FEATURE REQUEST - A Request for new Tokens and Textfield options & an Action Enhancement Request etc

Questions & Suggestions
1

Hello Peter (@peternlewis):wave:

First of all many thanks for implementing the Features in Version 11 I requested for.

Even though I slightly messed up by non calculating stuff for the functions I wanted to see. :joy:

Here is a new one.

TOKENS

  • A %RandomActionID% Token to help tracking created Actions.

  • A %LastSelectedActionID% To make it easier reselecting the Last Selected Action after Grouping, Degrouping or Renaming.

  • A %RandomNamedClipboardUUID% Token to Help with Named Cliboards on getting their UUID when creating them using AppleScript or JXA.

  • A %NameForNamedClipboardUUID% Token to get the Name of a Named Cilpboard when providing the UUID.

  • A %ProcessorName% Token to get Information of the Macs Processor.

TEXTFIELDS

  • A Textfield option for Macro and Macro Group Names instead of UUID only based Acrtions and Conditions to make it easier working with macros when they have the same Name but are in different Groups.

A benefit of this Textfield would be that we can check for Macros by UUID Or Name the Hardcoded way in conditions and have them not in a non working state when dedicated Macros are not in installed or the connections aren’t made or broken.

ACTION ENHANCEMENT

  • An Enhancement of the Execute an AppleScript Action to allow for having Focus for Windows and Dialogs created with Applles Cocoa Frameworks.

  • An Enhancement to allow Parameters for AppleScripts.

NEW ACTIONS

  • A new Action to edit Scripts and Files by their Standard Application with options for Application by Name or BundleID and a defined Path to the Application.

  • New Actions to Manipulate the Look of Finder Windows.

That’s for this Request… I know it is a long list but I think I’ve made a good catch on things that could be useful to everyone who‘s using this beautiful and powerful Application.

Many thanks :pray: again for all the work you put into the Development of Keyboard Maestro.

EDIT:

Based on this discussion with Dan I would like to add another token to the list above:

  • %LastExecutedActionNameByActionID% to deliver the name of an Action by just using the particular ActionID.

Greetings from Germany :de: to Australia :australia:

Tobias

2

This seems unlikely to be implemented.

This would be in the Keyboard Maestro editor, and since there can be more than one window, its meaning would be ambiguous.

You can do stuff like this in AppleScript:

tell application "Keyboard Maestro"
	set s to selection
	set t to action id "16054993" of action id "16054992" of macro id "11111222-3333" of macro group id "4444-55556"
	set selection to t
end tell

This seems unlikely to be implemented.

Noted.

I'm not sure what name I would use for this or what information is available. Without a compelling use case I can't see implementing it.

This is quite difficult to implement since the UI changes significantly, and there needs to be ways to switch back and forth between the two in the UI, so that adds a lot of complexity.

I don't know what this means.

AppleScripts can access variables, including local and instance variables, so pretty much they can already get parameters that way. I'm not sure how other paramaters would be referenced from within the AppleScript.

I don't know what this means.

This is unlikely to be implemented, since the only way to do it would be via AppleScript, and it would be subject to the Finder changes breaking the AppleScript so it is better done as AppleScript with the consequences of changes to the Finder being on the user and the AppleScript (which can easily be changed) rather than Keyboard Maestro (which would require an update).

Noted - although I don't know what the LastExecuted has to do with the token.

1 Like
3

Hello Peter :wave:

Thanks for pointing me on this one - even though I already have something like this in my AppleScript Snippets Collection… but that’s not the case … to write something like this you have to know the particular ActionID (and probably the Parent one‘s if it’s nested).

My request is for an easier way to get the ActionID - store it and return it as the selected action for everything engrouping, degrouping or renaming related task.

I understand but it would be a nice thing to have since it gives us possibilities to define Macros without actually knowing their UUID‘s and have much less broken Action Links if a Particular Macro isn’t installed. One thing I also would like to have this feature for is to have the ability to use this as a condition. And let the Macro act on that.

I think there would be far more benefits but I am not abele to write them down actually since I don’t have much time.

I was speaking of the fact that ASObjC based Dialogs have to run on the Main thread and we actually have to use Scripting to call any Scriptfile that has such a Dialog via FastScripts or the Systems Script Menu. It would be quite nice if we could just define the necessary code or the Path of the script in the Action and have it run on the Main Thread without the extra code required.

Hmm … I understand…. I’ll maybe plan to develop plugins then.

I decided it because its relation to Dan‘s Request I’ve linked earlier to and to make it clear that it should give us the name of the last executed Action.

And as I now understand your confusion - maybe a ActionNameForActionID Token could provide any Action‘s Name by providing the ID of it. This would require to add one more token for you and far less confusion to all the users.

Greetings from Germany :de:

Tobias