Last updated: <2018.1128 18:06:10>

This directory contains Applescript code for manipulating stuff in my Evernote account. There is a python program that uses the Evernote OAUTH mechanism for accessing Evernote online, but that turned out to be less useful than expected (see "Reasons to prefer Applescript over Python" below).

This project follows the conventions described at

• Keep a Changelog,
• Semantic Versioning, and
• Simple Release Cycle

• add-tag-url:

  • Assign a (set of) tags to a note based on its url

• add-tags:

  • Assign a (set of) tags to a (set of) notes

• consolidate-conflicts

  • Collect any notes from conflict notebooks into a single notebook and delete all the dated conflict notebooks

• count-notes:

  • Count the Evernote notes that match a given query string

• daily-twiddle:

  • Shift tags on notes for today and yesterday

• del-notes:

  • Delete notes that match a specified query string

• etool.py:

  • See "The Python Experiment" below

• library:

  • Utility functions used by other scripts. The file library.scpt is generated from this source by the command in Makefile.

• list-notes:

  • Report the note urls for each of the notes matching the query string

• make-date:

  • Date manipulation code for testing and examples

• make-day:

  • Create a day note based on the relevant template

• make-note:

  • Create a new note based on the command line args

• make-season.py

  • Python that assembles HTML for a season page

• make-todo:

  • Create an action item note with the current date

• make-week:

  • Create a week's worth of diary notes

• Makefile:

  • Command for regenerating library.scpt from library

• note-exists:

  • Checks whether a specified query string matches at least one note

• README.md:

  • This file

• rm-tags:

  • Remove a (set of) tags from a (set of) notes

• show-note-html

  • Dump the content of the first matched note as HTML

• show-note-link

  • Retrieve and report the internal link for the first matched note

• show-notes:

  • Display a set of notes

• test_osa.py:

  • Test Applescript/Evernote interaction code

• version

  • Report the project version

• ymd-title

  • Add modified ISO date to note titles that don't have it

I tried using python to manipulate Evernote. The code is in etool.py. That requires using oauth authentication and authorization. etool has a 'get_token' function that lets you interact with Evernote to authorize the app and generate an API key that can then be used for a specified time period to access the account on behalf of the user.

Other functions include create_notebook (incomplete), list_notes, and list_notebooks.

The cred file has the following format:

    [basic]
    key: <consumer-key>
    secret: <consumer-secret>
    token: <API-token>

    [full]
    key: <consumer-key>
    secret: <consumer-secret>
    token: <API-token>

The first stanza allows basic access, which creating notebooks and notes but does not support examining or manipulating existing notes. The second stanza provides full access. In each case, the key and secret are obtained from the Evernote website in a manual interaction and then used to request an API token with the etool get_token function.

• Applescript carries out Evernote interactions directly on the local machine and doesn't need to be authenticated. Synchronization with the cloud version is left to Evernote itself.

• Applescript is not subject to the bandwidth limits Evernote imposes on online applications because it does its work locally.

• Python interactions require internet access. Applescript interactions do not.

• Using oauth on Evernote for full access to production requires justifying the level of access your app requires. With Applescript, all the functions are immediately available without having to justify anything to anybody.

• Update the MAJOR version component on incompatible API changes.
• Update the MINOR version component on new, backward-compatible functionality.
• Update the PATCH version component for backward-compatible bug fixes.

• Checkout the current master branch to a child branch with a meaningful name.
• Make changes to the child branch until it is ready to be the next release.
• Verify that all tests are passing.
• Once all changes are complete and tests are passing,
  • Update CHANGELOG.md to reflect the updates.
  • Update the file VERSION.txt to reflect the new version.
  • Verify again that all tests pass.
  • Make an annotated version tag on the last commit in the work branch. Put the text of the CHANGELOG.md entry in the description of the new tag.
• Checkout master and merge the work branch.
• Verify again that all tests pass.
• Push master to the origin.

• Keep a Changelog
• Semantic Versioning
• Simple Release Cycle