DRY (do-not-repeat-yourself) Applescript possible?

[James Hobson]

Hi all

Is it possible to link applescript modules together so their variables pass from one to another?

For example in the attached image - the central script module sets-up some variables which are then dealt with differently in the end-of-chain script modules.

I've tried using {var:varname} to pass-through but it's not working...

Is this actually possible?

Here's an example workflow: https://www.dropbox.com/s/j52zibfpui9z0p7/multi-ascript.zip?dl=0

Cheers

James

[deanishe]

Hi there,

 

I've moved this to the proper forum. The Discussion & Help forum is for general Alfred usage. This forum is the right place for questions related to creating workflow.

 

You should start by reading the stickied post on workflow variables. I'm afraid they don't work that way. There are no {var:...} expansions in Run Script elements. You have to use environment variables, e.g. set myVar to (system attribute "MY_VARIABLE")

 

Your workflow also doesn't actually set any variables. Your central Run Script element (the one selected in your screenshot) is never run. It isn't connected to any kind of trigger or keyword. In order to set variables, you also have to return JSON or XML to Alfred, which isn't super easy in AppleScript. Perhaps better to combine the script with an Args and Vars utility to set the variable from {query}, so you can simply return the variable value from your AppleScript instead of trying to generate XML/JSON.

Edited March 31, 2017 by deanishe

[James Hobson]

@deanishe

Cheers for the reply, sorry I posted in the wrong forum.

 

I think I'll go with your suggestion and use a query argument - sounds a lot simpler!

 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Edited April 1, 2017 by James Hobson

[deanishe]

What are you building?

 

Also, you can get away with creating your own JSON/XML in AppleScript easily enough as long as your variables are simple.

Edited April 1, 2017 by deanishe

[James Hobson]

@deanishe

It's for a small utility I've written to open a group of websites in one hit. I wanted to separate the AS vars (URLs) from the unique logic for each browser. A little lame (but useful).

 

I'll take a look into using JSON when I have some spare time.

 

Cheers

[deanishe]

Unless you need to open the URLs in a specific way, you don't need to use AppleScript to talk to different browsers. You can just use the open command with a URL:

# open in default browser
open https://www.google.com

# open in Safari
open -a Safari https://www.google.com

# open in Chrome
open -a "Google Chrome" https://www.google.com

If that would work for you, then you wouldn't need to use the crazy language that is AppleScript.

 

Opening a fixed series of URLs can be as simple as this.

Edited April 3, 2017 by deanishe
I meant that other crazy language

[James Hobson]

@deanishe

 

Yeah - what I want is to open certain sites on set days of week or month. Then I can run the action daily and keep track of sites I read etc..

The `copy` command was a fluke find. Works well for this.

This is how I've done it:

set thisDay to weekday of (current date) as string
set thisDate to day of (current date)

set sites to {}


-- Monday
--
if thisDay is "Monday" then
  
  copy "https://throttlehq.com/home" to the end of sites

end if


-- Tuesday
--
if thisDay is "Tuesday" then
  
  copy "http://twodollartues.com" to the end of sites
  
end if



-- 1st of each month
--
if thisDate is 1 then

  copy "http://macappdeals.com" to the end of sites

end if


-- Everyday
--
copy "http://macupdate.com" to the end of sites



tell application "Firefox"
  
  activate
  
  repeat with site in sites
    
    do shell script "/usr/bin/open -a Firefox.app " & site
    
  end repeat
  
end tell

 

[deanishe]

Got you. One observation: your do shell script line is technically incorrect. It should be do shell script "/usr/bin/open -a Firefox.app " & (quoted form of site)

 

Because you're passing the URL to a shell, if it contains any characters with special meaning in a shell ("&" is a common one in URLs), you need to quote the URL or the shell will misinterpret it.

 

As a rule, any variable you pass to do shell script should use (quoted form of theVariable), as it's liable to die in flames otherwise.

[James Hobson]

@deanishe

Ah, OK gotcha. Cheers for that!