How to open a macro to edit by name (using some script)

[nikivi]

I use this workflow GitHub - iansinnott/alfred-maestro: An Alfred workflow to execute Keyboard Maestro macros.

that looks like this:

On return it executes the macro.

I want to edit it so on cmd+return it will open the macro to edit in KM itself.

But how do I open the macro to edit by name? Is there AppleScript/JXA to do it?

[Airy]

@nikivi

But how do I open the macro to edit by name? Is there AppleScript/JXA to do it?

Doesn't CTRL-CMD-M do what you want? Maybe you already know that, and you simply want a single interface for both ideas.

[nikivi]

@Airy

you simply want a single interface for both ideas.

yea want this

[Airy]

I see. I didn't realize you knew about the second feature (CTRL-CMD-M) and wanted both features "merged." Not a bad idea. I guess you could ask @peternlewis. I don't see any downside to your idea.

[peternlewis]

In Keyboard Maestro, “option” means edit.

So option-return will edit the macro.

If you want to make command-return edit the macro, you are out of luck I'm afraid, as command-return does not execute the macro or do anything else. If it executed the macro, then the macro itself could detect the command modifier and edit itself, but it doesn't.

[nikivi]

You misunderstand, this is list from https://www.alfredapp.com

When I press some command here, I will get the name of the macro or its macro UUID. I want to then open this macro to edit from KM pragmatically (from code).

[tiffle]

@nikivi

You misunderstand, this is list from https://www.alfredapp.com

In that case you'll need to modify the Alfred workflow.

In KM you can use the Trigger Macro by Name action to show a similar list and then follow the advice given by @peternlewis without ever going near Alfred.

[nikivi]

@tiffle

In that case you'll need to modify the Alfred workflow.

Yes, but part I don't get is how can I from terminal, open a macro in KM app. Or can I?

[tiffle]

@nikivi

from terminal

You've lost me now: I thought you were using Alfred not term.

[nikivi]

Way Alfred works, it executes a CLI in terminal, that CLI returns a JSON with data + commands you can run on each of the data items.

Script Filter Input - Alfred Help and Support

So when I press on one of the items, I then need to run some CLI command or applescript or something that will open this macro in Keyboard Maestro.

[tiffle]

You can do this using AppleScript as follows:

tell application "Keyboard Maestro"
	editMacro "2E732D2B-060E-4ACE-BB10-2F008A7854A3"
	---	editMacro "__Test Template"
end tell

You can specify the macro's UUID or its name.

[evanfuchs]

@nikivi

I want to edit it so on cmd+return it will open the macro to edit in KM itself.

Unless I am misunderstanding, this workflow already does that:

Usage

Type km followed by the name of any of your defined macros. Use ⌘ modifier to reveal the macro in Keyboard Maestro.

[nikivi]

OMG that's true, never noticed.

Thank you @tiffle for applescript

[peternlewis]

@nikivi

Yes, but part I don't get is how can I from terminal, open a macro in KM app. Or can I?

You can use AppleScript (as shown above), or you can use the keyboardmaestro CLI tool.

[Airy]

You can even combine the two, and use AppleScript from the OSX command line, as explained here:

Call KBM Macro from the Shell with `osascript`?

Hey @gmark, I expect the easiest way is to use the Keyboard Maestro URL-scheme. #!/usr/bin/env bash open kmtrigger://macro=AFB1EE80-3A76-4E58-A0E8-4C742CBC5C5F The last parameter is the UUID of the macro. If/when you run AppleScript from Bash I recommend making it readable. One-liners may seem streamlined, but when you have to maintain them they can be very hard to read. #!/usr/bin/env bash read -r -d '' asCmdStr <<'EOF' tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine" do script "AFB…

I didn't see this mentioned in the thread above, so I've decided to add this here.