Alfred v2 Workflow | App Store Linker
Introduction
For those hiding under a rock, Alfred released it’s first beta of v2 yesterday. Even though it’s beta and still in early stages, many great things are already at our disposal. One of which is the much awaited workflows.
I for one was eager to test these out and once you wrap your head around the new mechanics it’s rather easy to do great things. Another awaited feature that was introduced was the ability to feed back results to Alfred. This opens many new possibilities. One of which is an improved App Store Linker
Installation and Requisites
The workflow now depends on two python modules that aren’t installed by default, requests and requests_cache. Use either easy_install or pip to install these.
Download the Workflow from here and double click to import. Once you’ve imported the workflow be sure to change your affiliate link (here’s a quick example of how to do it).
Features
The workflow pulls from the App Store the apps icon, name and developer (visible in the subtext). After choosing the desired result hitting enter will copy a markdown formatted link ([App Name](Affiliate Link)). Hitting alt+enter will copy just the affiliate link.
Usage
Summon Alfred and type li [arg] App Name
arg:
- -i — iPad Software;
- -s — iOS Sotware;
- -m — Mac Software
arg is optional and defaults to macSoftware
Limitations
There workflow is still a little raw and slow (thanks to app store search) but I will be working on improving this in the coming versions.
Update
A small but useful update to the workflow (at least for me) is the ability to see the apps price. If you have the app installed, there is no real easy way of seeing how much it costs. That is without copying the link and opening it up in your browser of choice.
Now just skim the subtitle and you’ll see the apps price.
Credits
Much thanks go to:
- David Fergusson for all his help wrapping my head around workflows;
- Dan Palmer. His workflow paved the way to a more elegant code on my part.
