Outliner with drag/drop reordering - part 2

cvp

@ccc thanks for the advice

cvp

This a (low priority) idea for the wish list: I sometimes want to read my outlines on the Mac. What I do now is save them in pdf or some other format that the Mac understands. This works fine but I have to remember to do it after any change so that the outline will be up-to-date. A reader script in python would permit me to view an outline on the Mac or on anything that runs python and has access to the iCloud files.

Written in my todo list, but when you say "view an outline", that will say use an UI...or print it in the console of this Python interpreter.

I have never used Python on a Mac, which free app do I need?

ihf

@cvp Using a UI would be very nice but I would settle for the console. Python comes on the Mac but since it is OSX (and not iOS) you can pretty much install any Python distribution you like. I use Anaconda.

cvp

@ihf Ok, I've installed Python on my (very old and unused Mac) via https://docs.python.org/3/using/mac.html.

Then I wrote a very quick and dirty (as usual) script to

define a path where to start the files dialog (see and set your default_path)
open a files dialog allowing only .outline files
select an outline file
printing your file in console (outline in red, text in blue) without any image

Please, try it and tell me how you would want to see it better

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# coding: utf-8

from __future__ import print_function, absolute_import
from   ast      import literal_eval
import os
import sys
from   tkinter  import *
from   tkinter.filedialog import askopenfilename
root = Tk()
root.withdraw()

default_path = os.path.expanduser('~/Desktop/Users/Christian/Pythonista/Backup/Outline')
valid_types = [("Outline files", "*.outline")]

RED = '\033[91m'
BLUE = '\033[94m'

def clear():
	os.system('clear')

def main():
	file_path = askopenfilename(initialdir=default_path,
                             message="Choose one outline file",
                             multiple=False,
                             title="Outline Selector",
                             filetypes=valid_types)
	if not file_path:
		sys.exit("User cancelled")
	clear()
	print(file_path, end='\n')
	with open(file_path, mode='rt', encoding='utf-8', errors="surrogateescape") as fil:
		c = fil.read()
		c_prms = c.split('\n')
		c = c_prms[0]
		cs = literal_eval(c)
		del c
		del c_prms
		for c in cs:
			vals,outline,opts,dict_text = c
			text = dict_text['text']					
			print(f"{RED}{outline} {BLUE}{text}")
		del text
		del cs
	

if __name__ == '__main__':
	sys.exit(main())

cvp

@ihf sorry, error due to late change, del text instead of del t

cvp

@ihf Instead of printing the outline file in the console, I could create a local html file with the outline content and open a new tab in Safari showing this html, but it is a little bit more complex. And surely if we want to include the images in the html...

ccc

https://brew.sh is the essential tool for macOS.

brew install python

cvp

@ccc Far from me to critic any Mac software , but, sincerely, I stopped to use my Mac some years ago and I have programmed all what I needed on my iPad in Pythonista, Shortcuts, Scriptable, IFTTT.
It is only when @ihf asked this last feature that I powered my Mac on. I don't want to spend more time to learn something new, but thanks for the info, as usual.

ihf

@cvp I tried the viewer script. It worked fine on the first outline I tried but the second gave:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/Users/ihf/Desktop/outline_viewer.py", line 48, in <module>
    sys.exit(main())
  File "/Users/ihf/Desktop/outline_viewer.py", line 42, in main
    print(f"{RED}{outline} {BLUE}{text}")
UnicodeEncodeError: 'ascii' codec can't encode character '\u2019' in position 27: ordinal not in range(128)

It would be helpful if a path to the Outline could optionally be passed to the script rather than requiring the selection each time.

As far as rendering in html, that would be useful if there are images and more elegant than using the console but at least I can see the outlines on the Mac.

cvp

@ihf Since IOS 15, I have a lot of problems with a lot of apps, including Pythonista and Pyto, obliging me to restart my iPad. They stay hanging even if restart from Safari or in safe mode for Pythonista.
I program the script on my iPad, in Pythonista with the script open as external on the Mac via the Files app. And if Pythonista hangs, I can't do anything.
I guess this encode problem comes from a special character in the file, not accepted by the print.

cvp

@ihf How do you call the script with argument?

ihf

@cvp outline_viewer path_to_file

cvp

@ihf thus in terminal? I used in double clicking it in Finder

cvp

@ihf see V00.01 of mac_outline_viewer

You can pass as argument the entire path of the outline file, relative versus folder of script it-self.

cvp

@ihf see V00.02 of mac_outline_viewer with

  V0.02
    - runs on Mac and in Pythonista on iPad/iPhone
    - generates a web page (without images, font attributes, links...)
    - opens a new tab in Safari to display the html

As I don't know a lot about html/css, I don't see how I could make this script better so the html would support images (at left/right/...), font attributes, links and so on...

I wonder if the ideal would not be that the outline program generates a .pdf each time an .outline file is "finished", either when the program is closed, or when the option "new" creates a new one,

the mac_outline_viewer program would then allow you to choose a .pdf to display.

cvp

@ihf Are you interested by viewing your outlines (text) on your Apple Watch (if you have one as I think )?
If yes, I've found a way (after hours of tests), not yet programmed but feasible.
The outline.py program could, at each save, create/update the notes field (if accessible as I hope, but not sure, see here) of a contact named as
first name = outline
last name = file name (without the yyyymmdd_hhmmss part)
You would need to run a shortcut on your Apple Watch, shortcut as:

show a list of contacts with first name = outline
you select one in the list
get notes
quick look of notes

It seems that from IOS 13, notes field of contact is no more available to apps.
Thus, my solution would not work.
I'll try to use notes fields of calendar events, for instance in a specific calendar...
Tried (not in outline.py) and ok
Concept is to store it in an area readable by Apple Watch shortcut and shared on all Idevices

cvp

@ihf please give me news about the Mac script and the Apple Watch proposal

ihf

@cvp Sorry for the delay in replying. I am away from home this week and had some network issues yesterday. I will try to test the Mac script later today. As to the watch, that would be a great addition. I think I would use DataJar for this purpose. I have to look at how Pythonista could add values though.

cvp

@ihf oups, sorry to have insisted, no urgence at all.
don't know datajar, if you find a way that Pythonista could use it to update such a file, tell me.

cvp

@ihf the only way I actually see to update the Data Jar database is via a shortcut, not via a Python script. Thus, I don't see how it could help you to store the ouTline data.