The recent investigation of re-working imported RIS data (due to weaknesses in format specifications) had me thinking more widely. I can drag/drop plaintext (text or data) files into Tinderbox and generally, these arrive as $Name of the filename (including the extension) and $Text as the file contents.
But if we don’t want to—or can’t easily— drag drop, e.g. working on a small laptop screen on a train or plane, it might help to use the source file’s path (via $File), to get the data. By adding $File to a note’s Displayed Attributes we can then use a macOS File Chooser dialog to find our target file and store its OS path, so as then to be able to work on/with it using a function:
function fReadFileTextToNote(iPath:string,){
runCommand("cat '"+$File+"' | pbcopy");
$Text = runCommand("pbpaste");
$Name = iPath.split("/").at(-1);
}; // END FUNCTION
Called by code (e.g. in a stamp, rule, etc.):
fReadFileTextToNote($File);
Note that as the function returns nothing, we don’t need a left-side object to hold a result. So far, so good but perhaps whilst the actual filename is a good longterm note title ($Name) the file extension isn’t really meaningful. We can thus improve our function, even if at ‘cost’ of needing one extra input argument:
function fReadFileTextToNote(iPath:string, iNoExt:boolean){
var:string: vFilename = iPath.split("/").at(-1);
if(iNoExt){
vFilename = vFilename.split("\.").at(0);
}
runCommand("cat '"+$File+"' | pbcopy");
$Text = runCommand("pbpaste");
$Name = vFilename;
}; // END FUNCTION
Called thus:
// true boolean to remove filename extension
fReadFileTextToNote($File, true);
// false to retain
fReadFileTextToNote($File, false);
// or use a stored boolean
fReadFileTextToNote($File,$MyBoolean);
// or variable
fReadFileTextToNote($File,vDropExt);
After all that, so what? I think the possible use of this pattern is more to do with making it easier to get an do things with the data before the $Text is written. IOW, use this pattern as a basis for grabbing the contents of a plain-text based file (TXT, XML, HTML, OPML, CSV, Tab-delim, etc.) to do something with it en route to forming a note’s $text, or even just populate attribute(s).
Thus we might have a function along these lines:
function fReadTextFileContents(iPath:string,){
runCommand("cat '"+$File+"' | pbcopy");
var:string vSource = runCommand("pbpaste");
// do whatever is needed with the imported data ...
}; // END FUNCTION
Called by code (e.g. in a stamp, rule, etc.):
fReadTextFileContents($File);
In summary, this offers a simple pattern for reading a text file into Tinderbox action code using the command line, which will likely not be familiar to non-programmers. You could do this same task via AppleScript, for instance, or other automation methods: there is no single ‘right’ way.
Here, in a few lines of action code is something you can put in a library file against the day when you might need to do this very task, and build off it. So it is part of a solution as opposed to a full solution to a closed-ended task.
Above, I’ve used code reflecting some recent changes (as recently as the current v9.5.0). Thus I’ve included some notes below covering such requirements and also some of the operators used.
Notes
Tinderbox action code
Operators used:
- runCommand() is a Tinderbox action code operator that lets you interact with the macOS Unix shell’s command line and do all sorts of neat stuff.
-
String.split(). This allows a single string to be split into a list using a regular expression [sic] or ‘regex’ pattern: note the matched pattern’s character(s) are deleted from the list items arising. Note the regex angle, this is why to split on a period the pattern is
\.and not.as the latter—in regex terms—means 'any character, so something quite different! -
List.at(). a way of calling a list item by sequential order number, noting that it is ‘zero-based’ meaning it numbers from zero and not one (i.e. list item #1 is
.at(0), list item #2 isisat(1), etc.). Back in early computing days, starting at zero saved storage and thus cost/complexity. Nowadays such otherwise mathematically confusing conventions aren’t needed but the methods live on. -
function requires v9.0.0+.
Note that data-typing of [function arguments]. If stuck on an older version, the code could be moved into a stamp. Note also, that in such a case the boolean argument in the second function would need to be saved in a boolean attribute, e.g. $MyBoolean and read from there.- Data-typing Function arguments—as used above—needs Tinderbox v9.5.0+. Such typing is not always needed (I was using it mainly to show new techniques.features). As otherwise everything is imported as a string, some extra in-function coding may be needed to ensure to get what you expect when using a function arguments value within the function.
Unix Command Line
The code makes mention of two Unix commands that interact with the ‘pasteboard’, an old term for what most would now call the clipboard (i.e. for copy/paste work):
- cat. A command line utility to concatenate data (though it has wider uses, as here). See documentation (via ss64.com).
- pbcopy. A command line utility to copy data to the Mac’s (Unix shell) clipboard. See documentation (via ss64.com).
- pbpaste. A command line utility to paste data to the Mac’s (Unix shell) clipboard. See documentation (via ss64.com).
