Wow Bernardo. That is so cool! Thanks very much. Also, I have read about your work on Aristotle the other thread you did. Its great to see how so many people who work in such a wide variety of fields are able to bend this application to their needs. Thanks for sharing, this is great.
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This is the last version of script A.2
-
"RegexAndStuffLib"is no longer needed. - No need to add database UUID.
use AppleScript version "2.4" -- Yosemite (10.10) or later
use scripting additions
property UseAliases : true
property theFont : "" -- Your favorite font
property MDField : "" -- Custom meta data field name
on performSmartRule(theSources)
tell application id "DNtp"
show progress indicator "Updating return links"
-- set theSources to the selection
repeat with theSource in theSources
set theSearchString to my prepare_search_string(theSource)
set theName to name of theSource
try
set theShortName to texts 1 through 4 of theName
on error
set theShortName to texts 1 through 3 of theName
end try
set theShortName to my replaceText(theShortName, " ", "%20")
set theList to my get_list(theSearchString, theShortName)
set theResult to my print_to_DT(theList, theSource)
end repeat
hide progress indicator
display notification "return links updated"
end tell
end performSmartRule
-- Handlers section
on replaceText(theString, old, new)
set {TID, text item delimiters} to {text item delimiters, old}
set theStringItems to text items of theString
set text item delimiters to new
set theString to theStringItems as text
set text item delimiters to TID
return theString
end replaceText
on trimtext(theText, theCharactersToTrim, theTrimDirection)
set theTrimLength to length of theCharactersToTrim
if theTrimDirection is in {"beginning", "both"} then
repeat while theText begins with theCharactersToTrim
try
set theText to characters (theTrimLength + 1) thru -1 of theText as string
on error
-- text contains nothing but trim characters
return ""
end try
end repeat
end if
if theTrimDirection is in {"end", "both"} then
repeat while theText ends with theCharactersToTrim
try
set theText to characters 1 thru -(theTrimLength + 1) of theText as string
on error
-- text contains nothing but trim characters
return ""
end try
end repeat
end if
return theText
end trimtext
on sortlist(theList)
set theIndexList to {}
set theSortedList to {}
repeat (length of theList) times
set theLowItem to ""
repeat with a from 1 to (length of theList)
if a is not in theIndexList then
set theCurrentItem to item a of theList as text
if theLowItem is "" then
set theLowItem to theCurrentItem
set theLowItemIndex to a
else if theCurrentItem comes before theLowItem then
set theLowItem to theCurrentItem
set theLowItemIndex to a
end if
end if
end repeat
set end of theSortedList to theLowItem
set end of theIndexList to theLowItemIndex
end repeat
return theSortedList
end sortlist
on prepare_search_string(theSource)
tell application id "DNtp"
set theName to name of theSource
set theNameString to "(\"" & theName & "\")"
set theDB to the name of current database
set theAliases to ""
if UseAliases then set theAliases to aliases of theSource
if theAliases is not "" then
set theAliasesString to my trimtext(theAliases, ", ", "end")
set theAliasesString to my trimtext(theAliases, " ", "end")
set theAliasesString to my replaceText(theAliasesString, ", ", "\") OR (\"")
set theSearchString to theNameString & " OR " & "(\"" & theAliasesString & "\")"
end if
if theAliases is "" then
set theSearchString to theNameString
end if
set theSearchString to "name!=" & theName & " content: " & theSearchString & space & "kind: markdown"
return theSearchString
end tell
end prepare_search_string
on get_list(theSearchString, theShortName)
tell application id "DNtp"
set theRecords to search theSearchString in current database
set theNR to count theRecords
-- log message "Found " & theNR & " return links to the record"
set theList to {}
repeat with each in theRecords
set the end of theList to return & quoted form of ("<a id=" & name of each & "\" href=\"" & reference URL of each & "?search=" & theShortName & "&reveal=1" & "\">" & name of each & "</a></br>")
end repeat
considering numeric strings
set theList to my sortlist(theList)
end considering
return theList
end tell
end get_list
on print_to_DT(theList, theSource)
tell application id "DNtp"
set theList to "'<font size=\"6\" color=\"#8080BB\"><font face=\"" & theFont & "\">'" & theList & "'</font></font>'"
-- Convert to RTF
set theRTF to (do shell script "echo " & theList & " | textutil -stdin -stdout -inputencoding utf-8 -format html -convert rtf | pbcopy")
set theRTF to the clipboard
set theRTF to «class RTF » of theRTF
add custom meta data theRTF for MDField to theSource
end tell
end print_to_DT
@rlamber3, thank your for your kind words 
Jim @BLUEFROG, is there some restriction against editing older posts? I tried to edit the original post but couldn’t do it.
