Noodlesoft Forums

I need a hand converting this shell script to work with Hazel, so I can import .txt files to the Day One app:

Code: Select all

# Part of the txt-to-dayone repository: https://github.com/christophersu/txt-to-dayone
IFS=$'\n'
files=$(ls | egrep '(.txt)')
for i in $files; do
   created=$( GetFileInfo -d "$i" )
   dayone -d="$created" new < "$i"
done
unset IFS

More info here: http://dayoneapp.com/tools/ - there might be a better way to do this than the script I found. The suggested code from the developers for importing a note.txt file seems simpler:

Code: Select all

Creates a new entry using yesterday’s date with the specified text

$ ./dayone -d="03/03/2011 5:30PM" -s=true new < ~/Desktop/note.txt

My goal is to save text files in a folder, files named "2013-03-08 3:35 PM.txt" with the contents of the file added as the body of the entry. I can tweak the file name if necessary. I have the Day One CLI tools installed.

Thanks!

Alright, we have lots of problems here.

First, it is never appropriate to parse the output of ls. Basically, since filenames can include any characters, parsing of a list of filenames is going to be unreliable. That said, all the files=$(ls | egrep '(.txt)') line does is search for *.txt files.

Second, setting the the delimiter to line may very well screw with the dayone app. That is not good practice.

Third, you will need to specify the full path for day one. I do not have it installed, but a quick google search told me the path was this:

Code: Select all

for f in *.txt; /usr/local/bin/dayone -d="$(GetFileInfo -d "$f")" new < "$f"; done


EDIT - to clarify, this will parse over all files in the directory and import them. if you want to import one file at a time, then we'll have to modify this script a bit.

Thank you. I should have noted that my scripting is pretty much non-existent. I can usually figure out what is going on but my knowledge of commands is zero. I reverse-engineer and copy/paste.

In the Hazel script field, it mentions using $1 for the file you are referring to. Should I replace $f with $1? I got a script error when running as you provided. Your full path for Day One seems correct here.

EDIT - See the following post.

Matching the folder:
Reference to "$1" is not necessary because Hazel runs this script within the matched directory:

Code: Select all

for f in *.txt; /usr/local/bin/dayone -d="$(GetFileInfo -d "$f")" new < "$f"; done


Matching the file:
Reference to $1 is in the basename

Code: Select all

BASE=${1##*/}
BASE=${BASE%.txt}
/usr/local/bin/dayone -d="$BASE" new < "$1"

Line 1: extracts the file name without the extension
Line 2: extracts the base filename without the path
Line 3: passes the filename, which is the date you're looking for to dayone

EDIT - removed comments from code block for readability

Folder containing files, as below. And I did set color label to None for one file when testing.





What I am doing is saving text files to Dropbox, via Drafts on iPhone. I want Day One to grab those text files and create new entries in the Mac app. Thank you.

Replying again here so you get another notification. I updated my answers while you were typing your reply.

I will try your new script, thank you. I wonder if I need to match the date formatting in the developer's sample code? That could be an issue.

Likely, yes you'll have to adjust the date format properly. That's the next thing that we can worry about.

OK great news - new script works! Seems Dropbox doesn't allow colons in filenames, but that is not an issue. Neither is the date formatting, Day One recognizes both "03/07/2013 10/03PM.txt" and "2013-03-07 10/03 PM.txt"

The odd thing is that using the name "2013-03-07 10/03 PM.txt" added the entry at 5:03PM, and using "03/07/2013 10/03PM.txt" added the entry on 3/08 (today's date).

It doesn't sound like day one is recognizing the date format.

If you're creating the files at the time you want them entered into dayone, then this will work (and you can name your files whatever you'd like):

Code: Select all

/usr/local/bin/dayone -d="$(GetFileInfo -d "$1")" new < "$1"


a_freyer wrote:It doesn't sound like day one is recognizing the date format.

Agreed. Looks like OS X forbids colons in filenames. Is there a way to reformat this in the script? Sorry to put you to all this work! Much appreciated.

a_freyer wrote:If you're creating the files at the time you want them entered into dayone, then this will work (and you can name your files whatever you'd like):

Code: Select all

/usr/local/bin/dayone -d="$(GetFileInfo -d "$1")" new < "$1"


That will more than suffice. Time stamp does not need to be exact. Thanks again for all the help! I really appreciate it. I'll post this info on the blog, if you want direct credit to your website let me know.

Great! Glad to hear that we got this working.