Import Espanso file via Tasker

[quintrino]

Hi,

probably a niche feature request, but could you make the import functionality visible to Tasker? Either as a Plugin or as an intent.

I have my espanso file automatically synced from my desktop to my mobile, but at the moment I have to manually import it whenever I make any changes.

It would be great if that was accessible via Tasker as then I could automate it to occur regularly.

[lochidev]

Hi. Sure I’ll attempt it next update. Unfortunately I can’t do it soon because at the moment university is giving me a ton of work and im very tired. I’ll definitely give it a try next update.

[quintrino]

Thanks so much for even attempting it! Do you have a donate link somewhere?

[lochidev]

Yes, it’s in the readme. But please consider donating only after I add the feature because i only accept donations for work that have been already completed 😅.

[quintrino]

Well then I'll just donate for what you've already done and have another one ready to go if you do this.

[lochidev]

Well then I'll just donate for what you've already done and have another one ready to go if you do this.

Thank you so much! 💙

[lochidev]

Through System → Send Intent,

Use these parameters,

Field:   Action
Value:   com.dingleinc.texttoolspro.IMPORT_CONFIG

Field:   Extra
Value:   config_string:my test config

Field: Class
Value: com.dingleinc.texttoolspro.ConfigImportReceiver

Field:   Package
Value:   com.dingleinc.texttoolspro

Field:   Target
Value:   Broadcast Receiver

For feedback use,

Event: Intent Received
Action: com.dingleinc.texttoolspro.CONFIG_RESULT

Underlying code is

Intent resultIntent = new Intent("com.dingleinc.texttoolspro.CONFIG_RESULT");
resultIntent.PutExtra("status", 0); // 
context.SendBroadcast(resultIntent);

%status will be 0 if successfully imported, or else it will be an error string like "failed to import".

Keep in mind when you use this, everything will be replaced and saved by "my test config" (make sure this is valid YML) and nothing before that will be recoverable, so make sure you backup your files.

Please test using the build: https://github.com/lochidev/Expandroid/releases/tag/v7.2.1 and let me know if everything works. Thanks!

EDIT: You can now download the update on google play as well.

[quintrino]

so just to confirm, I should replace my test config with the file location of the espanso file? something like /storage/emulated/0/Sync/espanso.yml?

And it sounds like every import will wipe all the previous entries, so I couldn't import espanso.yml and private.yml?

[lochidev]

Due to scoped storage in newer android versions, the app cannot access any files without explicit user permission. Therefore, "my test config" expects the contents of the file and NOT the file path. I don't think it's possible to access it and I didn't even try because of scoped storage. You will have to concatenate the contents of the files and substitute that with "my test config". For example: "my test config" should be replaced by the CONTENT of example config.yml. So if you want to import two files you'll need to do some processing (in tasker this should be possible maybe? I haven't really used tasker much). However, just combining the contents of espanso.yml and private.yml might work in your case.

Something like:

config_string=matches:
- trigger: :date
  replace: '{{date}}'

[quintrino]

This is now functioning, and in my mind, complete. Thank you for making a long term dream of synchronised shortcuts a reality. I'm donating to your project now.

So for those looking for a fully automated system between your Android and Computer, here is how I have it working for me.

1. Have your espanso shortcuts in a file that that syncs to your android

(most basic version would be symlinking into a Google drive folder and using something like AutoSync to get it on your Android)
(Because I have multiple espanso files, I have a script that merges them all into a single file, and then uploads that to Google Drive)

2. Set Tasker to regularly and automatically read that file, and then import it into Expandroid.

(Most basic is
Profile every day at 5:00 / every hour / every minute.
read the Espanso file on your android and save it as a variable.
Have Expandroid import it using method above)

Please note that this means you'd have to add all new options into your epsanso conflg file on your computer, and then it would automatically import. Changes made directly in Expandroid would be lost on the next update.

if this doesn't make sense to someone trying to set this up, feel free to reach out and I'll use your questions to improve this description.

[lochidev]

Thank you so much for the donation and I'm glad to hear it works well. If you find any bugs, please let me know! ❤️

[quintrino]

I believe I've found a bug, but it seems to be in Tasker.

It seems that having Tasker read a file only loads 200~ lines as a variable.

I'll follow up with them and then confirm if it is actually local to Expandroid.

When you tested it, how large was the variable?

[lochidev]

So I use the intent.getStringExtra() function locally and it seems in android there is a 1 MB total transaction size limit. The variable used to store it is the C# string which shouldn't have any issues handling even larger strings. But 300 lines probably don't hit the 1 MB size limit per intent, so let's wait for the response from Tasker devs. Size of the string flew under my radar and it seems I'll have to make changes in my end as well if there is no way around it. What I'm planning to do is use multiple intents to build up a full config file made up of multiple parts, concatenated internally by my app itself, and after it receives another intent with an import command, proceed with importing the config.