Command Bar 101
Command Tutorials
Local Commands
Commands that run scripts on your computer.
Local commands are just scripts that run on your computer. Slapdash knows how to run scripts in the most popular languages.
Even if Slapdash doesn't support your language out of the box, you can just use shebang syntax, or create a bash wrapper to call into your program.
Create Local Command
To create a local command, run Create New Command in the Command Bar, choose Local Script as a type, select the script file on your computer, give your command a name and press Create Command.
Language Support
We try to support as many languages as possible. Below you'll find a list of languages you can use to build Slapdash commands.
In practice, you can use a shebang directive to point to an interpreter of your choice.
- AppleScript
- bash / zsh
- JavaScript
- Perl
- PowerShell
- Python
- Ruby
- PHP
- TypeScript
AppleScript
Support for AppleScript is baked into macOS. Just create a
command.applescript file anywhere and start experimenting!1
#!/usr/bin/osascript
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tell application "System Events"
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tell appearance preferences
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set dark mode to not dark mode
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end tell
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end tell
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JavaScript
Here is an example of a JavaScript command that displays a list with two options:
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// command.js
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const response = {
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view: {
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type: "list",
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options: [
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{
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title: "Open Slapdash",
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action: {
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type: "open-url",
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url: "https://slapdash.com"
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}
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},
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{
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title: "Copy Heart Emoji",
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action: {
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type: "copy",
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value: "❤️"
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}
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}
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]
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}
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};
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console.log(JSON.stringify(response));
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When you run the command in the Command Bar, Slapdash will execute the underlying script:
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node command.js
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TypeScript
If you are building a command inside some package, Slapdash will also look inside its
node_modules for the ts-node executable. If it can't find ts-node there it will look for ts-node in the global node modules location on your computer. 1
// command.ts
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// Optionally, import our npm package to get TS types for Command Response.
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import { CommandResponse } from "@slapdash/command-response-types";
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const response: CommandResponse = {
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view: {
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type: "list",
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options: [
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{
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title: "Open Slapdash",
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action: {
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type: "open-url",
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url: "https://slapdash.com",
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},
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},
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{
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title: "Copy Heart Emoji",
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action: {
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type: "copy",
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value: "❤️",
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},
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},
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],
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},
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};
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console.log(JSON.stringify(response));
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When you run the command in the Command Bar, Slapdash will execute the underlying script:
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ts-node command.ts
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Bash
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#!/bin/bash
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echo '{
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"view": {
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"type": "list",
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"options": [
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{
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"title": "Open Slapdash",
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"action": {
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"type": "open-url",
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"url": "https://slapdash.com"
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}
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},
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{
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"title": "Copy Heart Emoji",
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"action": {
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"type": "copy",
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"value": "❤️"
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}
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}
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]
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}
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}'
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Python
macOS has both Python v2 and Python v3 pre-installed, so you can just use it by default. Put the following to e.g.
command.py:1
#!python3
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# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
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import json
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print(json.dumps({
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"view": {
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"type": "list",
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"options": [
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{
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"title": "Open Slapdash",
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"action": {
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"type": "open-url",
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"url": "https://slapdash.com"
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}
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},
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{
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"title": "Copy Heart Emoji",
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"action": {
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"type": "copy",
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"value": "❤️"
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}
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}
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]
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}
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}))
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Ruby
macOS should have Ruby pre-installed (or you can install it with
brew install ruby). Put the following to e.g. command.rb:1
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
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require 'json'
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print JSON.generate({
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"view": {
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"type": "list",
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"options": [
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{
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"title": "Open Slapdash",
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"action": {
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"type": "open-url",
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"url": "https://slapdash.com"
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}
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},
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{
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"title": "Copy Heart Emoji",
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"action": {
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"type": "copy",
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"value": "❤️"
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}
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}
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]
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}
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})
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Perl
Perl is conveniently pre-installed on macOS. If you still remember how to write in Perl put the following to
command.pl:1
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
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use utf8;
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use JSON;
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print encode_json({
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"view" => {
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"type" => "list",
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"options" => [
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{
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"title" => "Open Slapdash",
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"action" => {
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"type" => "open-url",
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"url" => "https://slapdash.com"
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}
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},
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{
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"title" => "Copy Heart Emoji",
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"action" => {
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"type" => "copy",
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"value" => "❤️"
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}
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}
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]
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}
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})
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PHP
Some version of PHP is pre-installed on macOS, so it should work out of the box. Put the following to e.g.
command.php:1
#!php
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<?php
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echo json_encode([
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"view" => [
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"type" => "list",
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"options" => [
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[
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"title" => "Open Slapdash",
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"action" => [
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"type" => "open-url",
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"url" => "https://slapdash.com"
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]
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],
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[
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"title" => "Copy Heart Emoji",
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"action" => [
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"type" => "paste",
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"value" => "❤️"
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]
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]
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]
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]
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]);
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PowerShell
PowerShell is already pre-installed on Windows. Just create a file with a
.ps1 extension. Here's an example that will empty your recycling bin.1
Clear-RecycleBin -Force
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Locating Language Binaries
When searching for a programming language binary to execute the command script, we use the following approach:
- 1.We check the first line of the script, the same way it's done in Unix-like systems by looking for the shebang directive. If the first line looks like
#!/path/to/binaryor just#!binary, Slapdash calls the referenced interpreter to execute the command. - 2.If there is no shebang directive, Slapdash will try to infer the language binary from the file's extension. For example, if it's a
*.rbfile, Slapdash will look for the installed Ruby binary. - 3.If the script is within an npm package (JavaScript/TypeScript), Slapdash will check the current directory's
node_modules/.binfolder to look for tools likets-node. - 4.Finally, Slapdash will use the OS's
PATHenvironment variable to resolve the binary.
Last modified 7d ago