Populating Dialogs with External Files

• YAML
• JSON
• Plain Text
• Executable Script
• Checkbox Dialogs from External Files

Similar to snippet syntax, you can read a list of multiple choice dialog options from an external file or script using ?< FILEPATH. Bunch recognizes several different file types (YAML, JSON, text), as well as executable scripts.

Reading from files works for multiple choice dialogs only, not for text input requests or checkbox arrays.

You can specify the title of the dialog by including the desired text in quotes after the filename.

?< scripts/Menu Source.json "Pick your Poison"

YAML

If the file has a .yaml or .yml extension, it’s contents will be read as YAML. The structure should either be an array of strings, or an array of key/value pairs. A dictionary of key/value pairs will work, but order can’t be preserved.

Example YAML input, array of key/value pairs:

---
- Option 1: "This is the value of option 1"
- Option 2: "This is the value of option 2"

JSON

If the file has a .json extension, it will be read as JSON. The structure should either be an array of strings or an array of key/value pairs.

Example JSON input, array of key/value pairs:

[
    {"Option 1":"Value 1"},
    {"Option 2":"Value 2"}
]

Plain Text

If a file has the extension .txt, its contents are read as a list, one item per line. If a line is formatted as a dictionary line, e.g. Title => Value, it will be interpreted as such. A line that doesn’t contain => will be interpreted as a regular string, used for both title and value of the menu option.

Example text input, dictionary format:

Option 1 => Value 1
Option 2 => Value 2

Executable Script

If the file specified has neither YAML, JSON, or .txt extensions, it’s checked to see if it’s executable. If it is, its output is read and determined to be YAML, JSON, or plain text.

To make your script executable, run chmod a+x /path/to/script in Terminal.

A script should have a shebang line (e.g. #! /bin/zsh) and return output in JSON, YAML, or plain text format. The format will be automatically determined, first by attempting to parse it as JSON, then as YAML, and finally assuming a plain text list of options.

AppleScript .scpt files are not currently supported. If you want to use an AppleScript to populate the menu, save it as a plain text .applescript file, insert #!/usr/bin/osascript as the first line of the file, and make it executable. Then just use ?< MyScript.applescript to run it.

Checkbox Dialogs from External Files

You can’t use ?< syntax to populate a checkbox dialog, but you can use a snippet to directly load options for a menu. As long as the text file is written in the GitHub style checkbox format, you can just include it as a snippet and the options will be presented.

A text file called apps.txt written to by a script (or whatever):

-[x] TaskPaper
-[ ] OmniFocus

Then in the Bunch, just add:

<apps.txt

When the Bunch is opened, the app options are presented. Apps opened by the Bunch are also closed when the Bunch closes (if the Bunch toggles). You could take this a step further and make the whole dialog optional, too:

<apps.txt ?"Load additional apps?"

Now you’ll get a prompt, and if you cancel it the checkbox dialog will be skipped. Just in case you wanted to get crazy with it.