iPhone get all albums/artists - iphone

Question

does any of you have example code (or a link to it) of how to retrieve all music albums or artist from the iPod media library?
Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Use a MPMediaQuery:
MPMediaQuery *allAlbumsQuery = [MPMediaQuery albumsQuery];
NSArray *allAlbumsArray = [allAlbumsQuery collections];
The allItems array does now contain MPMediaItemCollections, grouping is done by album. Now you can walk through the arrays.
for (MPMediaItemCollection *collection in allAlbumsArray) {
MPMediaItem *item = [collection representativeItem];
}

Answer 2

Thanks for the answer, here is working sample code that prints out the albums and artists in case someone needs it:
NSMutableString *outText = [[NSMutableString alloc] initWithString:#"Albums:"];
[outText appendFormat:#"\r\n count:%i",[[[MPMediaQuery albumsQuery] collections] count]];
for (MPMediaItemCollection *collection in [[MPMediaQuery albumsQuery] collections]) {
[outText appendFormat:#"\r\n -%#",[[collection representativeItem] valueForProperty:MPMediaItemPropertyAlbumTitle]];
}
[outText appendString:#"\r\n\r\n Artist:"];
for (MPMediaItemCollection *collection in [[MPMediaQuery artistsQuery] collections]) {
[outText appendFormat:#"\r\n -%#",[[collection representativeItem] valueForProperty:MPMediaItemPropertyArtist]];
}
NSLog(#"%#",[outText autorelease]);

Answer 3

Here you go. You can get the albums and their songs.
/// Get all albums and their songs
///
func getAllAlbums() {
let query: MPMediaQuery = MPMediaQuery.albums()
let allAlbums = query.collections
allAlbumItems?.removeAll()
guard allAlbums != nil else {
return
}
for collection in allAlbums! {
let item: MPMediaItem? = collection.representativeItem
let albumName = item?.value(forKey: MPMediaItemPropertyAlbumTitle) as? String ?? "<Unknown>"
let albumId = item!.value(forProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyAlbumPersistentID) as! NSNumber
let artistName = item?.value(forKey: MPMediaItemPropertyArtist) as? String ?? "<Unknown>"
let album = Album()
album.name = albumName
album.artistName = artistName
album.albumId = String(describing: albumId)
print("Album name: \(albumName)")
// Get all songs in this album
let mediaQuery = MPMediaQuery.songs()
let predicate = MPMediaPropertyPredicate.init(value: albumId, forProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyAlbumPersistentID)
mediaQuery.addFilterPredicate(predicate)
let song = mediaQuery.items
if let allSongs = song {
var index = 0
for item in allSongs {
let pathURL: URL? = item.value(forProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyAssetURL) as? URL
if pathURL == nil {
print("#Warning!!! Track : \(item) is not playable.")
} else {
let trackInfo = SongItem()
trackInfo.index = index
trackInfo.mediaItem = item
let title = item.value(forProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyTitle) as? String ?? "<Unknown>"
let artistName = item.value(forProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyArtist) as? String ?? "<Unknown>"
trackInfo.songName = title
trackInfo.artistName = artistName
trackInfo.isSelected = false
trackInfo.songURL = item.value(forProperty: MPMediaItemPropertyAssetURL) as? URL
album.songs?.append(trackInfo)
index += 1
}
}
}
// Finally add the album object to albums array
allAlbumItems?.append(album)
}
print("Total Album count: \(allAlbumItems?.count)")
}