Javascript: Get Custom Metadata to rename file

cgrunenberg · December 20, 2021, 11:36am

It’s actually not even called by the JXA bridge in case of smart rules. Definitely weird. In the Script Editor this revision seems to work with and without defined custom metadata:

function performsmartrule(records) {
	const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
	app.includeStandardAdditions = true;

	records.forEach (r => {
  	  const n = app.getCustomMetaData({for:"company", from:r, defaultValue:""});
	  app.displayDialog(n.toString())
	})
}

(() => {
  const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
  performsmartrule(app.selectedRecords());
})()

Blanc · December 20, 2021, 11:59am

You people should just use AppleScript There’s a global shortage of parenthesis and here you are throwing them about willy nilly

denis90 · December 20, 2021, 12:07pm

Thanks to all of you. But using the self-executing anonymous function means it doesn’t work for the folder by default like configured in the smart rule, it only works if I select the entities.

@Blanc I would love to use apple script, but I don’t really get the syntax. It’s confusing for me. I was a developer for c# .NET with expertise also in JavaScript, PHP and so on, because of this, I know the JavaScript syntax much better.
But maybe I will try it with AppleScript again, if JavaScript doesn’t work 100%.

chrillek · December 20, 2021, 12:12pm

Although it does work if one adds the anonymous self-executing function after the smart rule function performsmartrule. Even funnier: This self-executing function actually gets executed inside the smart rule. Try this:

function performsmartrule(records) {
	const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
	records.forEach (r => {
			const n = app.getCustomMetaData({for:"amount", from:r});
			app.logMessage(n)
	})
}

(() => {
const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
app.logMessage('anonymous');
performsmartrule(app.selectedRecords());
})()

Here’s the output in DT’s protocol window:

As you can see, the anonymous function is executed first. That should not happen at all, in my opinion: the smart rule is not supposed to execute the JS code but only to call performsmartrule.

The anonymous function then calls performsmartrule passing it the selectedRecords() and everything is fine (note that in my case I used a different metadata field, but that is not important here).

Only after all that performsmartrule is called by the smart rule and fails probably at the n.toString() call.

One final thing: If I use app.selectedRecords() inside performsmartrule (instead of the records parameter passed into it) , everything is just honky-dory. No error, correct output. I ran the smart rule from the context menu for one single selected record in all these cases.

So I see two issues here:

the smart rule calls the anonymous self-executing function which it shouldn’t do.
there seems to be a difference between the records parameter passed into performsmartrule from DT and the selectedRecords() list although they should (at least in this case) be exactly the same.

HTH

Blanc · December 20, 2021, 12:18pm

in this one case, AppleScript is almost as brief as JS; the basic format would be:

on performSmartRule(theRecords)
	tell application id "DNtp"
		repeat with theRecord in theRecords
			set md to custom meta data of theRecord
			set theName to mdcompany of md # use mdNameOfYourMetaData instead of mdcompany
			set name of theRecord to theName
		end repeat
	end tell
end performSmartRule

This presumes your smart rule only directs records which actually contain said metadata to the script; otherwise the script will fail. If you actually choose to use it, let me know - then it should at least contain an error routine. Also, if you were going to be using it on many many files at a time, a routine for the progress indicator could be added.

Note that any changes made by script cannot be undone.

chrillek · December 20, 2021, 12:39pm

Nope. At least not in theory. The self-executing function is actually there so that you can run the same script in Script Editor and in DT’s smart rule. The smart rule should call performsmartrule only, which gets passed the records selected by the smart rule’s conditions. In Script Editor, you must select record(s) which then are passed from the anonymous function to performsmartrule. Well, all this works in theory. Right now it seems that DT is running the anonymous function first and performsmartrule second, so that the letter gets in fact called twice.

Rant follows
@Blanc: Right, of course. It is definitely a lot more fun to use AS given its obscure syntax combined with a lack of functionality and reasonable error handling.

Exactly my point: You have to know that “custom meta data” is an attribute (or property or whatever you want to call it in AppleScript). That’s what I call “obscure syntax” - nobody can see if perhaps custom might be a modifier that is applied to meta data.

Similarly with the word “Record” in DT vs. AppleScript: In DT, “Record” is one of the basic objects in a database. In AS, “Record” is a key-value datastructure. And what might the custom meta data property of a DT Record be? A “Record”, again. Albeit an AS one, so a key-value data structure. Any relevant programming language would have prevented DT from repurposing a keyword for their own structures. How things stand, you have no chance to see immediately even the type of an object/attribute/property. It is a bloody mess. But at least AS is not exhausting our supply of parenthesis

What I really don’t get: Apple had no problems at all to drop old hardware regularly (think FireWire, SCSI, parallel interfaces, all that). But dropping a language that is even worse than Basic – no way. They’re not even trying to build a viable, modern alternative to it. Just letting the old horse stumble along.

Blanc · December 20, 2021, 12:46pm

I’ll deal with it as soon as I have done with the even more pressing issues.
Thanks for your rant I’ll learn JS one day, and I will then be enlightened

Stephen_C · December 20, 2021, 1:01pm

As an elderly equestrian I like old horses.

Stephen

cgrunenberg · December 20, 2021, 1:38pm

Indeed the naming wasn’t the greatest one 16 years ago but it’s not possible to change this now without breaking all the existing scripts and JXA was definitely not on the horizon either.

BTW: Isn’t JXA a mess on its own?

cgrunenberg · December 20, 2021, 2:07pm

Actually smart rules are always executed the same way, only the function is directly called by DEVONthink. But I just compared the output of these AppleScript and JXA scripts:

on performSmartRule(theRecords)
	tell application id "DNtp"
		log message "perform"
		repeat with theRecord in theRecords
			log message (name of theRecord as string)
		end repeat
	end tell
end performSmartRule

on run
	tell application id "DNtp" to log message "run"
end run

function performsmartrule(records) {
	const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
	app.logMessage('perform');
	records.forEach (r => {
			app.logMessage(r.name())
	})
}

(() => {
const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
app.logMessage('anonymous');
})()

The first one always works as expected, run is never logged. The second one logs anonymous the first time (!) it’s executed but not anymore afterwards (as compiled scripts are internally cached to speed up smart rules).

Therefore the anonymous function seems to be only called the first time a JXA script is executed after compiling. Due to the lack of JXA documentation it’s hard to tell whether that’s intended or not.

cgrunenberg · December 20, 2021, 2:17pm

This seems to be a feature of JavaScript actually:

This would explain why it’s executed only once right after compiling and executing the script for the first time.

chrillek · December 20, 2021, 3:08pm

Of course. The whole OO thing is borken. The date functions are clumsy. Scoping is irritating. Some APIs, notably the DOM, were lacking simple functionality for a long time.

But then JavaScript is to Applescript what Pascal was to Basic.

In the end, you can solve any problem in any language. It’s just a matter of time

chrillek · December 20, 2021, 3:16pm

You’re right of course. So my beloved toy has a nasty side effect I hadn’t thought of and I’ll have to look for another way to achieve the same goal: have but one code run identically in Script Editor and in DT. And preferably only once in both, too.

The original problem remains though: the same code works ok in Script Editor and doesn’t in DT.

cgrunenberg · December 20, 2021, 3:23pm

That’s why I prefer AppleScript in most cases. It’s easy to find useful documentation and good examples on the web but for JXA… well, good luck!

chrillek · December 20, 2021, 4:01pm

I could of course point you to a brilliant site on JXA … but yes, you’re right. Although I find AS badly documented (the language itself and by Apple), there’s a lot of stuff to be found on the Web. Not so for JXA, unfortunately. And it requires a lot of experimentation in some cases.

