55 replies to this topic

[Joe Weaks]

I think this should be the default format.

I will make this the default format, and I'll also add the ability to use the "Quote as Citation" format (just like the Widget does).

Suggestion: Is it possible to highlight a portion of text and using QS, bring that up to the front in Accordance?

Sure. You mean after you've highlighted, you simply run the QS action and it brings Accordance to the front, opens a new text window, and then finds the scripture you've referenced? It can be done. There are limitations, all due to the fact that Accordance windows are not at all scriptable, and the custom interface is not friendly to Apple's User Interface scripting. I'll add an action for this in the next release.

And yes, it's using Unicode. Custom legacy (old school) fonts for Hebrew/Greek are not supported.

Edited by Joe Weaks, 25 September 2006 - 02:33 PM.

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

Any chance this sort of thing could be done in Butler? Butler doesn't allow for plug-ins, but it does have Applescript smart items that can be assigned a hot-key. Because of this discussion, I've looked at the Quicksilver site, but in general it doesn't look like it would work as well for me as Butler does.

One thing I have already done is saved the syntax of searches I perform frequently in Butler's custom pasteboards, ready to enter with a keystroke or two.

[jarcher]

Bravo!

[Joe Weaks]

Any chance this sort of thing could be done in Butler?

Butler seems more limited. I don't see a way of passing text to a Smart Script. I can do a script that simply copies the selection in the current app and then pastes the resulting scripture text it gets back from Accordance engine.

[Lorinda H. M. Hoover]

That would work for me.

I got to thinking it might be possible to use Automator and Applescript to do the same kind of thing, and store the resulting program in Butler's menulet (and/or give it a key designation). But to do that I need to learn more about Applescript. If I understand how automator works properly, that might allow for a dialog box to type in the reference...and maybe even the preferred text.

If you were willing to write the script you suggested, I could use that until I have time to learn more about using AppleScript and and Automator, so that I can experiment with the possibilities.

Thanks!

Lorinda

[Joe Weaks]

New versions of the Quicksilver Actions are now available. They include:
Formatting options & Actions that can bring any Accordance window to the front and display what you're looking for in the first module of that type. From the read me file:

What's that? You're reading a PDF or a web page about the proximity of Shechem to a mountain pass? Just highlight shechem and in 5 or so keystrokes you can have Accordance to the front, displaying Shechem in a Map window. I'm not kidding you.

For more information, have a look at my web page:
The Macintosh Biblioblog

[Ed Cross]

Joe,

The new actions work great. One problem with the paragraph format - it doesn't include the selection reference. This is what I get for Jer 10:1-5:

10:1 ¶ Hear ye the word which the Lord speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: 2 Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. 4 They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. 5 They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.

If I am not mistaken was it not supposed to include "Jer 10:1-5" in a paragraph preceding the text?

Ed Cross

[jarcher]

Excellent work, Joe.

Thanks for sharing these.

Jeremy

[Joe Weaks]

Thanks for sharing these.

Well, I'm all about showing the love to my fellow Accordanceers.

And Ed:

If I am not mistaken was (the paragraph format) not supposed to include (the verse reference) in a paragraph preceding the text?

Yes, that is an option. There are many situations where the addition of an extra carriage return would be unwelcome (like if pasting into a table), so I have the option turned off by default.
Double-click on an action to open it in Script Editor and then scroll down into the script until you see these two lines:

-- Next line will add the full reference in a paragraph above the actual text
--set theResult to theString & return & theResult

Simply remove the two dashes in front of the second line (ie. "un-comment out" the line of code). In Applescript, having two dashes is a way of telling the code interpreter to ignore the rest of this line, it's just a comment. The result should look like:

-- Next line will add the full reference in a paragraph above the actual text
set theResult to theString & return & theResult

Save the script and enjoy the scripture reference goodness.
I could've put this instruction about that option into the ReadMe, but the thing is already so long.
Also, I apologize that the Paragraph formatting doesn't work with Hebrew Unicode texts. My brain froze when trying to account for the switch of text from right to left and left to right. I'm sure it's possible, I just stopped wasting time trying. Sorry.

Edited by Joe Weaks, 03 October 2006 - 09:29 PM.

[Ed Cross]

Thanks Joe,

That did the trick!

Ed Cross

[jarcher]

-- Next line will add the full reference in a paragraph above the actual text
set theResult to theString & return & theResult

Joe,

How is this different from changing this line from 'paragraph' to 'citation'.

That's what I did and it seems okay.

-- If not displaying in Accordance itself, determine how to format the results.
property quoteAs : "Citation"
-- "Citation"
-- "Paragraph" -- Doesn't handle citations in Hebrew well
-- "Verses"

[Edified]

As far as dashboard vs QuickSilver I much prefer QS for this operation. QS could pass a reference or search to accordance or like the above copy a passage- or perhaps place a passage in the current application.

One of the big advantages of QS is never leaving the keybord. There so much that I can do without swiching apps or moving my hands from the keyboard. There's a lot I do withou even looking at the QS interface now. It just comes second nature. Then there's the times I'm on a lab Mac at the university- It always takes me a few control-spaces before I realize there's no QS.

Ed Palma

[Joe Weaks]

How is this different from changing this line from 'paragraph' to 'citation'.

That's what I did and it seems okay.

-- If not displaying in Accordance itself, determine how to format the results.
property quoteAs : "Citation"
-- "Citation"
-- "Paragraph" -- Doesn't handle citations in Hebrew well
-- "Verses"

When you change the quoteAs property to "Paragraph", and search for "John 11:34-35, you do get a result in paragraph form, like:

11:34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep.

