Confused using external triggers

[garyh]

Hi! I'm trying to wrap my head around external triggers from one workflow to another and I'm a little confused. I'm using the unit converting workflow from the gallery but I'm constantly converting between millimeters and inches. I wanted to make an `mm` trigger in my personal workflow file where I could just type `mm 123` and it would send `conv 123mm in` to the unit converting workflow. Is this possible with external triggers? or anything else? 😅

[FireFingers21]

@garyh In this case, you'd be better off using the Show Alfred utility. You can set its argument to conv {query}mm in to be received from your mm Keyword Input.

 

That said, this probably doesn't help you much with understanding External Triggers specifically. If you haven't already, definitely check out the documentation. You can also check out my WHOIS Lookup workflow for a sample use case, where I use an external trigger internally to rerun the main Script Filter for the effect of a loading screen. It's a little advanced, so feel free to drop any further questions if you have.

[garyh]

3 hours ago, FireFingers21 said:

@garyh In this case, you'd be better off using the Show Alfred utility. You can set its argument to conv {query}mm in to be received from your mm Keyword Input.

 

That said, this probably doesn't help you much with understanding External Triggers specifically. If you haven't already, definitely check out the documentation. You can also check out my WHOIS Lookup workflow for a sample use case, where I use an external trigger internally to rerun the main Script Filter for the effect of a loading screen. It's a little advanced, so feel free to drop any further questions if you have.

 

Thanks for the reply! I'll take a look at your workflow for some understanding - I actually use WHOIS lookups on occasion too

 

For the Show Alfred utility, I might be missing something. I have the following setup:

 

 

`inch` is sending input to the 'Show Alfred" action, but Alfred doesn't appear. It doesn't look like you can link the action to anything else. Here is the debug info:

 

[09:12:35.529] Unit Converter[Keyword] Processing complete
[09:12:35.530] Unit Converter[Keyword] Passing output '32' to Show Alfred
[09:12:35.542] Unit Converter[Script Filter] Queuing argument '32mm to inches'

 

[FireFingers21]

It looks like you might have adversely modified the behaviour of the workflow's Script Filter when playing around with external triggers. Try deleting the Unit Converter workflow and reinstalling it. I'd also recommend having your custom Keyword Input and Show Alfred utility in a separate workflow, otherwise they'll get deleted every time the main workflow gets an update.

[garyh]

Ah, I think I found the issue! Unit converter is one of those plugins that automatically updates as you type. My Show Alfred utility is passing it to the Script Filter, but then hitting return so it goes away. 

 

Ok, I'll hack together an alternative 😆 Thank you for the help!

[garyh]

Ah-ha! for those in the same situation, you can check the following option after clicking on the link between your input and "Show Alfred":