ONE TEXT FILE TO RULE THEM ALL

Wow, it's been a year since I posted here and the only reason that I'm breaking my silent streak (other social media being much more interactive and fun) is that I am bursting with geeky pride over completing My System which I affectionately refer to as One Text File to Rule Them All.

I got the idea of working from a Big Ass Text File from this post on 43 folders. Being forced to use WordPerfect at work increased my desire to have most of my stuff in an almost completely incorruptible format, namely the humble plaintext txt or flat file as it is sometimes called.

Development

I used AutoHotKey to create a way to quickly input data from any of my computers, because the script and the text file (to rule them all) both reside in my DropBox folder. Run the script and it waits of me to press the key combination of Control+Spacebar which brings up this interface:

Whatever I type can be categorized into my stream-of-consciousness journal, placed in my knowledge database (bookmarks, quotes, etc), added to my wish list (book titles, software), added to my Do or Now lists (to do and next actions respectively), included in my list of half-baked ideas or saved to the text file and uploaded to Twitter automatically (the number at the bottom of the dialog counts your letters for tweeting purposes). When this window is up, you can use Ctrl+First letter shortcuts. I also have hotkeys set up to bring up each of these lists separately (Win+Letter) which can be accessed even if the dialog is not active.

To inactivate an item one must only open any of the lists and press Win+R (for remove). The text file will still contain this item, but it won't be sent to the sublists. I also put in a hotkey (Win+x) which clips whatever you have highlighted directly to the txt file with a datestamp and #clipped hashtag.

Now, no self-respecting programmer would be proud of this. It's a good thing that I am not a programmer and also possess no self respect.

Script provided below requires AutoHotKey and httpQUERY.ahk (in the same folder). Unless you give me your twitter username and password and I can create you a .exe - how much do you trust me?

; ONE TEXT FILE TO RULE THEM ALL

;

; Install - place httpQUERY.ahk in the same folder with this script. The ONE TEXT

FILE TO RULE THEM ALL

; and the temporary sub files will be in the same folder. Runs great in your

MyDropBox folder.

;

; Instructions:

; Ctrl-Space opens dialog

; Win-Space opens the One Text File

; Win-x copies (appends) to the one text file without switching screens (adds

#clipped hashtag)

; KEY below

;® Do Items Win+d opens a file of Do items

;¤ Now Items Win+n

;§ Wish Items Win+w

;© Half-Baked Items Win+h

;¶ Knowledge Items Win+k

;¦ Journal Item Win+j

;« Calendar Item Win+c

;µ Tweet Item Win+t

;¥ (reserved for future use)

;

; To inactivate (but not delete it from your OTF, highlight the datestamp and

press Win+r (for remove)

;

; Code to post to twitter from agdurrette:

http://www.autohotkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=45459&highlight=twitter

#NoEnv

#Persistent

#SingleInstance, Force

SendMode Input

SetTitleMatchMode 2

SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%

#include %A_ScriptDir%\httpQuery.ahk

Gui, Add, Edit, x6 y10 w310 h20 gUpdateChar vData ,

Gui, Add, Button, x6 y40 w70 h30 default, &Journal

Gui, Add, Button, x6 y80 w70 h30, &Knowledge

Gui, Add, Button, x86 y40 w70 h30, &Calendar

Gui, Add, Button, x86 y80 w70 h30, &Tweet

Gui, Add, Button, x166 y40 w70 h30, &Wish

Gui, Add, Button, x166 y80 w70 h30, &HalfBaked

Gui, Add, Button, x246 y40 w70 h30, &Do

Gui, Add, Button, x246 y80 w70 h30, &Now

Gui, Add, Text, x6 y120 w200 h20 vCounter,

;This just provides a counter in the GUI of how many characters you have written

(useful for Twitter posts)

UpdateChar:

GuiControlGet, Status,, Data

stringlen cnt, Status

GuiControl Text, Counter, %cnt%

Return

;This posts a tweet to Twitter - change "username" and "password" to yours

Post:

{

URL := "http://username:password@twitter.com/statuses/update.xml?"

