Request to make Inkdrop Apple Scriptable

As far as I can see, I am not duplicating a request. Basically, I was wondering if we could get the most basic of support for applescript in the app to support the basic integration with this productivity approach I am trying out? I’ve included two links to resources the provide on how to “prod” app creators into making their app compatible. :slight_smile:

https://hookproductivity.com/help/integration/other-app-developers/

https://hookproductivity.com/help/integration/unsupported-applications/

Thank you!

Cheers
James

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Hi All, I’m a co-founder of CogSci Apps Corp., which makes the Hook productivity app and mySleepButton.

I’ve tried Inkdrop out. I notice that I can paste markdown links to local files, where the link address uses the the hook:// scheme , e.g., this link [test links.txt](hook://file/eKmoDPXaP?p=bHVjYi9EZXNrdG9w&n=test%20links.txt) to a file on my Desktop. ( this is better than using file:// links, because hook://file links are much more robust; they even work across locally synced cloud shared files, and files checked out from version control systems.) For that matter, I can use Hook to get a link to an OmniFocus task, and paste it into an Inkdrop note, e.g., this task test OmniFocus task. The links work. That means that with Hook, Inkdrop users can already add markdown links from their Inkdrop documents to all kinds of content.

The next step would be for Inkdrop to have an interface for users to (a) automatically get the name and address of a note, and (b) to open a note by URL. (Maybe the latter is already possible).

I’m a cognitive scientists. One of my main areas of interest is note-taking and information navigation (hyper"text"). I’ve argued in Cognitive Productivity books and elsewhere that due to information navigation problems ( the meta-access problem) higher ed students, and even knowledge workers, take fewer notes than they could and should. One of the major uses of Hook is to enable users to create and link notes to just about anything (e.g., PDFs, email, web pages, spreadsheets, etc.). That allows them to take notes about all kinds of stuff that they wouldn’t normally, because without Hook it’s not possible to rapidly navigate between arbitrary content.

For example, with Hook users can link documents and objects (PDFs, email, web pages, spreadsheets, etc.) to Bear notes, nvUltra notes, TaskPaper, etc.

Having discovered Inkdrop, I can see it would be helpful for Inkdrop to be used in this kind of linking. I.e., it would be great to connect Inkdrop documents to anything via Hook.

Hello James and Luc,

Thank you for the suggestion.
Inter-app links would be great to have.
Inkdrop for macOS has already supported it as you may know.
You can copy an URI for the currently opened note from the context menu:

Or you can do it by running core:copy-note-link command.
Then you get an URI like inkdrop://note:ZOMWm8do copied to clipboard.
With it, for example, you can open it from terminal:

> open inkdrop://note:ZOMWm8do

I don’t know why it should support Apple Script.
It sounds complicated to support as it’s not a native macOS app but built with Electron:

You can make a plugin for Hook instead for further automation if you need.
Let me know if I am misunderstanding anything.

Hi @anon50674726 @anon53595307 I have released a plugin that allows Hook integration: https://my.inkdrop.app/plugins/inkdrop-hook-integration. (The images for the readme live in the repo so they’re broken on the inkdrop page but will display if you go to github.)

It is a bit of a hack in that it writes the currently selected Inkdrop note to a text file that Hook can then read provided you modify your Hook scripts appropriately. If you decide to try it out, please let me know if you have any comments, suggestions or issues.

It does write a file to whatever you put in your preferences, so please be careful!

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wow, that is an nice coincidence. A thread over on the Hook Productivity Forum regarding Inkdrop was initiated a few hours ago. Struggling to create app script - Discussion & Help - Hook Productivity Forum - Mozilla Firefox.

Hook has a preference for a default Notes folder that can be read via Terminal “defaults” command ( defaults read com.cogsciapps.hook ). Users might want to have an Inkdrop folder in there, or they could use a Finder tag. Hook itself will soon be automate-able via AppleScript / JavaScript. And Hook itself could move the notes there.

I don’t use Inkdrop myself, but does it have “watched folder” where it would import notes? In principle the source of Link to New > Inkdrop could be written to that new note file. Then the user could presumably click on that link in Inkdrop to get back to the source. The source could then be used as a hub.

And users can always paste links from Hook (whether hook:// links, or other links, e.g., to OmniFocus:// tasks) into their Inkdrop notes)

In any event, we at CogSci Apps will have a look at your plugin. thanks, again.

Haha–no coincidence actually: that was me posting on the Hook forums flailing around trying to get this working. It was very straightforward once I realized I had to restart Hook to get the script changes to take effect. :blush:

Inkdrop uses an internal database to store notes; it is accessible from within Inkdrop but not outside. Regarding the Link to New: I think that could work although probably not with a “watched folder” but maybe with a single command inside of Inkdrop. I just downloaded Hook today so I’m brand new and don’t really have a mental model of how its storing/representing hubs, but from what I do understand of your suggestion it would work on some level.

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the “hub” concept is not exposed yet. Basically, Each linked resource has a URL, and any URL can be a hub. We will provide extra support in the DB/model very soon to explicitly note that a node is a hub, and you’ll be able to see this in the UI.

In my own workflows, I tend to use a particular TaskPaper file as a hub, because each project has a TaskPaper file. But one can also use any other object, such as an OmniFocus or Things task, a Bear note, a file, etc.

You can also adopt a workflow where you apply a Finder tag to a file that acts as a hub. So really the model/DB support for hubs for most people will be just icing on the cake.

One of the major use cases for Hook is to enable users to link their notes to anything, so integration with Inkdrop would be great.

Many people like using the Link to Copied Address in Hook. Some people prefer simply to use the Copy Link function and paste those links anywhere. The latter is the simplest use case and perhaps the best entry point into learning Hook.

@Prescott_Murphy

The images for the readme live in the repo so they’re broken on the inkdrop page but will display if you go to github.

fixed it! Thanks so much for making a plugin :slight_smile:

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That’s fantatistic !!! congratulations and thank you.

I’ve updated the Hook forum topic on the subject.

And we will showcase this on Hook’s blog. I’m sure your plugin will be of interest to many people across the web, both in the note-taking community and general electron and AppleScript communities!

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Yeah, cheers!!!