Frustration Getting Started with Workflow

[levelbest]

OK, I have been a Alfred user from day one. But I have never understood workflows. I just upgraded to V3 and I am again wondering why it is so darned hard to figure out? I need someone to explain how it works. Not how the coding works, not how great workflows are as we all know this by now. I am a highly kinesthetic learner. That means, I need to observe something happening, or at least have someone explain what I am supposed to be doing before the workflow engages. And, what is supposed to happen after the workflow has finished. Nowhere do I see any of this explained.

 

For example, I look at the workflow section in Alfred’s preferences, OK. I look at the bottom left and see there are step process parts that I can add - if I had any idea where they go because I have no clue how to actually use a workflow. When I look at the example workflows, no matter how I click, where I click, does it make any sense how this example workflow got triggered.

 

That is to say, when I trigger Alfred, and then I type “ama” and hit tab it has filled in “amazon”. So then I type in what I am searching for on Amazon. This is the same for many things of course. But it does not explain to my brain how this is triggering a workflow. Does the amazon search, or the google search, etc. represent an example of a web search, or an example of a workflow?

 

I have been reviewing and researching cameras, looking for my next camera. So I would love to create a workflow that would open a browser with searching for a camera part on amazon, dpreview, and a couple of other sites that I like. But how do I get started doing this? Where is there an example of taking what is typed, say, “camera & tab” and then selecting 3 or 4 sites to open set to search on what I will type next? Is this a fancy web search that I need to create and to expand? Or, is there a workflow that I have no clue how to get started with.

 

I am less worried about how the workflow parts will fit together in the workflow process - although I am sure there will be questions there later. It’s just that I cannot grasp how these things are getting triggered so I cannot even get started. I cannot understand what is really happening with a workflow. If you look at the workflow examples in Alfred, it does not have a description of what the workflow is supposed to do, it is simply assumed that if you are looking at a workflow example, you must already understand what a workflow is, how it works, or how it is triggered. I beg to differ.

 

I put off this last upgrade for quite some time as I had a powerpack license from day one, but all Alfred was to me was a useful spotlight replacement for searching locally.

 

I sure wish someone could make things simple enough for me so that I could start understanding and playing with workflows too?

Thanks

 

Edited February 21, 2017 by levelbest

[deanishe]

4 hours ago, levelbest said:

Does the amazon search, or the google search, etc. represent an example of a web search, or an example of a workflow?

 

Could be either. Did you add the demo Amazon Suggest workflow?

 

4 hours ago, levelbest said:

So I would love to create a workflow that would open a browser with searching for a camera part on amazon, dpreview, and a couple of other sites that I like. But how do I get started doing this? Where is there an example of taking what is typed, say, “camera & tab” and then selecting 3 or 4 sites to open set to search on what I will type next? Is this a fancy web search that I need to create and to expand? Or, is there a workflow that I have no clue how to get started with.

 

Have you looked at the example workflows included with Alfred? Add them in Alfred Preferences > Workflows > + > Examples.

 

TBH, your particular idea (select multiple sites, get input, search) is not simple to do. Alfred currently only lets you select multiple files, so multiple anything-else requires some non-straightforward coding. If you can accept not selecting the sites to search on each run, it is very easy to do. The "Should I watch this movie?" example workflow does exactly this but for movies.

 

4 hours ago, levelbest said:

It’s just that I cannot grasp how these things are getting triggered so I cannot even get started

 

You assign keywords, which you search by typing into Alfred (they're default types). With a Web Search there's a Keyword column. With workflows, you add one or more elements from the Inputs menu that support keywords, the most obvious one being the Keyword element.

 

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly where you're getting hung up. You've figured out how the workflow editor works, right? Right-click to add/edit stuff, hover and drag lines from the nubs to connect elements. Control flows left to right.

[vitor]

54 minutes ago, deanishe said:

I'm having a hard time understanding exactly where you're getting hung up.

 

Same here. I do understand you’re frustrated, but I’m unsure how to help.

 

Is there any (relatively simple) workflow you can (semi-)successfully use but still have doubts how it works? Maybe from there it’d be easier to explain and make everything click into place.