{"id":46,"date":"2005-10-18T23:47:40","date_gmt":"2005-10-19T06:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.red-sweater.com\/blog\/?p=46"},"modified":"2005-10-19T11:48:17","modified_gmt":"2005-10-19T18:48:17","slug":"blogging-with-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/46\/blogging-with-style","title":{"rendered":"Blogging with Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since I’m a little obsessed with AppleScript, I end up pasting AppleScript code into my blog. I recently decided it was a real shame that I couldn’t easily replicate the way AppleScript code looks in Script Editor, in my blog. I thought about this situation for a while, and then did some experimenting.<\/p>\n

\nIf I copy the contents of a Script Editor window, and paste it into TextEdit, it looks great! Just like Script Editor! Why can’t I get that in HTML? I decided to try saving as HTML from TextEdit. Sure enough, that yields an HTML look-alike, but it depends on a rather elaborate set of CSS definitions in the <head> block of the document. I’m not ambitious enough to figure out whether I can include non-inlined CSS styles in random locations like the content of my blog post. Besides, I’d like to be able to “grab some styled text” and run with it.\n<\/p>\n

\nIt occurred to me that maybe AppleScript itself could help me get the formatting I needed. After a little tinkering, Sure enough, with TextEdit and the Text Suite, I can parse a chunk of styled text and spit out reasonably similar-looking HTML!\n<\/p>\n

\nIn this blog entry, I submit to you a script that will turn the text from the front-most document in TextEdit into a self-contained, inline styled chunk of HTML. It’s not pretty, but it works! As a proof-of-concept, the following code was copied from Script Editor, pasted into TextEdit, and then run from Script Editor. Because of some WordPress funkiness I had to change a few minor details in the source for this page, but I think you’ll find that the script works as expected in most contexts.:\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/span>tell<\/span> <\/span>application<\/span> "Script Editor"
\n<\/span>\t--<\/span> Since we are probably capturing newlines, tabs, etc.,<\/span>
\n\t--<\/span> Let’s tag the content as "pre-formatted".<\/span>
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>myHTML<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> "<pre>"<\/p>\n

\t--<\/span> Prefetch lists from the runs for performance during loop<\/span>
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> {<\/span>myFonts<\/span>} <\/span>to<\/span> {<\/span>font<\/span>} <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>attribute runs<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>document<\/span> 1
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> {<\/span>myColors<\/span>} <\/span>to<\/span> {<\/span>color<\/span>} <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>attribute runs<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>document<\/span> 1
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> {<\/span>mySizes<\/span>} <\/span>to<\/span> {<\/span>size<\/span>} <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>attribute runs<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>document<\/span> 1
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> {<\/span>myTexts<\/span>} <\/span>to<\/span> {<\/span>characters<\/span>} <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>attribute runs<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>document<\/span> 1<\/p>\n

\t--<\/span> Build an independent HTML span for every attribute run<\/span>
\n\t<\/span>repeat<\/span> <\/span>with<\/span> <\/span>attrIndex<\/span> <\/span>from<\/span> 1 <\/span>to<\/span> <\/span>count<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>attribute runs<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>document<\/span> 1
\n<\/span>\t\t--<\/span> Figure the color <\/span>
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>thisColor<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>item<\/span> <\/span>attrIndex<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>myColors<\/span>)
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>redComp<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>my<\/span> <\/span>RGBColorNumToHex<\/span>(<\/span>item<\/span> 1 <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>thisColor<\/span>) <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>string<\/span>)
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>blueComp<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>my<\/span> <\/span>RGBColorNumToHex<\/span>(<\/span>item<\/span> 2 <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>thisColor<\/span>) <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>string<\/span>)
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>greenComp<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>my<\/span> <\/span>RGBColorNumToHex<\/span>(<\/span>item<\/span> 3 <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>thisColor<\/span>) <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>string<\/span>)
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>thisHexString<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> "#" & <\/span>redComp<\/span> & <\/span>blueComp<\/span> & <\/span>greenComp<\/span><\/p>\n

\t\t--<\/span> Font name and size<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>thisFont<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>item<\/span> <\/span>attrIndex<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>myFonts<\/span> <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>string<\/span>)
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>thisFontSize<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>item<\/span> <\/span>attrIndex<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>mySizes<\/span> <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>string<\/span>)<\/p>\n

