I'm attempting to get some data from an app called "Timing", which is local to my computer, and post it to a URL to notify a webhook, from which some process automation will occur.
According to the Applescript integration with Timing,
There is a time summary object that's returned from a command which I've successfully executed. When displayed as an alert, that data looks like this:
Can't get |times per project| of {id:5C6CD8C8-357F-4EE7-890C-5946DC03BBB9", overall total:1.18092493622303E+4, times per project:{Maintenance:81.091759443283, Youtube:4820.38001298904, |self improvement effors|:876.930474758148, Homework:2383.20326805115, |(no project)|:3647.64384698868}, overall total without tasks:1.18092493622303E+4, productivity score:0.388005592511, times per project without tasks:{Maintenance:81.091759443283, Youtube:4820.38001298904, |self improvement efforts|:876.930474758148, Homework:2383.20326805115, |(no project)|:3647.64384698868}, class:time summary}.
As you can see, (above), there is a property called productivity score, which is two words.
When attempting to get this datapoint from the object (which I will use to notify the webhook:)
set newnewVar to productivity score of newvar
display alert newvar
Obviously this wont work, because the variable name is two words. I've tried surrounding the name in quotes and surround it with other characters, but nothing seems to work, and the documentation for getting specific properties only has examples with variables with one word.
What's the solution to this problem?
In AppleScript, user-defined variables cannot generally have spaces. Typically they start with a letter or underscore, and then can contain only letters, numbers, or underscores. A user-defined variable can only contain spaces if it is contained within vertical pipes. So all of the following are valid variable forms: alphaUnit, slideRow3, _tempItem, |my variable|, left_hand_vector
However, any application or script that creates and uses a scripting definition can create commands and classes and properties that have multi-word names. For instance, if you look at the System Events app, you'll see that the Disk-Folder-File Suite has a class named disk item with properties like creation date. The reason this works is that these multi-word names are actually represented by a numeric (four-char) code: disk item is actually 'ditm' and creation date is 'ascd'. You often see these codes pop up in error strings like so:
"cannot make class ≪ditm≫ into..."
Make sure you have the scope right to invoke the dictionary — i.e. be within a tell block for the app or script that invokes the scripting dictionary — and the multi-word names should 'just work'. After compiling, you'll see them highlighted in a purple color that's just a bit different from the red of uncompiled text. You do not need to enclose dictionary terms in vertical pipes; if you do, they will be treated as user-defined variables and lose their special scripting purposes.
Related
I have several processes with almost same flow like "Get some parameters, extract data from database according to them and upload them to target". The parameters vary slightly across processes as well as targets but only a bit. Most of the process is the same. I would like to extract those differences to parameter-context and dynamically load them. My idea is to have parameters defined following way and then using them.
So core of question is:
How to dynamically choose which parameter group load and use?
Having several parameter contexts with same-named/different-valued parameters and dynamically switching them would be probably the best, but it is not possible as far as I know.
Also duplicating flows is out-of-the-table. Any error correction would be spread out over several places and maintenance would be a nightmare.
Moreover, I know I can do it like "In GenetrateFlowFile for process A set value1=#{A_value1} and in GenetrateFlowFile for process B set value1=#{B_value1}. But this is tedious, error-prone and scales kinda bad. Not speaking of situation when I can have dozens of parameters and several processes. Also it is a kind of hardcoding, not configuring...
I was hoping for something like defining group=A and then using it like value1=#{ ${ group:append('_value1') } } but this does not work - it is evaluated as parameter literally named ${ group:append('_value1') }.
TL;DR: Use evaluateELString().
The actual solution is to set in GenetrateFlowFile processor group=A and in next UpdateAttribute processor set the following:
value1=${ group:prepend('hash{ '):append('_value1 }'):replace('hash', '#'):evaluateELString() }
The magic being done here is "Take value of group slap around it #{ and _value1 } to make it valid NiFi Expression Language statement and then evaluate it." (Notice - the word hash and function replace is there since I didn´t manage to escape the # char right before {.)
