#fastscripts

[patch1103]

Send mail from nvALT

My go-to note-taking app of choice on the Mac is nvALT. It doesn't try to do everything under the sun, and therein lies its appeal. What it does do, though, it does quite well.

While there's a handy "Share->Email" contextual menu item, it didn't quite meet my needs. What I really wanted was to create a new email using the note text as the email body and the note title for the subject. Also, my muscle memory for "Send to email" in my other apps is mapped to Shift-Cmd-"I" (that an "eye" not an "ehl"), so I needed that, too.

The following script accomplishes the subject + content part, and using Daniel Jalkut's awesome FastScripts utility, I've taken care of the key mapping.

set subjectLine to missing value set bodyText to missing value if (frontmost of application "nvALT" is false) then tell application "nvALT" to activate delay 0.5 end if -- get text from nvALT note and make new mail message tell application "System Events" -- copy the subject line keystroke "l" using command down delay 0.1 keystroke "c" using command down delay 0.2 set subjectLine to get the clipboard -- copy the text keystroke tab delay 0.1 keystroke "a" using command down delay 0.1 keystroke "c" using command down delay 0.2 set bodyText to get the clipboard -- make new mail message tell application "Mail" activate set newMessage to make new outgoing message with properties {subject:subjectLine, content:bodyText} tell newMessage to set visible to true end tell end tell

[alexpopescu]

Assigning App Shortcuts to AppleScripts With BetterTouchTool

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to Automator workflows and you can overwrite specific app shortcuts in System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts. But there’s no easy way to assign keyboard shortcuts to AppleScripts.

If you don’t want to use a 3rd party app, one trick you could do is to create Automator workflows that execute your AppleScripts and assign keyboard shortcuts to them. It works, but it’s an extra step.

The space of 3rd party apps is wide. Here’re the top options for solving this.

There are a couple of apps I know of—and probably many more that I don’t—whose sole purpose is to provide this feature: assigning shortcuts to AppleScripts. The two I ‘ve tried: FastScripts and Aptivate are apps whose sole purpose is to address this problem. There’s also Keyboard Maestro whose breathing keyboard shortcuts for workflows.

Another option is app launchers. A couple of them provide this feature. The ones I know of to support this feature are Alfred 1 and 2, Quicksilver, Butler. Unfortunately LaunchBar, the one I’ve been using for a while mostly due to his support for presenting results from AppleScripts, doesn’t.

Finally, here’s the trick I discovered tonight and the reason of this post.

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to AppleScripts using BetterTouchTool. If you haven’t heard of it until now, do yourself a favor and download it. Now. The extra gestures that you can add to the Mac touchpad, Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad will transform these into Awesomely Magical Mouse and Trackpad.

Back to AppleScripts and keyboard shortcuts though. If you go to the Keyboard tab, you can create a new Keyboard shortcut and make it trigger an Open Application/File/Script.

That’s all.

[stormchild]

OS X: How to set up custom keyboard shortcuts that actually work

Since (Mac) OS X 10.4 "Tiger", it's been possible to define your own custom keyboard shortcuts for pretty much any menu command in any application (you can set these up in System Preferences → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts). For the most part, it works pretty well, but one thing that has always annoyed me is that some shortcuts don't work until the corresponding menu has been opened at least once since the application was launched. This bug has been around since 10.4; here we are, seven years later, and the same old problem still exists in OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion". I got tired of waiting for Apple to fix this, so here's my general solution that should work for any app / menu command that stubbornly refuses to let you use your own shortcut until the menu is opened. ## Get FastScripts and enable UI Scripting The basic idea: a simple AppleScript triggers the desired menu command, and the script is assigned a keyboard shortcut via [FastScripts](http://www.red-sweater.com/fastscripts/"). You can assign up to 10 shortcuts for free — though it's well worth the registration cost if you use other kinds of scripts too (such as the excellent [Doug's AppleScripts for iTunes](http://dougscripts.com/itunes/)). Got FastScripts installed? Cool. The next thing you need to do is enable UI scripting. Open System Preferences → Accessibility (called "Universal Access" if you're using an older version of OS X), and make sure "Enable access for assistive devices" is checked. ## Simple shortcuts For each shortcut you want to set up, you just need a simple AppleScript. Let's create one that triggers the File → Export… command in Preview (which unfortunately doesn't have a built-in shortcut). You'll need OS X 10.7 "Lion" or later for this. First, open the Preview app. Now open the FastScripts menu (see below) → FastScripts → "Create Preview Scripts Folder" (or "Open Preview Scripts Folder", if it already exists).  Now open AppleScript Editor. Copy the following code and paste it into a new script, then click "Compile" to make sure it was copied correctly. tell application "System Events" tell application process "Preview" click menu item "Export…" of menu "File" of menu bar 1 end tell end tell This seems like a good time to mention an important detail: for menu items with ellipses (…), you have to use an actual ellipsis (single character that contains all three dots). If you type three separate periods, it won't match the menu command (unless the app developer also made the same mistake — which they sometimes do). On a US keyboard layout, press [option]+[;] (semicolon) to type a real ellipsis. Save your script as "Export" in the folder that FastScripts created/opened in the Finder. Now go back into the FastScripts menu → FastScripts → Preferences, and click "Script Shortcuts". Your new "Export" script should appear in the list under Preview. Double-click where it says "(none)" to assign a shortcut, then type whatever shortcut you want to use (I used [command]+[shift]+E). Now open an image or PDF in Preview and give your new shortcut a try. ## Shortcuts for menu items that change If the menu command changes depending on the current state of the app, your script needs to check if the menu item exists and change the command accordingly. Here's a script I created that toggles the folders sidebar in the new Notes app in Mountain Lion. tell application "System Events" tell application process "Notes" if menu item "Show Folders List" of menu "View" of menu bar 1 exists then click menu item "Show Folders List" of menu "View" of menu bar 1 else click menu item "Hide Folders List" of menu "View" of menu bar 1 end if end tell end tell Questions/problems? Send me a message on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/stormchild).

[menubar-blog]

QuickCal – Allows me to add appointments to iCal in a pop up window using natural language. Twitter for Mac – I should remove this but my ego and fear of missing out won't allow it. ;-) Dropbox – This should be built in. FastScripts – Allows me to execute a few Applescripts I have come to rely on with keyboard commands. DisplayPad – Lets me use my iPad as a second display over WiFi (Seems like magic. Likely is.) The rest are built in stuff. Sync, Bluetooth, Airport, Battery, Clock, Spotlight. (From Patrick Rhone, Writer, Editor, and Curator; of Minimal Mac, Practical Opacity, The Random Post, PatrickRhone.com and Keeping It Straight)