Searching for keywords with a workflow is insane

[nikivi]

Even though I never open my workflows from keywords and even went as far as stripping keyword triggers to make for a `cleaner` Alfred prompt which I now solve by passing my external triggers though JSON config object to strip title and subtext (I wish other people did this + added external triggers to their workflows), thanks to @Andrew. This might change today.

 

Because I recently found this workflow and my god it is amazing. 

 

I can actually see the real value of keywords and subtexts and can see why people like @deanishe opt int to fully use Keywords and manage workflows though that. This approach of calling workflows is so much better than default Alfred's where you have to try and remember a Keyword which is very often abbreviated for faster access. In this workflow you just type what you want to use and press enter and that's it. 0 mental overhead and is nearly as fast as my external trigger everything method.

 

So yeah, I just wanted to throw this workflow out there because I don't think 6 ? gives this workflow any justice. It is really impressive.

 

p.s. I actually want to make a similar CLI tool and do the same but for aliases and commands. Essentially I want to annotate all commands / aliases / zsh functions on my system and fuzzy search through all of it with fzf. Just need to learn a little bit more of Go. 

Edited November 27, 2017 by nikivi

[Andrew]

@nikivi this is a concept I've been toying with internally for quite some time and I agree, it's extremely useful. It's very likely something similar to this will find its way into Alfred's core in the future!

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[nikivi]

Thank you a lot @Andrew if you do add a native fuzzy search for keywords and placeholders. It would replace Alfred normal prompt all together for me.

 

The two issue I have with the above workflow is that I wish it would immediately activate keyword triggers without going to alfred prompt with the keyword trigger so you have to press enter again (in cases where no argument is expected). 

 

And I also wish it updated things instantly, as soon as I add a new keyword trigger anywhere in my Alfred library. Also there is a certain sluggish feel when searching through the list of triggers, perhaps due it emitting XML output or me having many triggers. A native solution solving all this, would be phenomenal. 

Edited November 28, 2017 by nikivi

[nikivi]

Also there is the issue of it not actually showing the actual workflow I want to use. Say I searched for a workflow that has 'time' as its keyword trigger: 

 

On activate it expands it as: 

 

 

Where is I want it to only show the output of the script, not what results are there when I type 'time' into default Alfred prompt. I think a native solution can solve this problem too. I am super excited for this feature. ?

[deanishe]

4 hours ago, nikivi said:

I wish it would immediately activate keyword triggers without going to alfred prompt with the keyword trigger so you have to press enter again

 

3 hours ago, nikivi said:

Where is I want it to only show the output of the script

 

So you want it to both automatically run workflows and not automatically run them at the same time?

 

[nikivi]

If the workflow needs an argument to run, provide me the choice to write the argument. If the workflow is a trigger to do something like 'safass' in your Safari Assistant workflow. Activate it straight away so I don't have to action on it again.

[deanishe]

Right, I get what you mean now.

 

FWIW, the main reason I prefer keywords to External Triggers or Hotkeys is that every other way of running Alfred puts it in funky External Trigger mode, where the history doesn't work.

 

I like the history. I use it a lot. It's why I still write Script Filters that parse a delimited query (which is more difficult to implement) instead of "drilling down" with External Triggers.

 

Edited November 29, 2017 by deanishe

[dfay]

see also

 

 

[piggah]

How do you install a workflow like this? With just .py files?

[deanishe]

9 hours ago, piggah said:

How do you install a workflow like this? With just .py files?

 

Which workflow do you mean?

 

If you mean this one, download the complete workflow from releases.

[nikivi]

On 11/29/2017 at 10:59 PM, deanishe said:

I like the history. I use it a lot.

 

Can you share what makes history great for you? I can't really get its usefulness. Since I call so many workflows and triggers all the time, up arrowing through different workflows I called seems useless for me. Especially since I use my external triggers and now also keywords (I always know what will be called and how I can call it).

 

Edited December 6, 2017 by nikivi