If you would like to have your value1 at the beginning of the statement then you can use following code. The result is same, it is easier to use (often-changed value value1 is at the beginning of the statement) and is less readable "what is really going on?"-wise.
value1=${ literal('value1'):prepend('_'):prepend(${ group }):prepend('hash{ '):append(' }'):replace('hash', '#'):evaluateELString() }
I'm trying to get Word to fill in cells in a table. The script works when run as a macro from within Word, but fails when saved as a .vbs file and double-clicked, or run with wscript. This is a part of it.
set obj = GetObject(,"Word.Application)
With obj
With .Selection
MsgBox .text
If (.Information(wdWithInTable) = True) Then
.Collapse Direction:=wdCollapseStart
tCols = .Tables(1).Columns.Count
tRow = .Information(wdStartOfRangeRowNumber)
tCol = .Information(wdStartOfRangeColumnNumber)
For I = 2 To 5
.Tables(1).Cell(tRow, I).Range.Text = "fred" & Str(I)
Next
` now make new row
For I = 1 To tCols - tCol + 1
.MoveRight unit:=wdCell
Next
End If
End With
End With
I have three problems. First, it won't compile unless I comment out the .Collapse and .MoveRight lines. Second, although the MsgBox .text displays the selected text, I get "out of range" errors if I try to access any .Information property.
I'm sure I'm missing something very simple: I usually write software for Macs, and I'd do this using AppleScript. This is my first attempt at getting anything done under Windows.
VBScript and VBA are different languages.
They are a bit similar, but not very. Moreover, VBScript is not like AppleScript; it doesn't let you easily interface with running programs.
The interfaces you'll get from VBScript can behave subtly differently in VBA and VBScript. However, I think you've got two problems here:
:= is invalid syntax in VBScript; you'll need to find an alternative way of calling the function. Try just using positional arguments.
You've no guarantee that this will open the expected file; there could be another instance of Word that it's interacting with instead.
Since your code is not running within the Word environment it would require a reference to the Word object library in order to use enumeration constants (those things that start with wd).
VBScript, however, cannot work with references, which means the only possibility is to use the long value equivalents of the enumerations. You'll find these in the Word Language References. Simplest to use is probably the Object Browser in Word's VBA Editor. (In Word: Alt+F11 to open the VBA Editor; F2 to start the Object Browser; type in the term in the "Search" box, click on the term, then look in the bottom bar.)
The code in the question uses, for example:
wdWithInTable
wdCollapseStart
wdStartOfRangeRowNumber
wdStartOfRangeColumnNumber
wdCell
The reason you get various kinds of errors depends on where these are used.
Also, VBScript can't used named parameters such as Unit:=. Any parameters must be passed in comma-delimited format, if there's more than one, in the order specified by the method or property. If there are optional parameters you don't want to use these should be left "blank":
MethodName parameter, parameter, , , parameter
Is there a way to retrieve result of an Automator app script in an external Applescript app (not the Applescript lines in Automator)?
Something like:
tell application "My_Automator_App"
-- suppose My_Automator_App checks the Calendar to see if there some events today
-- "Show Result" in Automator will display a list
get the_Result -- list returned by Automator
end tell
I looked into this a little bit and didn't find a natural means by which AppleScript and Automator applets can communicate, although this doesn't mean one definitely doesn't exist.
In the meantime, you could implement one of a couple of workarounds/hacks that, although a little unseemly in their methods, do achieve the desired result without creating any side issues that would affect the functionality of an applet itself.
1. Use The Clipboard
Append a Copy to Clipboard action at the end of the applet's workflow, or following the action whose result you would wish to be reported.
Retrieving the clipboard from AppleScript is simple:
get the clipboard
This will probably suit return values that are simple text strings or a number. Passing an array of items from an Automator action to the clipboard isn't very reliable, sometimes only allowing access to the first item. However, this can be resolved with a small AppleScript within the workflow to process results arrays properly and convert them into an accessible format, e.g. a comma-delimited string.
However, the clipboard is also capable of storing image data, file references, and other data types, so it will be possible (if not always straightforward) to send those to be retrieved in an AppleScript.
Where possible, strings and numbers are the safest storage types.
2. Write Out To A Temporary File
To avoid using the clipboard as an intermediary, or if you wish the applet to report multiple variables without too much work, then writing the data to a temporary file is a fairly common practice, such as is done in shell scripts when persistant values are needed between multiple executions of the same script.
There's actually a special directory that gets periodically purged so that temporary data files don't accumulate: /tmp. It's hidden in Finder, but you can still create files and delete them as you would any other directory. Files that aren't access for 3 days get purged by the system.
There is a New Text File action that can write text to a file:
Specifying the /tmp directory is most easily done by creating a variable whose value is "/tmp" (without the quotes), and dragging that variable onto the appropriate field.
But my inclination would be to insert an AppleScript, or more suitably, a shell script into the workflow, with which file manipulation becomes easy and more capable.
Calendar Events Example
Using a similar example to the scenario you described, a simple applet that retrieves calendar events might have a workflow that looks like this:
where you can calibrate the first action to isolate the events you want, such as today's events. That action returns a type of object that isn't easily processed by AppleScript, but the second action extracts the relevant data in text format, summarising the list of events that the first action returned.
