Using Alfred to Trigger Keyboard Maestro Macros

_jims · March 10, 2024, 4:48am

Example 1

In this post Note Picker will be the example macro; it can run in two modes:

a value is not supplied via the %TriggerValue%, or
a value of f/ folder_substring or t/ title_subscring is supplied via the %TriggerValue%.

See Note Picker for more information regarding the two modes.

Using the Alfred Workflow that is detailed below, Note Picker can be triggered four different ways:

Method A

Method B

Method C

Method D

With Method A (user types: np<return>), Note Picker is run exactly as if it was triggered using the hot key configured in Keyboard Maestro.

Method B (user types: np log<return>) and D (user types: np t.log<return>) are interchangeable. In these cases Note Picker is triggered and the macro receives t/ log via the %TriggerValue%.

With Method C (user types: np f.mac<return>), Note Picker is triggered and the macro receives f/ mac via %TriggerValue%.

Here's the Alfred Workflow:

The Input>Keyword is configured as follows:

Keyword: np

Title: np: KM Note Picker +'{query}'

Subtext: ⒪ title substring; f.folder substring; t.title substring

Aside: By convention, when I configure the Subtext for Input>Keywords, I use an ⒪ prefix to indicate that an argument is optional. In this case, that means that a user can launch Alfred and simply type np<return> (that is, like with Method A).

The left Actions>Run Script block is as follows:

shell script ( expand / collapse )

# Build the %TriggerValue% for the macro

query=$1

# If nothing passed, then echo null
if [ -z "$query" ]
then
	echo -n

# If f.some text is passed, then echo f/ some text
elif [[ "$query" =~ ^f\.* ]]
then
	echo -n f/ ${query:2}

# If t.some text is passed, then echo f/ some text
elif [[ "$query" =~ ^t\.* ]]
then
	echo -n t/ ${query:2}

# Otherwise, assume it a title and echo some text
else
	echo -n t/ ${query}

fi

The right Actions>Run Script block is as follows: