Hello Everyone!
This is my first post here on the forums, but I hope it's my first of many. Anyway, after using the Alfred remote app for sometime, I've been impressed with the ease of use and the potential for remote control over my local network. However, it seems like the remote app only taps into just a fraction of Alfred's potential.
One feature that I believe would greatly expand the use of the remote app would be the ability to pass direct user input in the form of text or file selection from iOS to a remote trigger for an Alfred workflow on the host machine. Namely, executing a remote trigger in iOS could allow for a prompt on iOS, allowing for user input to be passed back as the argument in the corresponding remote trigger on the host. The two types of input that the user should be able to pass would be simple text strings, and files. In the case of files, when setting up the remote trigger, the user should be able to specify a default folder which opens up in the same prompt window on the iOS application. On iOS, the default folder displays, and user can then navigate the file system to select a file (or several). The selected file can then be passed as an argument to the workflow triggered by the remote trigger.
I believe that the utility of the text commands are obvious, but for files, this would allow one to que up media files to be opened in the user's application of choice. Streaming applications would be particularly desirable to write workflows for, as an application like Parrot or Beamer would allow the user to fetch media files from a NAS box to be cast onto the user's Chromecast/Apple TV - all done with the user on the couch, and the NAS box and host machine in different rooms. Allowing the user to explore the host file system and specify files for input would be essential.
This could transform the remote app from a bit of a novelty into a invaluable tool for expanding the control one has while attached to their local network. There are other tools out there for doing these kinds of things, but the ease of use of Alfred's remote interface would could lend in making the remote app the single most intuitive and powerful solution around.
Let me know what you guys think.
EDIT: If having the ability to view the contents of the file system from the remote app would pose any security risks, perhaps password/Touch ID could be available as a security feature. The host would refuse to pass the file system/directory contents until some predesignated authentication token was passed from the iOS client.