This is where a temporary file is useful to write out the data to a text file, which can then be retrieved in an AppleScript.
Given this Automator applet saved under the named "CalEvents", this AppleScript makes use of that applet and its result:
property tidEvents : [linefeed, linefeed, "EVENT", space] as text
property tidDetails : {tab, " to "}
property tid : a reference to my text item delimiters
run application id "com.apple.automator.CalEvents"
set tid's contents to tidEvents
set EventsSummary to read POSIX file "/tmp/EventsSummary.txt"
set EventsList to the EventsSummary's text items
set [[n], EventsList] to [it, rest] of EventsList
set n to n's last word as number
EventsList -- The final list of events from first to last
Upon its first run, the applet requires consent to access your calendar information, which only needs to be done once and will make the above script appear to fail. Once authorised, you can run the script as often as you like to get the most up-to-date content of the /tmp/EventsSummary.txt file.
Each item in the list variable EventsList is a block of text that looks like this (asterisks are my redactions for privacy, as are the address items in curly braces):
4 OF 8
Summary: GP Appointment
Status: none
Date: 07/12/2017 to 07/12/2017
Time: 14:45:00 to 15:45:00
Location: ******** Medical Centre
{Address Line 1}
{Address Line 2}
{County}
{Post Code}
United Kingdom
Notes: 01*** *****9
Each value is separated from the preceding colon by a tab character, which won't be obvious here. Also, as you can tell from the date format and address, these are British-formatted values, but yours will, of course, be whatever they are set as in Calendar.
But since each list item is much the same, extracting details for a particular event will be simple in AppleScript, first by splitting a particular event item into paragraphs, and then splitting a particular paragraph by either a tab or space character (or both) or some preposition that naturally delimits useful bits of text:
set |Event| to some item in the EventsList
set tid's contents to tidDetails
set EventDetails to {title:text item 2 of paragraph 2 ¬
, startTime:text item 2 of paragraph 5 ¬
, EndTime:text item 3 of paragraph 5} of the |Event|
which places the important event details, such as its name and start/end times, in an AppleScript record:
{title:"GP Appointment", startTime:"15:45:00", EndTime:"16:00:00"}
How can I get the value of important id and ValueType?
I have tried using web_save_param_regexp (but unfortunately I don't fully understand how the function works).
I have also tried using web_save_param (with the help of offset and length).
unfortunately once again I cannot get the accurate value some values change in length specially when the total amount values dynamically changes per run.
<important id=\"insertsomevalueshere\" record=\"1\" nucTotal=\"NUC609.40\"><total amount=\"68.75\" currency=\"USD\"/><total amount=\"609.40\" currency=\"USD\"/><out avgsomecost=\"540.65\" ValueType=\"insertsomevalueshere\" containsawesomeness=\"1\" Score=\"-97961\" somedatatype=\"1\" typeofData=\"VAL\" web=\"1\">
Put these lines of code before the line of code which does your web request:
web_reg_save_param_regexp("ParamName=importantid","Regexp=<important id=\\\"(.*?)\\\"",LAST);
web_reg_save_param_regexp("ParamName=ValueType","Regexp= ValueType=\\\"(.*?)\\\"",LAST);
You will then have two stored parameters 'importantid' and 'ValueType'
Dynamic number of elements to correlate? Your path for resubmission is through web_custom_request(). You will need to build the string you need dynamically with the name:value pairs for all of the data which needs to be included.
This path will place a premium on your string manipulation skills in the language of the tool. The default path is through C, but you have other language options if your skills are more refined in another language.
For example, I have a list of items and each item has a name. I want to build a single string that contains a comma-separated list of all the names. In most programming languages, I would loop over the items and append to a value outside the list/array. But, I can't figure out any combination of Yahoo! Pipes modules to do it. Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but I also find nothing relevant from Google.
How do I append loop item values to a single value outside the loop?
Or how can I return a single value from a loop that's built with values from every item?
Or what is the correct method to accomplish this in Pipes if it's neither of those?
The best method I've come up with based on help from the Yahoo! group, is to use an Item Builder (item.string = default) --> Loop ( assign all to item.string ). Using another pipe inside the Loop to provide the values to concatenate was also very helpful.
Unfortunately the modules available with Yahoo Pipes alone cannot perform the task you are aiming at. The only solution available currently is to use "web service" module to call an externally hosted script (say in PHP)... the entire pipe content will be sent to the script as POST field "data". You can code the script such that it loops through all items to add the string to a single string and return it after processing.