When you add the line of code I discussed above, it will add the verse reference. The result looks like:

John 11:34-35
11:34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus began to weep.

That's what Ed was asking about. It's your choice what you want.

[Guntis]

Is there any chance to have something like this for LaunchBar as well? I am using LaunchBar, and I really like it, and although I've tried QuickSilver several times, somehow I've always returned back to LaunchBar.
One of the reasons is that I can quickly get "Get Info" panel for applications to see their version (just type application's abbreviation, then press Command+i), but I haven't found easy way to do the same in QS. I type abbreviation for application, right-click on it's icon, click on Actions and get a long list of Actions, but there is no particular order in that list, and it's hard to find Get Info command. Then it wasn't that easy to create shortcuts for applications, so I returned back to Spark shortcut application for that purpose, and LaunchBar for launching applications...
Maybe there is some way to add actions also to LaunchBar?...

[schweyer]

The Quicksilver Scripts are working great! Thank you very much!!!
Is it possible to add the abilty to use the German Booknames (Johannes instead of John) for the Reference?

Stefan

[Joe Weaks]

Schweyer,
Glad the scripts are working for you. I'd like to release the new version this weekend, if I can get around to it. It includes support for the other launchers/script menu/activate by any means you wish/etc.

The lack of support for German book names is a limitation of the Accordance engine. The apple event calls I'm making to the Accordance engine happen at a lower system level than localization.
I could write a routine that substituted every reasonably known German book name/abbreviation with the English one. Tell you what, if you email me an exhaustive list of German book names/abbreviations I can send you a version of the script with a German localization routine. Email me and I'll tell you the format you'd need to do it in.

Edited by Joe Weaks, 13 October 2006 - 08:54 PM.

[danzac]

Is there any chance to have something like this for LaunchBar as well? I am using LaunchBar, and I really like it, and although I've tried QuickSilver several times, somehow I've always returned back to LaunchBar.
One of the reasons is that I can quickly get "Get Info" panel for applications to see their version (just type application's abbreviation, then press Command+i), but I haven't found easy way to do the same in QS. I type abbreviation for application, right-click on it's icon, click on Actions and get a long list of Actions, but there is no particular order in that list, and it's hard to find Get Info command. Then it wasn't that easy to create shortcuts for applications, so I returned back to Spark shortcut application for that purpose, and LaunchBar for launching applications...
Maybe there is some way to add actions also to LaunchBar?...

Guntis, I'm not sure I am understanding your problem. To see the info for absolutely anything, you type the first few letters until QS finds it, then hit tab to go to the actions, and then start typing either i-n-f-o or g-e-t-i-n-f-o. It will show up before you type the whole thing, then you just hit enter to open up the info window.

As to shortcuts, again I'm not sure what you are looking for. The point of QS, and presumably any of its less attractive twins, is that you don't need shortcuts anywhere, any file or program can be launched in a nano second.

[jarcher]

Joe,

I'm not sure how difficult it would be but what are the chances of getting a Quicksilver script for adding a Scripture reference to an Accordance Reference List?

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Joe Weaks]

I'm not sure how difficult it would be but what are the chances of getting a Quicksilver script for adding a Scripture reference to an Accordance Reference List?

Well, not in the way you would hope. What I'm guessing you'd like is to encounter a scripture reference in a web page or a word processor document, highlight it, and automagically add it to a Reference List in Accordance with a couple keystrokes. This is not possible invisibly, for I am limited by the very few apple events that Accordance receives (all of which center around looking up references in biblical text modules alone).
I do occasionally write scripts for my own use that do things like this by scripting the graphical interface. In other words, I could provide a Quicksilver action that takes your highilghted scripture reference, and at a keystroke, brings Accordance forward, opens up a bible window, look up that scripture reference in a bible text, add the result to a reference list and put Accordance back in the background. Basically, it would do all the steps you would do, and you'd see it happening, but it would all happen pretty quickly, and be very helpful, but it is a kludge and gives one the feeling of (as my friend JP recently told me) "riding a bike with no handlebars". If you use any of the Tools lookup Quicksilver Actions, you can see what GUI scripting of Accordance looks like.

Here's another suggestion. Get familiar with the "Append to..." action in Quicksilver. Basically, you have a text file anywhere in a cataloged folder that you use as a repository for bits of text you're collecting. With a couple keystrokes, you can add scripture references to a text file extremely quickly and then later in one moment copy and paste them all into Accordance for adding to a Reference List. If I was in a mode of collecting scripture references, I would put a text file on my desktop called "scripture.txt" and then for each reference I'd encounter I'd simply:
1. highlight it,
2. invoke QS with Control+Option+C (my assigned shortcut for the "Command with Selection Quicksilver Trigger"),
3. Type "app" which smartly brings up the "Append to..." action,
4. Hit tab,
5. Type "scrip" which quickly will hone in on the "scripture.txt" file,
6. Hit return to complete and you're done.
And of course, the beauty of this is in repetition it quickly feels like one step when you're touch typing with muscle memory in action.

For a detailed tutorial on enabling the "Append to..." action in Quicksilver, start with this page:
Quicksilver: Append to a text file from anywhere
then you can glance at this page:
Quicksilver's Append: An updated appreciation

and add to their notes my encouragement in my Quicksilver ReadMe to create a key command for invoking QS with the "Command with Selection Quicksilver Trigger" that places the selected text already drawn in.

HTH,
Joe

Edited by Joe Weaks, 11 March 2007 - 05:51 PM.

[jarcher]

Joe,

This is a much better options. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

Thanks again,

Jeremy