Applescript create URL from text

OmniOutliner
1

Turns out that Mail.app has the ability to open a specific email message based on a URL. I can assemble an anchor tag in a web page

link

and it works like a charm.

I have an AppleScript service that copies elements of a message into OmniOutliner. I want to turn it into a URL so I can click on it and have failed.

When I construct the URL as a string like the above, it lands in OO as a string and is not clickable.

When I try to construct something “as URL” (a real AppleScript type), it errors.

None of these work

36 PM

This would be a HUGE WIN for productivity if it could be solved.

Any advice?

2

IIRC, the ‘is a link’ attribute is something we get from the underlying Rich Text format, so my starting assumption was that this was something that could be accomplished by working that angle.

From a few minutes looking at OmniOutliner and TextEdit’s script dictionaries, I’m beginning to think it’s a feature request. Both offer rich text classes, but I don’t see an obvious way to link-ify something.

(At the very least, if it does turn out to be possible, it could be easier/more obvious. Will file!)

3

Boy that would be great. Right now I’m thinking of making a service that uses a browser to copy then paste. Ugly.

4

If you wrap the link in HTML you can then convert that to RTF and paste into an OO cell by shelling out to textutil,

See, for example:

or by using the NSAttributedString interface:

use AppleScript version "2.4"
use framework "Foundation"
use scripting additions

-- rtfFromHTML :: String -> Either String String
on rtfFromHTML(strHTML)
    set ca to current application
    set s to ca's NSString's stringWithString:strHTML
    set d to (s)'s dataUsingEncoding:(ca's NSUTF8StringEncoding)
    
    set attStr to ca's NSAttributedString's alloc()'s initWithHTML:d documentAttributes:(missing value)
    if attStr is missing value then
        |Left|("String could not be parsed as HTML")
    else
        set {rtfData, err} to attStr's ¬
            dataFromRange:{location:0, |length|:attStr's |length|()} ¬
                documentAttributes:{DocumentType:"NSRTF"} ¬
                |error|:(reference)
        
        if (missing value = rtfData) or (missing value is not err) then
            |Left|(err's localizedDescription() as text)
        else
            |Right|((ca's NSString's alloc()'s ¬
                initWithData:rtfData encoding:(ca's NSUTF8StringEncoding)) as text)
        end if
    end if
end rtfFromHTML

-- Left :: a -> Either a b
on |Left|(x)
    {type:"Either", |Left|:x, |Right|:missing value}
end |Left|

-- Right :: b -> Either a b
on |Right|(x)
    {type:"Either", |Left|:missing value, |Right|:x}
end |Right|

-- bindLR (>>=) :: Either a -> (a -> Either b) -> Either b
on bindLR(m, mf)
    if missing value is not |Right| of m then
        mReturn(mf)'s |λ|(|Right| of m)
    else
        m
    end if
end bindLR

or, using JS:

// rtfFromHTML :: String -> Either String String
const rtfFromHTML = strHTML => {
    const
        as = $.NSAttributedString.alloc
        .initWithHTMLDocumentAttributes($(strHTML)
            .dataUsingEncoding($.NSUTF8StringEncoding), 0
        );
    return bindLR(
        typeof as
        .dataFromRangeDocumentAttributesError !== 'function' ? (
            Left('String could not be parsed as HTML')
        ) : Right(as),

        // Function bound if Right value obtained above:
        htmlAS => {
            let error = $();
            const rtfData = htmlAS
                .dataFromRangeDocumentAttributesError({
                        'location': 0,
                        'length': htmlAS.length
                    }, {
                        DocumentType: 'NSRTF'
                    },
                    error
                );
            return Boolean(ObjC.unwrap(rtfData) && !error.code) ? Right(
                ObjC.unwrap($.NSString.alloc.initWithDataEncoding(
                    rtfData,
                    $.NSUTF8StringEncoding
                ))
            ) : Left(ObjC.unwrap(error.localizedDescription));
        }
    );
};

// Left :: a -> Either a b
const Left = x => ({
    type: 'Either',
    Left: x
});

// Right :: b -> Either a b
const Right = x => ({
    type: 'Either',
    Right: x
});

// bindLR (>>=) :: Either a -> (a -> Either b) -> Either b
const bindLR = (m, mf) =>
    undefined !== m.Left ? (
        m
    ) : mf(m.Right);
2 Likes
5

Try this. It’s also derived from the ‘Selecting text and…’ post. It will deposit the subject of a message (and a link to it) into the first empty child of the first topic. I hope this is basically what you’re looking for.

I got the ‘message’ URL format from this page: ‘message:’ URLs in Leopard Mail
There are several variants. I picked the second one. You can read why there.

tell application "Mail"

	-- pick a message, any message
third message of mailbox 1 of account 2
set targetMess to third message of mailbox 1 of account 2

-- get subject and message ID
set subLine to subject of targetMess
set messID to message id of targetMess
	
	-- create message URL for desired email
	set fUrl to "message://%3c" & messID & "%3e"

end tell
tell application "OmniOutliner"

	-- a place to save the link
	set d1 to document 1
	set c1 to first child of child 1 of d1 whose topic is ""
	
	-- make (subject and message url) into (topic with link)
	set topic of c1 to subLine
	set c1's topic's style's attribute "link"'s value to fUrl
	
end tell
6

Awesomeness Galore!!

This works:

	set currentItem to make new row at first row of front document with properties {topic:("email link" as text)}
	set currentItem's topic's style's attribute "link"'s value to "message://<" & theMessageId & ">" as text

Thank you all for your help.