Natural Language Things Parser in Python

Plan:

• [ x] fix issues
• make an Automator Service for applying to a file
• make an Automator Application for dragging files on to to run.

This is a port of @pdavidsonreiler's Things Parser for Drafts 5 to Python.

It currently supports near parity in syntax:

#Project Name @Tag Name ==Heading //Task note !Natural Language Deadline String *Checklist Item

Additionally, block syntax has a start and end character:

``
today at 5pm !Friday #Project ==Heading @Tag 1 @Tag 2 *checklist item 1 *checklist item 2 //note
task 1
task 2
task 3
``

Check out the original for more examples.

How to Install

Enter into your shell:

pip install git+https://github.com/dustinknopoff/py-thingsparser.git

Or:

git clone https://github.com/dustinknopoff/py-thingsparser
cd py-thingsparser
python install .

Not available yet.

For iOS

1. Make sure you have Pythonista.
2. Install StaSH.

import requests as r; exec(r.get('http://bit.ly/get-stash').text)

3. Run launch_stach.py.
4. Enter the following into the StaSH console:

wget https://github.com/dustinknopoff/py-thingsparser/releases/download/v0.1-beta-2/tparse-0.2.tar.gz

5. Enter the following:

tar -xzf tparse-0.2.tar.gz

6. Go to things_parser.py.
7. Add at the top of the file import appex.
8. Change line 55 to string = appex.get_text().

For use as a share sheet extension

Go to Settings>Share Extension Shortcuts>+>find and click things_parser.py> add -f as arguments> customize title and icon details> tap Done.

Usage

usage: tparse.py [-h] [-f FILE] [-c] [-t]

Natural Things Parser:

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -f FILE, --file FILE  Next argument needs to be a valid file path
  -c, --clip            tparse will extract text from clipboard
  -t, --test            tparse will use some sample test strings.

A More Technical Overview

The original used a combination of Moment.js, Chrono.js, and Drafts 5 specific wrappers for the Things 3 URL scheme and callback urls. This repository also includes a Python wrapper for Things 3 and callback urls.

This is not a direct porting of @pdavidsonreiler's parser. This is in particular due to the nuances of JavaScript that are not possible in Python. For this reason, the code is organized as such:

1. Most importantly, all parsing functionality lives within the Parser class. It takes care of splitting text into parts and then delegating to Block or Line types.
2. Block and Line types inherit common functionality from the ParsedItem class. This is particularly helpful in the case of Blocks due to the parent line being separated from it's children architecturally rather than by call.
3. The conversion to Things elements is separated into it's own class for increased encapsulation and clarity.

• thingsJSONCoder.py is the python wrapper for thingsJSONCoder which is written in Swift.
• CallbackURL.py is the python wrapper for Callback URL which is Draft's JavaScript wrapper for callback urls in Swift.

NOTE:

The following are issues with this release:

1. Cannot recognize Wednesday at 6 as PM or AM but returns 6 as this the day of the output.

2. Block sublines are overriden by the last element.

3. The JSON package is not accepted by Things 3 as valid.