Using AppleScript to find and set an AS variable collects TMI (too much information)
e2o
Hello!
I create many text documents in BBEdit every day, and I have to extract and send these variables over to Keyboard Maestro to paste in a web form. These documents start like this:
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08:30-11:30 UWA
:: Item one
- the associated notes
:: Item two
- etc
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I need to pull out variables:
StartTime: 08:30
EndTime: 11:30
ClientCode: UWA
I've been working with the following script:
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set StartTime to "00:00"
set EndTime to "00:00"
set ClientCode to "AAA"
tell application "BBEdit"
set StartTime to find "(\\A)([0-9]{2})(\\:)([0-9]{2})" searching in text document 1 options {search mode:grep, wrap around:true} with selecting match
set EndTime to find "([0-9]{2})(\\:)([0-9]{2})" searching in text document 1 options {search mode:grep, wrap around:false} with selecting match
set ClientCode to find "[A-Z]{3}" searching in text document 1 options {search mode:grep, wrap around:false} with selecting match
end tell
tell application "Keyboard Maestro Engine"
setvariable TicketTimeEntryBegin to StartTime
end tell
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Running it, I keep getting the error:
"Can’t make characters 1 thru 5 of text document id 220 of application "BBEdit" into the expected type."
Script Debugger tells me that variable StartTime has these three properties:
found: true
found object: characters 1 thru 5 of text document id 220
found text: "08:30"
So I'm getting the right found text "08:30" (and I'm getting the correct EndTime and Client Code), but there is a type mismatch when trying to get 08:30 over to a variable TicketTimeEntryBegin in Keyboard Maestro.
Now, when I use the following Execute AppleScript step in Keyboard Maestro to try to see what's going on:
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tell application "BBEdit"
find "(\\A)([0-9]{2})(\\:)([0-9]{2})" searching in text document 1 options {search mode:grep, wrap around:true} with selecting match
end tell
And Keybard Maestro action: Save to variable: TicketTimeEntryBegin
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the variable TicketTimeEntryBegin in Keyboard Maestro now contains:
found:true, found object:characters 1 thru 5 of text document id 220, found text:08:30
So it is getting the three properties of the variable mashed together.
How do I just get the found text 08:30, and not the rest?
Thanks!
- eric
Rick Gordon
TicketTimeEntryBegin*?
On August 13, 2023 at 11:20:24 PM [-0700], E2o wrote in an email
entitled "Using AppleScript to find and set an AS variable collects TMI (too
much information)":
> found text:08:30
___________________________________________
RICK GORDON
EMERALD VALLEY GRAPHICS AND CONSULTING
___________________________________________
WWW: http://www.shelterpub.com
jj
tell application "BBEdit"
set vDocument to first text document of first window
set vTimeRegex to "(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]"
set vRegex to "^(" & vTimeRegex & ")-(" & vTimeRegex & ")\\h+([A-Z]{3})"
set vOptions to {search mode:grep, starting at top:true, wrap around:false, returning results:true}
set vResult to find vRegex searching in vDocument options vOptions
if vResult's found then
repeat with vMatch in found matches of vResult
log vMatch
set vOptions to {search mode:grep, starting at top:true, wrap around:false, returning results:false}
set vTag to characters (vMatch's start_offset) thru (vMatch's end_offset) of vDocument
set vTagMatch to find vRegex searching in vTag options vOptions
if vTagMatch's found then
set vStartTime to grep substitution of "\\1"
set vEndTime to grep substitution of "\\2"
set vClientCode to grep substitution of "\\3"
log {vStartTime:vStartTime, vEndTime:vEndTime, vClientCode:vClientCode}
end if
end repeat
end if
end tell
e2o
e2o
e2o
e2o
jj
As requested, some additional comments.
1. The time regular expression commented
(?x) (?# Allow comments and ignore whitespace in regex.)
(?: (?# Non-capturing OR opening parenthesis.)
[01][0-9] (?# Double digit from 00 to 19.)
| (?# or)
2[0-3] (?# Double digit from 20 to 23.)
) (?# Non-capturing OR closing parenthesis.)
: (?# A colon.)
[0-5][0-9] (?# Double digit from 00 to 59.)
This expression should match any hh:mm time from 00:00 to 23:59.
2. Commented Applescript
tell application "BBEdit"
set vDocument to first text document of first window
set vTimeRegex to "(?:[01][0-9]|2[0-3]):[0-5][0-9]" -- Regex to match any time from 00:00 to 23:59.
set vRegex to "^(" & vTimeRegex & ")-(" & vTimeRegex & ")\\h+([A-Z]{3})" -- Regex to captures 3 informations:
-- at beginning of a line
-- a start time to be captured
-- a colon
-- a end time to be captured
-- one or more horizontal spaces
-- 3 letters to be captured
set vOptions to {search mode:grep, starting at top:true, wrap around:false, returning results:true} -- We want `find` to return a list of the found matches with offsets in the document.
set vResult to find vRegex searching in vDocument options vOptions
log vResult
if vResult's found then -- The find command succeeded. vResult has a `found matches` property that lists the matches.
repeat with vMatch in found matches of vResult -- Lets loop over each match and extract the captured strings.
log vMatch
set vOptions to {search mode:grep, starting at top:true, wrap around:false, returning results:false} -- This time, we don't want find to return results because we want to extract the captured strings.
set vTag to characters (vMatch's start_offset) thru (vMatch's end_offset) of vDocument -- Create a reference to the substring we want to decompose by using grep substitutions.
set vTagMatch to find vRegex searching in vTag options vOptions -- Use `find` again against each substring (e.g. '08:30-11:30 UWA') to capture the matching parts.
if vTagMatch's found then -- This should always succeed.
set vStartTime to grep substitution of "\\1" -- matched by the first capturing parentheses: '08:30'
set vEndTime to grep substitution of "\\2" -- matched by the second capturing parentheses: '11:30'
set vClientCode to grep substitution of "\\3" -- matched by the third capturing parentheses: 'UWA'
log {vStartTime:vStartTime, vEndTime:vEndTime, vClientCode:vClientCode}
end if
end repeat
end if
end tell
Jean Jourdain
e2o
A couple things I'm confused about:
- vMatch - I don't see where it gets defined.
- vMatch - also, how would you describe what vMatch contains that we want/need from it? I don't see how we get the number of repeats from it.
- Couldn't I simplify things by *assuming* I have a match and not have to check? If so, it seems I could just start with the repeat loop. Just a thought. If this is best practice, I'm all for it.
The repeat is great because I often have multiple time entries per daily ticket:
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12:30-13:15
14:00-15:30
: Item one
- the associated notes
:: Item two
- etc
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09:30-14:00
12:30-13:15
14:00-15:30
: Item one
- the associated notes
:: Item two
- etc
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09:30-16:15 6.75
: Item one
- the associated notes
:: Item two
- etc
09:30-14:00 4.50
12:30-13:15 0.75
14:00-15:30 1.50 6.75
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I think I'm slowly becoming more able to start tackling this. As always, I really appreciate your help!
- eric