Hi,
I’m working with a database that includes many email and listserv messages which I need to quote and cite formally. I wanted to create a simple script to automatically pull specific metadata (sender name, message subject, creation date) into the clipboard in a specific citation format (in this case Chicago style, but I could tweak it for other styles).
I am an AppleScript novice and I thought I’d see what ChatGPT came up with and mess with it until it works, but the script just fails with no message. I can’t tell if the variable names are off, or if the whole structure is wrong. If anyone can point me in the right direction I’d appreciate it!
This is the script I’m starting with. Sorry for bringing CGPT into it!
tell application "DEVONthink 3"
set selectedRecords to selection
if selectedRecords is {} then
display alert "Please select an item in DEVONthink first." message "No item is selected." as warning
else
set selectedItem to item 1 of selectedRecords
set citationText to generateCitation(selectedItem)
set the clipboard to citationText
display notification "Citation copied to clipboard" with title "Success"
end if
end tell
on generateCitation(selectedItem)
-- Extract necessary information from the selected item and format it as a citation
-- You'll need to customize this part based on the structure of your listserv messages
-- For now, let's assume you have placeholders for sender, title, date, and listserv name
set senderName to name of sender of selectedItem
set messageTitle to name of selectedItem
set messageDate to modification date of selectedItem
set listservName to name of parent 1 of selectedItem
-- Customize the citation format according to Chicago style
set citationText to "Author: " & senderName & return & "Title: " & messageTitle & return & "Date: " & messageDate & return & "Listserv: " & listservName
return citationText
end generateCitation
thanks
Lucas