in progress Bypass

[sylumer]

Say if you’re the author or submitting someone else’s workflow.

I am the author of the workflow.

 

Share a link to its thread on the Alfred Forum.

Not aware of any thread.

 

Share a link to its main page (e.g. GitHub).

https://www.thoughtasylum.com/alfred/alfred_bypass_for_shortcuts/

 

If it has dependencies, say what those are unless they are explicit in the About or README.

This workflow is for controlling the Shortcuts app, so that app is technically a dependency, but that probably comes down more to an OS dependency (Monterey+).

 

Provide screenshots, unless valid ones are in the About or README.

 

How to use it

The readme directs users to refer to the download page where the workflow is fully documented. It allows you to run, run delayed, edit, copy information (various formats), copy run code (URL, AppleScript, shell script, PopClip install snippet), and even a few thinsg to help with working with Shortcuts and an Elgato Stream Deck. It has 25 keywork triggers, 2 universal actions, 20 snippets, and 20 external calls - hence it having its own page of cross-referenced documentation rather than a simple readme.

 

From the readme:

Bypass is an Alfred workflow for working with Apple's Shortcuts app. Its primary purpose is to allow you to launch your Shortcuts workflows (known as shortcuts) from Alfred, potentially even passing in content to be processed. It also supports a number of other functions to help you work with and trigger shortcuts. Bypass contains a number of keyword, external trigger, snippet and universal action triggers to enable this functionality.

---

Documentation:
https://thoughtasylum.com/alfred/alfred_bypass_for_shortcuts/

 

[vitor]

Marking as in progress too while waiting for screenshot.

[vitor]

This one is also using Workflow Environment Variable instead of User Configuration.

[sylumer]

 

I have responded on the other topic with regards to user configuration in a general sense.  The environment variables in this one, one (AutoExtractIcon) has the same setup and inbuilt management (keyword "scsdauto" to toggle it). The other refers to the name of a shortcut users can download to use with the workflow. Since users could technically rename the shortcut, I figured it would be nice not to hard code it so that if someone *really* wanted to, they could rename it. I can see that one has potential as a user configuration option, but it isn't exactly something I'd want to stick in front of someone when they first install the workflow. It isn't something I'd see the average user tinkering with and I feel there's more potential there for people to mess with it and break things ... but I'm certainly open to other views on that one.

[vitor]

Same as the others, the screenshot is missing the shadow. Perhaps you have disabled it?

 

As for the Workflow Environment Variables, from your explanation that is exactly why they should be User Configuration. To the average user, a checkbox is significantly more understandable than manually changing a 0 / 1 value (and for you it means no need for error checking on bad or missing values). And for the extra Shortcut, you can explain it right there, in context.

[sylumer]

On 10/25/2022 at 9:39 PM, vitor said:

As for the Workflow Environment Variables, from your explanation that is exactly why they should be User Configuration

 

My point is not to make it too easy to break or misconfigure. This is an example where in user configuration, if there was an "Advanced" section, it would be under there - things you shouldn't need to tinker with, but if you know exactly what you are doing, you can. As it is, with user configuration, everything is presented nicely and encourages users to change things. My pre-user configuration solution was to build the "basic" settings in as things that the workflow itsefl could set and change, and the "advanced" settings could only be changed by going into the environment variables and manually setting them.

 

I try to provide a good level of suport for folks using the workflows I've created, and from many years in IT development and support roles I know that having options available is really useful, but if things are handed to people openly, there are some who will change things and swear blind they never touched anything and you spend a lot of time tracking those down as through lying or honest forgetfulness, the end user leads you on a circuitous route to tracking down the underlying issue.

[vitor]

10 minutes ago, sylumer said:

there are some who will change things and swear blind they never touched anything

 

Which Configuration also helps with, in multiple ways:

• You can ask users to Workflow Configuration… → Reset to Defaults.
• You can ask them to open the workflow’s folder and delete the prefs.plist (same result as above).
• You can have a diagnostics command (see Google Drive and 1Password workflows) which prints the true information. In the configuration section, simply: [[ -f 'prefs.plist' ]] && /usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c 'Print' prefs.plist || echo 'Default'.
  

I like the third one for complex workflows where you need other information, but the first one is dead simple. And it’s more reliable than hoping the user hasn’t changed or deleted the Workflow Environment Variable or introduced a new one. Making a variable hard to set is no guarantee the user won’t do it, but it is more likely that they will forget about it if they did and won’t know how to set it back, let alone what the original value was. On the other hand, having a simple way to restore to defaults (first option) is something users typically will do.

[sylumer]

Workflow updated to use user configuration rather than environment variables.

 

Screenshot utilising Alfred default theme.

Slightly revised readme.

 

Bypass is an Alfred workflow for working with Apple's Shortcuts app. Its primary purpose is to allow you to launch your Shortcuts workflows (known as shortcuts) from Alfred, potentially even passing in content to be processed. It also supports a number of other functions to help you work with and trigger shortcuts. Bypass contains a number of keyword, external trigger, snippet and universal action triggers to enable this functionality.

## Documentation
- https://thoughtasylum.com/alfred/alfred_bypass_for_shortcuts/

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by sylumer