Alfred or LaunchBar are great tools. Keyboard Maestro more
I have a problem and can’t find a solution: i want to pass one or more file(s) (or filename(s)) found by Alfred- or LaunchBar-Searches directly to a Keypass-Macro.
Example: i have a lot of log files for my clients. Every log file is placed in a client-specific folder. Every time i contact the client (Meeting, Phone), i jot down notes into the client-specific log files. The log files are simple textfiles.
What i want to do is to search for the file with LaunchBar by client-name and pass the file or filename to a Keyboard Maestro Macro, which opens the file in TextEdit and writes current date and time in the first line ending with two „Return“-keystrokes. After this i simply jot down my thoughts…
My Problem ist to get the filename given by LaunchBar in Keyboard Maestro. Is there a specific variable or a text token for this case? Or any suggestions for another way to do this?
Thanks a lot,
Michael.
I presume Alfred / LaunchBar can execute a script and pass the file name as a parameter.
Presuming this, write a script that reads its parameter, then sets a variable to the parameter’s result, and then executes a macro. This is most easily done with an AppleScript scpt, something like this:
#!/usr/bin/osascript
on run argv
set arg to item 1 of argv
tell app "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
make variable with properties {name:"Input Parameter", value:arg}
do script "Process Parameter"
end tell
end run
Cool! Thank you Peter. With a little help from http://www.obdev.at/resources/launchbar/help/RunningAppleScripts.html i created this:
on handle_string(theString)
tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
make variable with properties {name:"Input Parameter", value:theString}
do script "Process Parameter"
end tell
end handle_string
And it works! Thanks again!
Hi
Would you mind sharing the macro as I think it could be something I could use.
Thanks
—
\ Jimmy Hartington
Hi Jimmy,
of course... But there is no magic 
Hi again
Ok. Seems simple.
What are you workflow or steps when using Launchbar to pick up the file
and execute the applescript.
snapitup wrote:
(Also late to this thread, but the thread is current.)
Selecting a text file with LaunchBar and sending it to Keyboard Maestro in order to open it in a text editor and have text prepended seems inefficient (imho). Why not just open the file in your text editor and run a KM macro that prepends the text? Yes, this is two separate (but easy) user actions, but it is
- simple
- follows the standard process of executing KM macros from within applications, and
- allows you to insert your dividing text on open files (perhaps usable if you time-stamp your entries).
So:
- Search, find, and open file in associated program (LaunchBar, initiated by hot-key)
- Insert text (including blank lines) at top of text file and position insertion cursor for user input (KM, executed by trigger {and look into a typed-string trigger for this})