Shell Script Output in Plash?

[fpuhan]

@sindresorhus, kindly directed me here. Thank you!

I came across Plash as I was looking for a way to superimpose text on my Mac's desktop. The post by @sindresorhus "Show any kind of text on your desktop with the ability to drag it around" is perfect, if it could be redone to simply display the output of a sqlite3 query issued via shell script. I wish to have the file names of the images I use as wallpapers displayed as well as the images themselves I can fetch these via this command:

sqlite3 ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dock/desktoppicture.db "select * from data;" | tail -5

This database is updated every time a wallpaper image changes. I use five "spaces" on my Mac, hence the 'tail' command.

Is there a way to modify the above script to allow for using a shell script? Thanks! I am NOT a Javascript/perl/php coder!

(P.S. I currently use the script above in an Apple Quick Action Shortcut, but that means I have to find the Services entry in an app's menu.)

[sindresorhus]

Copy-paste the code from #1 (comment) into a Text action in shortcuts and then replace Hello with a variable for the output of your shell action. Then use the Save File action to write a file called index.html into a folder of your choosing. Then choose that folder in Plash using the "Local Website" button. After that, add the Reload Website actions provided by Plash.

You can use Shortery to automate running the shortcut at an interval.

[fpuhan]

Thank you! I have a preliminary working script. The output needs formatting, since the results in HTML are simple a string of data.

This is my Shortcut:

Since it's a Shortcut and automations aren't (yet) enabled under macOS (I'm running Ventura 13.2.2 on an M1 MacBook Pro), so I'm creating a launchctl process that will run the following script on a set interval (yet to be determined):

#!/bin/zsh

shortcuts run "Plash"
open --background 'plash:reload'