No restriction I’m aware of at this time.
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@Bernardo_V, I’d like to thank you for offering these scripts to us. Your generosity helps those of us unfamiliar with scripting.
I had a question regarding Version C and A2. I searched for the Regex lib, but i received a 404 error from the Mac Automation website. Then I noticed, in Version A2, you somehow you removed the need for the regex lib altogether. I’m curious, how would one update Version C in a similar manner?
I’m attempting to alter your script to append backlinks to the file. While your A2 script works flawlessly, I think having backlinks appended to a note is be a better long term solution. I have been unsuccessful in combining C and A2 into a workable script.
What do you think? Is such an edit to Version C possible? And if so, how?
Hi @biznachio, welcome
You can remove the reference to the script library without any problems in version C. I just did that and added some improvements. Here is the updated version.
Thank you very much for posting these scripts @Bernardo_V.
I am trying to leverage the new version you shared with @biznachio.
So I created two test files 1 and 2. And File 2.md links to 1.md
I selected
property AutoWiki_Links : false
… as I use wiki-links.
Based on my understanding the smart-rule script should create a backlink in file 1.md pointing back to 2.md?
But this does not seem to work for me. What do i miss?
Thank you very much for your amazing work across this forum.
For the last version of the scripts posted to this thread, please see this repository:
Thank you very much.
I am leveraging Version A as a smart rule.
With Autowikilinks false
The script is stuck for me in step 2:
and I cannot seem to cancel this action (requires closing DT).
Logs say theText is not definied:
Seems to work fine here. Is this the script you are using? Have you tried adding a condition to the smart rule so that it will only target plain text files?
I am late to this thread, so have only used the latest scripts from GitHub as of today. I am seeing the same message in the log: “on performSmartRule the variable theText is not defined”
I am using version A unchanged.
Using Script Debugger, I set a breakpoint at
tell application id “DNtp”
just inside performSmartRule() but it never triggers.
I have run standalone scripts in DT3 but this is my first attempt with a script in a smart rule so I am probably not understanding something fundamental.
I have tried the smart rule only targeting plain text and or markdown files with the same result as any document.
Hope this helps shed some light on the situation.
Hello and thank you again @Bernardo_V. Your script works like a charm! I am indebted to you.
I am curious, is there a way to skip adding the backlink delimiter on notes where if the list is empty? That way, only files with backlinks get parsed and the others don’t have a Backlinks heading with no links listed beneath.
@Bernardo_V - Thanks for these scripts!
Today, I set up a small framework to debug the script following Jim’s (@BLUEFROG) suggestion: How best to debug Applescripts running inside DT3
That quickly showed me that the reason why I was getting “theText is not defined” message in the log is because one of my test files was empty. It was being linked to from another file, but there was no text inside this “target” file and that was causing the error.
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You can add this to run it as a standalone.
tell application id "DNtp" to my PerformSmartRule(selection as list)
Done 
Just look for version A in the git repo.
@jooz, perhaps that could be it for your case as well?
That was indeed my case! My both test files were empty. Your script works brilliantly now after adding some random test text 
P.S.: Thank you a ton for being such an impressive contributor to this forum (and also other forums like KM!). I learnt a ton from you.
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Is there a way of having this script show x-devonthink-item:// links as well as wiki links? I have occasion to use those so it’d be great if the back links for those were also listed.
Hi @Bernardo_V,
Your script is exactly what I need, but for some reason I can make it work.
I want to use it as a smart rule, but it behaves strangely.
If I give a file more than one alias, then it will not return any link.
What am I doing wrong?
Hi @Bernardo_V
I set up Version B of your wonderful script. I test it in a test database.
After using it, it only works on Pdf reference file; but didn’t does anything on md and rtf files.
Is there any configuration that I missed to take?
I used the last version on GitHub.
My suggestion would to test in a separate database and with more files.
See if that helps!
Thanks. I will check it with my main database.