How to add “”sort" and "create text file“” to an AppleScript creating a list of records

macOS
1

Hello,

Working in Mojave 10.14.6 latest update

The script below lists all my Evernote notebooks and sends the results to the clipboard.

How could I end up with:

  • a sorted list of notebooks ? I can’t give you the exact number of notebooks (in case you want to use some kind of counter) because it varies.
  • a text file in my ~/Downloads folder called Evernote Notebook list date+time ( ie date+time stamp).txt containing the sorted list.

thanks in advance for your time and help !

tell application "Evernote"
	set NotebookList to (name of every notebook)
	set AppleScript's text item delimiters to return
	set the clipboard to NotebookList as text
end tell
2

I’ve always used the sort routine from here.

https://www.macosxautomation.com/applescript/sbrt/sbrt-05.html

1 Like
3

thank you.
Would this template work if the notebook names are strings.
Example of one notebook name ‘forums automation AppleScript’

set the composer_list to {"Ellington", "Copland", "Bach", "Mozart"}
simple_sort(the composer_list)
--> returns: {"Bach", "Copland", "Ellington", "Mozart"}
4

Would you have a routine for create text file ? thanks

5

Although I generally find it easier to write in AppleScript than JavaScript for Automation (JXA), this is a situation where I think JavaScript is simpler, mainly because it has a built-in sort. The most tedious part of this script is creating the name for output file, because JavaScript (like AppleScript) doesn’t have a decent general-purpose date formatting function.

var currentApp = Application.currentApplication()
currentApp.includeStandardAdditions = true

// Change this to where you want the file saved
var folder = '/Users/username/Desktop/'

// Get the notebook names and sort them
var myNotebooks = Application("Evernote").notebooks.name()
myNotebooks.sort()
var outString = myNotebooks.join("\n")

// Make a file name in YYYY-MM-DD-hh-mm-ss format from the current date and time
var today = new Date()
var dateParts = [ today.getFullYear(),  today.getMonth(),  today.getDay(), today.getHours(), today.getMinutes(),  today.getSeconds() ]
dateParts = dateParts.map( n => n.toString() )
dateParts = dateParts.map( s => s.padStart(2, '0') )
var filePath = folder + dateParts.join('-') + '.txt'

// Write the notebook names to the file
var outFile = currentApp.openForAccess(filePath, {writePermission: true})
currentApp.write(outString, {to: outFile})
2 Likes
6

A beautiful script. Works Perfectly.

I just wanted to add 'Evernote Notebook List ’ to the time and date stamp, but JavaScript looks so cryptic that I don’t know where and how to insert the string.

thank you so much for all the work !!! It is a great help !!

1 Like
8

Just insert that text into the expression for filePath.

Also, I just realized JavaScript months are zero-based, not one-based, so I had to change one other part. Here’s the full script with both changes:

var currentApp = Application.currentApplication()
currentApp.includeStandardAdditions = true

// Change this to where you want the file saved
var folder = '/Users/username/Desktop/'

// Get the notebook names and sort them
var myNotebooks = Application("Evernote").notebooks.name()
myNotebooks.sort()
var outString = myNotebooks.join("\n")

// Make a file name from the date and time
var today = new Date()
var dateParts = [ today.getFullYear(), today.getMonth() + 1, today.getDay(), today.getHours(),  today.getMinutes(), today.getSeconds() ]
dateParts = dateParts.map( n => n.toString() )
dateParts = dateParts.map( s => s.padStart(2, '0') )
var filePath = folder + 'Evernote Notebook List ' + dateParts.join('-') + '.txt'

// Write the notebook names to the file
var outFile = currentApp.openForAccess(filePath, {writePermission: true})
currentApp.write(outString, {to: outFile})
2 Likes
9

Thanks very much for your help and your patience ! very kind of you !

10

Sorry to bother you again.
I just realized that the large caps are sorted first, then the small caps.
I would like the sorting to ignore caps
thank you

11

Usual way is to use localeCompare to drive a case insensitive sort function in JavaScript. See the sort section on this page in the Mozilla docs.

12

I am sorry: I am a beginner and it is difficult to understand.

Do you mean:

replace this

myNotebooks.sort()
var outString = myNotebooks.join("\n")

with this ?

myNotebooks.sort()
var outString = myNotebooks.join("\n")
var outString = ['réservé', 'Premier', 'Cliché', 'communiqué', 'café', 'Adieu'];
items.sort((a, b) => a.localeCompare(b, 'fr', {ignorePunctuation: true})); // ['Adieu', 'café', 'Cliché', 'communiqué', 'Premier', 'réservé']

thank you

13

What @sylumer means is you should use localeCompare in the argument to the sort in my code. Something like

myNotebooks.sort( (a, b) => a.localeCompare(b, 'en', {sensitivity: 'base'}) )

instead of the elementary

myNotebooks.sort()

You’ll have to choose the appropriate locale based on the language you use to name your notebooks.

1 Like
14

Now it’s clear. Thanks again very much !