Another option is to use
echo -e "{query}\n" >> ~/Desktop/cap.txt
echo -e "{query}
The -e flag "enables interpretation of backslash escapes". The \n is a newline character, so just add one for each new line you want. Or, if you wanted to add a tab, it just add \t, which could work nicely when adding a timestamp:
echo -e "$(date +"%e %B %Y %H.%M")\t{query}\n" >> ~/Desktop/cap.txt
echo -e "{query}"
Alfred 2 and 3 both have environment variables for the data folder and cache folder, if you use these, they are cross compatible.
Once I've added a way to call a workflow trigger from within a workflow without needing AppleScript, this should future proof us against incompatibilities
I got same error as Br4ndon got. I'm not familiar with scripts (and English), but I tried to solve this problem.
In Evernote6, "HTML content" no longer contain "<body></body>" (I confirmed this by inserting "return this_html" just above the line containing this problem.). So I replaced "find text "<body.*?>(.*?)</body>" in this_html" with "find text "\".*?(.*?)\"" in this_html", and this change seems working well.
I managed to do it with this code in the script:
echo "$(date): {query}" >> ~/Desktop/notes.txt
echo "{query}"
Since I don't need the time, I am using this code instead, which simply display the date:
echo "$(date +"%B %d"): {query}" >> ~/Desktop/notes.txt
echo "{query}"
Still, without a proper line break - which I am not capable of creating, due to missing knowledge - the txt file is getting quite messy to read, so far.
This is a very long reply to the previous two comments, specially the last one, so keep that in mind.
Thank you for your comments. I’ll actually be releasing an update probably later today (it’s finished, I’ll just add some comments to the code) that changes the way the workflow operates. The thing you’ll notice most is that it’s way faster — as soon as you press return on the workflow, you can close the tab. There are also some interface changes, but I’ll explain everything in a later post.
I very much appreciate your suggestions, but there are reasons as to why I chose to make it work this way. It’ll never be ideal to everyone and tradeoffs have to be made all the time. The fact is Alfred workflows, as great as they are, have several limitations. For example (not applicable to this workflow, but to others I have made), if you want to make a file action that will then receive input, you have to resort to tricks like saving the files’ location, and then calling Alfred via applescript with some text written, that’ll allow you to continue the action. That’s hacky, but it’s also currently the best way to do it right now. Also, if you try to build a workflow, you’ll notice not every module connects to every other, and you can’t chain two of the same “level” together.
Regarding selected text as description, there are some immediate barriers I see. One is that since this is not a native app, I don’t have easy access to those kinds of OS‐features. I could maybe do that with applescript, which is a pain, by telling the browser to activate, and then asking the system to get the selected text. But the way this works, you do not need to have the browser as the frontmost window to add bookmarks, which is useful to the way I work (it’s a niche feature, granted), and by using applescript that could be hindred. Going back to the limitations in Alfred, there are ways it could be done by calling another option, but those are, again, hacky ways that could bring a worse experience to people (like me) who do not use descriptions. However, I’m already thinking of ways to add them at the same time as tags, maybe by enclosing them in certain characters (like {{}}).
Regarding tag auto‐completion, you’re correct, it could be very slow (delibar, if I recall correctly, gets tags from other users as well), but I do think it’s a useful feature, and I’ll look into it. My main issue with it is I’m not sure it can be done right now in Alfred, specially since I’m using bash, and not something that would possibly be more geared towards this, like php.
I also used Delibar (and still have a license for it), but I very much dislike bookmarklets, and extensions I cannot hide and still remain functional. I want my browser to look clean and non‐distracting at all times, and if a piece of software can’t do that, I usually shelve it. What that means is that I had the delibar app setup with the keyboard shortcut, but I needed the app so sparingly that I was constantly finding myself having to wait for it to open just to add a simple bookmark, which soon became boring, which is why I set out to do it another way. I spend so much time in Alfred, that this seemed like the right decision (and I still think it is).
Also bear in mind this workflow is a script that works on top of another app, it’s made and maintained by a single person, who is not a developer full‐time, in his spare time, among other workflows, to scratch a personal itch, whose source is given for free without any kind of strings attached, and is less than one month old. While delibar is, well, I don’t think I need to continue. My point is, when you mention that features are “just being added or not available”, please let it breathe, it barely even had time to exist, let alone improve.
When Martin says “way better to add bookmarks like this than with a bookmarklet, imo”, I take that as “to me, for the way I use and like to add bookmarks to pinboard, this is a better way, as it is more in line with the way I prefer to do it”, and that is what I feel. I use this to add bookmarks, and I see them (also via Alfred) by doing “!pb <something_to_search>“, as I have duckduckgo as my search engine.
Please understand that I’ve built this workflow primarily for myself, for my needs. That is not to say I’m not open to suggestion and contributions, I very much am, and you can even modify this to your liking in any way you want (see the license). However, every bit of polish I’ve added (and in total I’ve spent more time on this than on core functionality), has been for you, the other users. What this entails is that every time I want to make a change, I think both about what works best for me, and what can be added that will not break the experience of the people that already like it the way it works right now.
Pinboard is a very popular service amongst people that have skills to build apps to work with it, so it’s natural there are so many. If you see this as a workflow for people who like Pinboard, then it’s not for you, because this is a workflow for people who like Alfred.
I hope this clarifies why those features have not (yet?) been implemented. Some of them depend on Alfred adding specific features, others depend on my time/mood/interest, and still others depend on its overall goal. Bottom line is this workflow isn’t for everyone, nor does it want to be, it’s supposed to be a lightweight, fast workflow for people that sometimes add bookmarks, and need to do it fast, it’s not a tool for people who add every site they visit, or need every feature under the sun — not only is that not feasible with Alfred without some (possibly major) downsides, like compromising on speed, it’s also not the goal of the project, at least right now.
Moses got a reaction from hboon in Workflow to Capture Thoughts and Ideas to a Text File Without Disrupting Your Flow
Moses got a reaction from smarg19 in Skimmer: PDF actions for Skim