Anyway, I came up with this now to permit using the same JS script in DT and in Script Edtior:

function performsmartrule(records) {
   const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
   records.forEach (r => {
   /* CODE goes here */
	})
}

(() => {
if (currentAppID() === "DNtp") return;
const app = Application("DEVONthink 3");
performsmartrule(app.selectedRecords());
})()

function currentAppID() {
  const p = Application.currentApplication().properties();
  return Application(p.name).id();
}

If run from inside DT, i.e. a smart rule, the anonymous function returns immidiately without calling performsmartrule. The latter will then be called directly by the smart rule in the next step – so only once. The function currentAppID is used to determine the id of the currently running app.

denis90 · December 20, 2021, 5:30pm

@Blanc I got it so far:

tell application id "DNtp"
	set theRecords to selected records
	if theRecords = {} then error "Please select a record"
	
	repeat with currentRecord in theRecords
		set metaData to custom meta data of currentRecord
		set recordDate to mddate of metaData
		set recordDateDay to get day of recordDate as text
		set recordDateMonth to get month of recordDate as integer
		if recordDateMonth < 10 then
			set recordDateMonth to "0" & recordDateMonth as string
		else
			set recordDateMonth to recordDateMonth as string
		end if
		set recordDateYear to get year of recordDate as text
		set recordDateString to recordDateYear & "." & recordDateMonth & "." & recordDateDay
		set recordCompany to mdcompany of metaData
		set recordPurpose to mdpurpose of metaData
		
		set newName to recordDateString
		if recordCompany is not equal to "" then set newName to newName & " - " & recordCompany
		if recordPurpose is not equal to "" then set newName to newName & " - " & recordPurpose
		set name of currentRecord to newName
	end repeat
end tell

I got that AppleScript running in the script editor. But now I have the problem of, that a property must not exist. How can I check that? Searched for it, but doesn’t find a solution.

Blanc · December 20, 2021, 5:42pm

That’s slightly too abstract for me; can you explain in more detail (which property, what needs to happen?), so I can think about it?

I often use a try routine - if a property exists, no error is thrown on trying to read or manipulate the property; but if it doesn’t exist, then an error is thrown which you can trap with on error within the try routine. But as I said, more information on which property would help determine whether you can determine the presents directly or whether you need to go an indirect route as above.

denis90 · December 20, 2021, 5:48pm

As of now I have 3 fields.

Date → example: 20.10.2021
Company → example: Apple
Purpose → example: Invoice

By the script I want to rename the file to:
2021.10.20 - Apple - Invoice.pdf

But company and purpose can also be empty. So if for example the purpose is not filled the name could also be: 2021.10.20 - Apple.pdf

If the purpose is empty in devonthink it’s not represented as an empty property, the property is missing at all and by this I get the following error:

error "Can’t get mdpurpose of {mdincomingoutgoing:\"Incoming\", mddate:date \"Friday, 1. January 2021 at 01:00:00\", mdbelongsto:\"Denis\", mdcompany:\"fitseveneleven\", mdcustomernumber:\"asdasd\"}." number -1728 from mdpurpose of {mdincomingoutgoing:"Incoming", mddate:date "Friday, 1. January 2021 at 01:00:00", mdbelongsto:"Denis", mdcompany:"fitseveneleven", mdcustomernumber:"asdasd"}

Blanc · December 20, 2021, 5:56pm

		try
			set recordPurpose to mdpurpose of metaData
		on error
			set recordPurpose to ""
		end try

denis90 · December 20, 2021, 7:01pm

It works, thank you .

on performSmartRule(theRecords)
	tell application id "DNtp"
		repeat with currentRecord in theRecords
			set metaData to custom meta data of currentRecord
			set recordDate to mddate of metaData
			set recordDateDay to get day of recordDate as text
			set recordDateMonth to get month of recordDate as integer
			if recordDateMonth < 10 then
				set recordDateMonth to "0" & recordDateMonth as string
			else
				set recordDateMonth to recordDateMonth as string
			end if
			set recordDateYear to get year of recordDate as text
			set recordDateString to recordDateYear & "." & recordDateMonth & "." & recordDateDay
			
			set newName to recordDateString
			
			try
				set newName to newName & " - " & (mdcompany of metaData)
			end try
			try
				set newName to newName & " - " & (mdpurpose of metaData)
			end try
			
			set name of currentRecord to newName
		end repeat
	end tell
end performSmartRule

This is how I have it now in devonthink in a smart rule.
Thanks to all of you for the fast responses. Will definitely buy now devonthink.

Hope also that devonthink will get available for shortcuts on macOS.