If I have to roll my own it'll come in handy.

Have you tried using Quartz Composer? I'm not sure how it could interface with apps like iTunes, but it's really easy to make cool-looking screensavers regardless

Originally Posted by Mahalis

Have you tried using Quartz Composer? I'm not sure how it could interface with apps like iTunes, but it's really easy to make cool-looking screensavers regardless

Fa'a Mahalo, bra! That's a great tip. I found Engadget's article about making a screensaver via Google, based on your suggestion. HOW-TO: Make a customized RSS screensaver in Tiger

For those as clueless as me, Quartz Composer is a part of Tiger (Mac OS X 10.4).