POSTdata := "status="status

httpQUERY(buffer:="",URL,POSTdata)

}

Return

^Space::

GuiControl,,Data,

Gui, Show,,One Text File to Rule Them All

Sleep, 50

ControlFocus, Edit1, OTFTRTA

Return

#Space::

Run OTFTRTA.txt

ControlFocus,,OTFTRTA

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

; Used this for a moment to sumbit True to SQL

;#z::

;Send, True`n

;Return

;Destroys the old versions of the organized text output files and recreates them

with the most recent data

;I could do this by reading in variables, but this is easier to read and change in

the future

Refreshlists:

FileDelete, anything.txt

FileDelete, Do.txt

FileDelete, Now.txt

FileDelete, Journal.txt

FileDelete, Wish.txt

FileDelete, Calendar.txt

FileDelete, HalfBaked.txt

FileDelete, Knowledge.txt

FileDelete, Tweet.txt

FileDelete, Clipped.txt

;Make copies of the first one of these to create separate files for anything you

want with a hashtag

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, anything.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, #anything, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, clipped.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, #clipped, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Do.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ®, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Now.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ¤, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Journal.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ¦, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Knowledge.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ¶, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Calendar.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, «, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Tweet.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, µ, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, Wish.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, §, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, HalfBaked.txt

{

IfInString, A_LoopReadLine, ©, FileAppend, %A_LoopReadLine%`n

}

Return

;This part clips what is highlighted to the OTFTRTA without changing screens. You

get a wee little beep

;as evidence that it worked.

#x::

clipboard=

Send, ^c

ClipWait, 2

if ErrorLevel

{

MsgBox, The attempt to copy text onto the clipboard failed.

return

}

fileappend ¦ %clipboard% %CurrentDateTime% #clipped`n, OTFTRTA.txt

SoundBeep 3000, 5

Gosub, Refreshlists

return

ButtonDo:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ® %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonCalendar:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, « %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonWish:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, § %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonNow:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¤ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonKnowledge:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, * %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonTweet:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, µ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gosub, Post

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonHalfBaked:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¶ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

ButtonJournal:

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¦ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#w::

Run Wish.txt

ControlFocus,,Wish

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#d::

Run Do.txt

ControlFocus,,do

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#j::

Run journal.txt

ControlFocus,,Journal

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#n::

Run now.txt

ControlFocus,,Now

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#t::

Run tweet.txt

ControlFocus,,Tweet

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#c::

Run calendar.txt

ControlFocus,,Calendar

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#h::

Run halfbaked.txt

ControlFocus,,HalfBaked

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#k::

Run knowledge.txt

ControlFocus,,Knowledge

Sleep, 500

Send ^{End}

Return

#r::

Gosub, MakeOld

Return

MakeOld:

send ^c

Loop, read, OTFTRTA.txt, MyTempFile.txt ; designate an output file

{

temp := ( A_Index = 1 ? "" : "`n" ) . A_LoopReadLine

IfInString, temp, %clipboard%

{

stringreplace,temp,temp,®,OldDo

stringreplace,temp,temp,¤,OldNow

stringreplace,temp,temp,§,OldWish

stringreplace,temp,temp,©,OldHalf

stringreplace,temp,temp,«,OldCal

stringreplace,temp,temp,¶,OldKnow

stringreplace,temp,temp,¦,OldJournal

stringreplace,temp,temp,µ,OldTweet

}

FileAppend, %temp%

}

FileMove, MyTempFile.txt, OTFTRTA.txt, 1 ; overwrite the source file.

Gosub, refreshlists

return

;The following submit based on keystrokes (only if the OTFTRTA is open) with the

appropriate headers

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^d::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ® %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^n::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¤ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^w::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, § %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^h::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, © %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^k::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¶ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^j::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, ¦ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^c::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, « %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

^t::

FormatTime, CurrentDateTime,, yyyyMMddHHmmss

Gui, Submit

FileAppend, µ %data% %CurrentDateTime%`n, OTFTRTA.txt

Gosub, Post

Gui, Hide

Gosub, Refreshlists

Return

#IfWinActive OTFTRTA ahk_class AutoHotkeyGUI

Escape::

Gui, Hide

Return