\t\t--<\/span> Get the text<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>thisTextRun<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>item<\/span> <\/span>attrIndex<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> <\/span>myTexts<\/span> <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>string<\/span>)<\/p>\n

\t\t--<\/span> Put it all together<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>thisHTMLRun<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> "<span style=\\"color:" & <\/span>thisHexString<\/span> & "; font-family:’" & <\/span>thisFont<\/span> & "’; font-size:" & <\/span>thisFontSize<\/span> & "pt;\\">" & <\/span>thisTextRun<\/span> & "<\/span>"
\n\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>myHTML<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> <\/span>myHTML<\/span> & <\/span>thisHTMLRun<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>\t<\/span>end<\/span> <\/span>repeat<\/span>
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>myHTML<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> <\/span>myHTML<\/span> & "<\/pre>"
\n\t<\/span>set the clipboard to<\/span> <\/span>myHTML<\/span>
\n<\/span>end<\/span> <\/span>tell<\/span><\/p>\n

--<\/span> Based on Num32ToHex by Walter Ian Kaye<\/span>
\n--<\/span> http:\/\/www.natural-innovations.com\/as\/snippets.html<\/span>
\n<\/span>on<\/span> <\/span>RGBColorNumToHex<\/span>(<\/span>num<\/span>)
\n<\/span>\t--<\/span> We want smaller numbers<\/span>
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>num<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> <\/span>num<\/span> \/ 256
\n\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>out<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> ""
\n\t<\/span>repeat<\/span> <\/span>with<\/span> <\/span>idx<\/span> <\/span>from<\/span> 1 <\/span>to<\/span> 0 <\/span>by<\/span> -1
\n<\/span>\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>bas<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (16 ^ <\/span>idx<\/span>) <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>integer<\/span>
\n\t\t<\/span>if<\/span> <\/span>num<\/span> \u2265 <\/span>bas<\/span> <\/span>then<\/span>
\n<\/span>\t\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>mult<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> ((<\/span>num<\/span> – (<\/span>num<\/span> <\/span>mod<\/span> <\/span>bas<\/span>)) \/ <\/span>bas<\/span>) <\/span>as<\/span> <\/span>integer<\/span>
\n\t\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>out<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> <\/span>out<\/span> & <\/span>character<\/span> <\/span>mult<\/span> <\/span>of<\/span> "123456789ABCDEF"
\n\t\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>num<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> (<\/span>num<\/span> – <\/span>bas<\/span> * <\/span>mult<\/span>)
\n<\/span>\t\t<\/span>else<\/span>
\n<\/span>\t\t\t<\/span>set<\/span> <\/span>out<\/span> <\/span>to<\/span> <\/span>out<\/span> & "0"
\n<\/span>\t\t<\/span>end<\/span> <\/span>if<\/span>
\n<\/span>\t<\/span>end<\/span> <\/span>repeat<\/span>
\n\t<\/span>return<\/span> <\/span>out<\/span>
\n<\/span>end<\/span> <\/span>RGBColorNumToHex<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n

\nWow, that looks quite a bit more Script-Editor-like than your average web posting! It’s shamefully inefficent (take a look at the HTML it generates), but it gets the job done! I am happy to have this new tool at my disposal, but aside from producing rotten HTML code, the script is also dog slow. Also, when I copy the script above and paste it into Script Editor, it comes out double-spaced. Anybody out there have any tips for achieving this goal in a slightly more gallant manner?<\/p>\n

\nUpdate:<\/strong> The script above has been updated since the original post. I discovered a few prefetching tricks that dramatically<\/i> improve performance of the script. How dramatically? Thanks to Shark<\/a> I can tell you! The test case for both scripts is converting the styled script text above from TextEdit to inline HTML. The old script? 58 seconds! 40% of which was spent in TextEdit itself. The optimized version above, which prefetches the pertinent styled text data from TextEdit? 4.5 seconds, with only 5.4% of the processor taken up by TextEdit. More than 10-times faster! Just imagine how fast it will be when a good scripter rewrites it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since I’m a little obsessed with AppleScript, I end up pasting AppleScript code into my blog. I recently decided it was a real shame that I couldn’t easily replicate the way AppleScript code looks in Script Editor, in my blog. I thought about this situation for a while, and then did some experimenting. If I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-applescript","category-web"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redsweater.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}