You probably know of nvALT, so I’ll describe Magic Launch. Magic Launch overrides the default file handlers and processes them based on rules, allowing you to specify conditions under which to launch certain apps when certain filetypes are double-clicked. It’s really handy. For example, you can see my Markdown rules below.

Short files, like this post, are opened in Byword as the default app for the filetype. Longer files are opened in MultiMarkdown Composer, which has a great table of contents feature for navigating while editing. Here’s where nvALT comes in: if the file is in my nvALT notes folder, it opens nvALT and jumps straight to that note. It’s a neat trick if you make use of your note files in ways other than just nvALT. From the command line, instead of open -a nvALT filename.md you can just open filename.md . Not a huge difference, but a nifty tool.

There are a lot more clever things you can do with Magic Launch. If you’ve ever been frustrated with dealing with UTI’s and what file opens what app, here’s a very easy solution. It’s relatively expensive for a utility ($20), so you’ll only be interested if the cost is equal to or greater than your frustration with assigning default applications.

Another useful app in the same vein is RCDefault. This one handles all kinds of things, including UTIs and URL handlers. It’s free, and I use both Magic Launch and RCDefault. The primary reason Magic Launch is superior for file handling is conditional rules, which RCDefault doesn’t have. The URL handling is great fun, though, and you can see all of the url handlers assigned by apps on your system. I bet you didn’t even know some of them were available. Have fun.

Related posts:

1. Quick tip: running nvALT after a Notational Velocity update
2. nvALT Browser Extensions
3. iOS app review: Listary

Originally posted on BrettTerpstra.com at A word about Magic Launch and nvALT

• Open Automator and choose “Service” from the first menu.
• Tell it that the service “receives text” in “any application”.
• Drag the “Run Shell Script” action from the left side.
• Set the Shell to Ruby
• Paste in the code below (or something of your own, hopefully far more interesting)
• Save it with an intuitive name
• Use it.

require 'net/http'
require 'cgi'
 
input = STDIN.read
http = Net::HTTP.new('to.')
path = '/'
 
data = "url=#{CGI.escape(input.strip)}"
headers = {'Content-Type' => 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded'}
 
resp, data = http.post(path, data, headers)
 
if resp.code.to_i == 200
  print data.split(/value="/)[1].split(/"/)[0]
else
  print input
end

Basically, anything you can do to or with text or files using a major scripting language, you can make into a Snow Leopard service. Now that I’ve set the bar this low, I’d love to see what new Services everyone else is cooking up!

Update: Yeah, that didn’t work out so well. It works sometimes, but leaves url parameters in the shortened url half the time. I haven’t figured out why, but I’ll leave it up and see if someone can point out the error of my ways…Fixed it, just neglected to notice it needed a POST, not a GET

Update 2: Here, this one’s shorter and more useful :)

require 'open-uri'
require 'cgi'
 
input = STDIN.read
print open("http://is.gd/api.php?longurl=#{CGI.escape(input.strip)}").read

Related posts:

1. Is your URL too short? Try our system, free!
2. TextExpander: bit.ly with authentication
3. TextExpander experiments

Originally posted on BrettTerpstra.com at A System Service for to. url shortening