Add step forward/backward feature to QuickTime Player

Nov 11, '05 06:44:00AM

Contributed by: Peter Maurer

Whenever I'm using QuickTime Player, I miss the Option-Command-right/left arrow keystrokes to step forward/backward, which I've grown accustomed to in VLC. Here's how to bring these to QuickTime Player, using Butler.

Disclaimer/note: Being the creator of Butler, it shouldn't come as a surprise that I use Butler for these things. There are other ways of launching these AppleScripts, but this solution is definitely easy to implement if Butler is already running on your Mac.

Step Forward:

Open Butler's main window, create a new AppleScript Smart Item (click the Plus sign icon, then Smart Item: AppleScript: AppleScript) and name it QT: Step Forward, for instance. Then, paste the following script to the Inspector's Source Code section for your new Smart Item:

property step : 10
tell application "QuickTime Player"
  set playerPosition to (current time of front movie) + ¬
    (step * (time scale of front movie))
  set movieDuration to duration of front movie
  if (playerPosition ? movieDuration) then
    if front movie is playing then
      stop front movie
    end if
    set playerPosition to movieDuration
  end if
  set current time of front movie to playerPosition
end tell
This script will trigger 10-seconds steps. If you want a different value, edit the property step: line accordingly.

Now, go to the Inspector's Triggers section, and enter your hot key of choice -- I'm using Option-Command-Right Arrow, as mentioned above. Once you've entered the hot key, configure the Exceptions pop-up to be Only valid in, and then list QuickTime Player for the application's name.

Step Backward

This script is almost the same, except for the AppleScript we're using:
property step : 10
tell application "QuickTime Player"
  set playerPosition to (current time of front movie) - ¬
    (step * (time scale of front movie))
  if (playerPosition < 0) then
    set playerPosition to 0
  end if
  set current time of front movie to playerPosition
end tell
Once again, change the property step line to change the jump increment. And that's it; you're done. Switch to QuickTime Player and start up a movie, and test your new keys.

[robg adds: I tested these, and they work as described.]

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