June 20 2023

another banger alfred workflow

June 20 2023

Writing

The Universal Tool
There is an old adage that “when you have a hammer, everything begins to look like a nail”

Code

Another Alfred banger. This time I'm appending to my weekly note > day of the week > events | thoughts | todo heading. It's basically the best thing ever to an organization and journaling nerd like me.

Example of thoughts pushed today (look at the time stamp!)

https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/06/example-of-result-of-weekly-push.png
example of result of weekly push.png

Alfred

https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/06/append-to-weekly-1.png
append to weekly 1.png
https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/06/append-to-weekly-2.png
append to weekly 2.png
https://bram-adams.ghost.io/content/images/2023/06/append-to-weekly-3.png
append to weekly 3.png

Python

import sys
import os
import datetime
import argparse
from pathlib import Path

# https://chat.openai.com/share/3e2173cd-b2da-4ae8-8dff-4d1ebde65fdd <- how this is made

append_to = os.getenv("append_to")
query = os.getenv("value")

# Get the day of the week
now = datetime.datetime.now()
day_of_week = now.strftime('%A').lower()
time_string = now.strftime('%H:%M:%S')

# Define the path of the Weekly_Folder
Weekly_Folder = Path("{YOUR_WEEKLY_FOLDER_PATH}")

# Get the most recent file in the Weekly_Folder
most_recent_file = max(Weekly_Folder.glob('*'), key=os.path.getctime)

# Define the section to append to based on the input category
if append_to == "todo":
    section = "### todo/" + day_of_week
    query = "- [ ] (" + time_string + ") "  + query
elif append_to == "events":
    section = "#### events/" + day_of_week
    query = "(" + time_string + ") " + query
elif append_to == "thoughts":
    section = "#### thoughts/" + day_of_week
    query = "(" + time_string + ") " + query
else:
    sys.stderr.write("Invalid category. Please choose either 'todo', 'events', or 'thoughts'.")
    exit()

# Read the file
with open(most_recent_file, 'r+') as file:
    lines = file.readlines()
    
    # Find the section and append the string_to_append
    start_append = False
    for i, line in enumerate(lines):
        if line.strip() == section:
            # Start appending after the section
            start_append = True
        elif start_append and (line.startswith("###") or line.startswith("####")):
            # Stop appending if we find another heading at the same or higher level
            lines.insert(i, query + '\n\n')
            break
    else:
        if start_append:
            # If the section was the last one, append at the end of the file
            lines.append(query + '\n\n')
        else:
            print(f"Could not find the section: {section}")
            exit()

    # Write the modified lines back to the file
    file.seek(0)
    file.write(''.join(lines))
    file.truncate()

sys.stderr.write(f"Successfully appended string to the {append_to} section on {day_of_week}.")

Obsidian Weekly Template

## Commitments

### todo/sunday

#### events/sunday

#### thoughts/sunday

### todo/monday

#### events/monday

#### thoughts/monday

### todo/tuesday

#### events/tuesday

#### thoughts/tuesday

### todo/wednesday

#### events/wednesday

#### thoughts/wednesday

### todo/thursday

#### events/thursday

#### thoughts/thursday

### todo/friday

#### events/friday

#### thoughts/friday

### todo/saturday

#### events/saturday

#### thoughts/saturday

bramadams.dev is a reader-supported published Zettelkasten. Both free and paid subscriptions are available. If you want to support my work, the best way is by taking out a paid subscription.