Re: Use XML to create extensible data structures in text fields?
Re: Use XML to create extensible data structures in text fields?
- Subject: Re: Use XML to create extensible data structures in text fields?
- From: Michael Grant <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2017 20:46:46 -0600
Thanks guys — at this point I don't have anything remotely as formal as
requirements — just sort of a nagging frustration that some of my favorite
apps aren't giving me exactly the features that I want. Right now I'm
mainly fishing for ideas, especially if others have tried anything along
the lines I mentioned that I could learn from, maybe first of all by
helping me clarify just what I do want to accomplish.
Michael
On Thu, Nov 23, 2017 at 3:49 PM, Jim Underwood <email@hidden> wrote:
> Michael,
>
> Without having more details, it is very difficult to offer you any sort of
> credible and useful suggestions. Having said that, here are my thoughts
> off the top of my head, which may, or may not, be useful or apply to your
> project.
>
> IMO, you need to consider much more than just the data structures. Step
> back and look at the big picture.
>
> *Scope*
>
> - First, carefully consider the scope of your project. And yes, it is
> a project, with many parts and tasks.
> - It sounds to me like you want to build your own data management app,
> which is a very large, complex project.
> - Data structures is just the start
> - Forms to input and edit your data
> - Methods to search, sort, analyze, summarize the data
> - Reports to show results
> - If you store your data as text in individual records (notes) of your
> existing app, how are you going to operate on multiple records at once
> (like to search, sort, summarize)?
> - Reading the text of every note every time you want to do some
> analysis will be very slow.
>
> *Development Tools*
>
> - *Let me just suggest right here, AppleScript is a very poor tool to
> do all of the above.*
> - While you can obviously write your own handlers, AppleScript does
> not have any built in tools to do this.
> - Native AppleScript has very, very poor data structures, but you
> can use ASObjC to gain access to more complex and powerful structures
> like
> arrays and dictionaries. BTW, it is very easy to read a XML and create
> an
> ASObjC dictionary from it.
> - In particular, it supports only very simple, basic forms (display
> dialog, choose from list)
> - There are a couple of script libraries by Shane Stanley
> <https://www.macosxautomation.com/applescript/apps/Script_Libs.html>
> that add a lot display options, but you are still designing the
> windows/forms manually by coding -- no WYSIWUG form editor.
> - IOW, it is still a lot of work to get even basic data input,
> editing, and reporting displays.
> - If you really want to build your own data mgt app, then IMO you need
> tools like:
> - Xcode
> -
>
> Xojo: Cross-platform App Development Tool <https://xojo.com/>
> - FileMaker Pro <http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/>
> - and I'm sure there are a number of other app development tools
>
>
> *Solution Options*
>
> 1. If I had this requirement, the first thing I'd do is to look for
> existing apps that already do what I need.
> - The ideal candidates would be ones that provide 80-90%+ of what
> you need out-of-the-box, and then provide scripting support so you can
> further customize the app.
> 2. Store all of your custom data in an external source/app
> - Then put a link in the existing app's notes field to the data
> record in your external source
> - FileMaker Pro <http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/>
> could
> be a good choice for this. It has excellent AppleScript support.
> 3. Build your own data management app as described above
> 4. Use AppleScript to cobble together some analysis tools (not
> recommended)
>
>
> *Again, all of this is without knowledge of your real requirements, and
> has not had any review. It is just brain-storming! Treat it as such. 😉*
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Jim Underwood
> aka *JMichaelTX*
>
>
> From: AppleScript-Users <applescript-users-bounces+
> jmichael=email@hidden> on behalf of Michael Grant <
> email@hidden>
> Date: Thursday, November 23, 2017 at 12:14 PM
> To: "ASUL (AppleScript)" <email@hidden>
> Subject: Use XML to create extensible data structures in text fields?
>
> I often want to add my own structured custom data to various list-based
> applications like task managers, address books, and whatnot. An example
> would be adding budget or client data to projects and tasks in OmniFocus.
> Most of these apps do offer some kind of "notes" field where I can enter
> arbitrary text, but I'd like to have something more structured so I can do
> things like compare, sort, or sum data from consistently defined "fields".
>
> So, I've been toying with the idea of creating my own XML data structures,
> maybe using something like plists as a model, to hold this kind of stuff
> and storing them in these notes fields, with a collection of AppleScripts
> to parse and manipulate the data. But I have no idea whether this is
> actually a practical thing to do. Has anyone else out there tried anything
> like this?
>
> Thanks,
> Michael
>
>
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