Workflow Feedback Icons as HTTP URLs

[Ahti333]

Right now, workflow feedback can only point to icons that are accessible via the local file system.

 

It would be very nice if workflows could put icons from HTTP URLs into feedback without downloading them (synchronously) themselves.

 

So, for example, a workflow that searches for movies via some API could pass cover URLs that the API returns with the search results as feedback icons and display those.

 

The advantage of Alfred downloading the icons instead of the workflow is that:

1) Alfred can download the icons asynchronously, so the user can action an item even before the icon is loaded. The UI keeps responsive, which is very important

2) Alfred knows more about what icons are currently visible, and which are not, so Alfred could only load the visible icons to save bandwidth, and load others as the user scrolls

[jdfwarrior]

Right now, workflow feedback can only point to icons that are accessible via the local file system.

 

It would be very nice if workflows could put icons from HTTP URLs into feedback without downloading them (synchronously) themselves.

 

So, for example, a workflow that searches for movies via some API could pass cover URLs that the API returns with the search results as feedback icons and display those.

 

The advantage of Alfred downloading the icons instead of the workflow is that:

1) Alfred can download the icons asynchronously, so the user can action an item even before the icon is loaded. The UI keeps responsive, which is very important

2) Alfred knows more about what icons are currently visible, and which are not, so Alfred could only load the visible icons to save bandwidth, and load others as the user scrolls

 

This has been requested numerous times and we have added a note to take a look at this option for a future release.