Submit Hint Search The Forums LinksStatsPollsHeadlinesRSS
14,000 hints and counting!


Click here to return to the 'Save selected browser text via AppleScript' hint
The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. This site is not responsible for what they say.
Save selected browser text via AppleScript
Authored by: Old Toad on Feb 15, '08 09:54:11AM
For what it's worth here's a script I found out there in internet land that will copy text from both Firefox and Safari windows and add information at the top as to what site it came from:

**************************************************
-- 'Create Desktop Text Note From Selected Safari Text' Script
(* Safari doesn't appear to support an AppleScript command to Copy selected
text to the Clipboard, so this script relies on the user selecting only the
desired text, or using 'Select All' (Command-A), and then using 'Copy'
(Command-C) before executing this script.

Ideally, the user would use Keyboard Maestro, FruitMenu or Youpi Key (free)
to tell Safari to 'Copy' the selection and then execute this script.*)
global theLongDate, theDay, theMonth, theYear, theTime, theMeridian, theDateStamp, theName
(*Remember, you must first make your desired text selection in Safari...*)
get the clipboard
set theClipboard to the clipboard as text
(* See how big the file will be for naming purposes...*)
try
if the number of characters of theClipboard is less than 31 then
set theLimit to the number of characters
else if the number of characters of theClipboard is greater than 31 then
set theLimit to 31
end if
(* Large selections results in a 'stack overflow' error; simple error
handler here...*)
on error
set theLimit to 31
end try
(* Use this information to generate a file name...*)
set textString to characters 1 thru theLimit of theClipboard as string
(* Make sure the file name doesn't have any illegal characters... *)
set the textString to replaceCharsName(textString, "/", "-")
set the textString to replaceCharsName(textString, ":", ".")
on replaceCharsName(thisText, searchString, replacementString)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the searchString
set the itemList to every text item of thisText
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacementString
set thisText to the itemList as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set theName to thisText as text
end replaceCharsName
(* To make sure the filename is unique, so it doesn't generate an error or
write appended information to an existing note, we're going to date-stamp
the file name... *)
set theLongDate to the (current date)
set the theYear to theLongDate as text
(*begin optional 'yy' format *)
set theYear to characters -13 thru -14 of theYear as text
(*end optional'yy' format *)

(* begin optional 'yyyy' format *)
--set theYear to characters -13 thru -16 of theYear as text
(* end optional 'yyyy' format *)

(* begin optional alpha month string; decomment to enable; be sure to
disable numeric option! *)
set theMonth to the month of theLongDate as text
set theMonth to characters 1 thru 3 of theMonth as text
(* end optional month string *)

(*begin optional numeric month string: *)
(*
copy theLongDate to theMonth
set the month of theMonth to January
set monthNumber to (1 + (theLongDate - theMonth + 1314864) div 2629728)
set theMonth to characters -2 thru -1 of ("0" & (monthNumber as string)) as
text
*)
(*end optional numeric month string *)
set dayNumber to day of theLongDate as number
set theDay to characters -2 thru -1 of ("0" & (dayNumber as string)) as text
set theTime to characters -4 thru -12 of (theLongDate as string) as text
(* optional -- look for illegal filename characters in the time;
change the separator to whatever you like (except ":" and "/") *)
set theTime to replaceChars(theTime, ":", ".")
on replaceChars(thisText, searchString, replacementString)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the searchString
set the itemList to every text item of thisText
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to the replacementString
set thisText to the itemList as string
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
set theTime to thisText as text
end replaceChars
(* end optional illegal characters *)
set theMeridian to characters -1 thru -2 of (theLongDate as string) as text
(*change the output order below; add spaces, separators, etc.; remove input
as you wish*)
set theDateStamp to theYear & theMonth & theDay & theTime & theMeridian
(*Now we take the file naming parameters to Safari... *)
tell application "Safari"
(* Gather some more information to stamp the note internally...*)
set theWindowName to the name of the front window
set theURL to the URL of the front document
(* Name the file here; yes, I know, ugly use of file name limits and
formatting; the point was to create file names that gave hints to the
content; the unique date was required to prevent duplication and
overwrites...*)
set theFile to theName & "... " & theDateStamp
(* Set the filepath to the Desktop of the current user; some people may
wish to modify this path to a specific folder; e.g., "Web Clippings"; alter
as desired. *)
set pathstring to ((path to desktop) as text) & theFile
(*Generate the final content and write the note...*)
set writeString to "Source: " & theURL & return & "Page Title: " & theWindowName & return & "Date: " & theLongDate & return & return & (the clipboard)
set theNote to open for access file pathstring with write permission
write writeString to theNote
close access theNote
end tell
***************************************************

Again I don't remember where I got the script. The site information will be at the top of the document and looks like this:


Source: http://www.macosxhints.com/
Page Title: macosxhints.com - OS X tips and tricks!
Date: Friday, February 15, 2008 9:38:53 AM


I use a QuicKeys shortcut to run the script.

[ # ]
Save selected browser text via AppleScript
Authored by: bluedogranch on Feb 15, '08 12:35:23PM

That's a nice script by whoever wrote it.

I'm just learning Applescript and use this to copy text to a new BBEdit window and then clear the clipboard:

tell application "BBEdit"
make new document
paste selection
activate window
set the clipboard to ""

What I'd like to do is combine the way the URL, title and date are added to the file in the original script above, but have the script open a new file in BBedit and have it remain open so I can trim out some trailing text (links, "print this page", etc.) text before I save it.

So I changed

set theNote to open for access file pathstring with write permission
write writeString to theNote
close access theNote

to:

tell application "BBEdit"
make new document
write writeString to document

But I get an error when it runs: "Can't make document into type file."

Am in in over my head with this? I'm looking through the BBEdit scripting dictionary, but as I say, I'm just learning. Ideas?



[ # ]