Alfred 2 workflow: Create img tag

I've been itching to try my hand at creating a "workflow" for Alfred 2, so I decided to adapt my script that creates a fully-specified HTML img tag for any type of image file.

Creating this workflow was more work than I thought it would be. (But it was fun.) That's partly because Alfred 2 is new, so there are a limited number of examples to learn from, but also because the feature is only "documented" in a user forum. (Which is active and helpful, nonetheless.)

To use this workflow, invoke Alfred 2 and type "mapimg," then press Tab. Now type the first few characters of the name of the graphic file, then press Return.

The workflow will extract the width and height of the image, then put a fully-written img tag on the clipboard. The output looks like this:

< img src="http://www.chicagomagicstudio.com/map/gfx/ShawMahatma1895.png" width="366" height="183" >< /br>TITLE

Now this workflow definitely won't be useful to you as-is. It's hardcoded to create exactly what I need for one of my websites, and it won't be what you need. I'm sharing it with the spirit and hope that one or more of its pieces will be useful for others.

To that end, here are some details about its implementation.

• The workflow is configured so that the only acceptable parameters are jpeg, png, and gif images. Also, it's only searching the folder where I stage files for my web server. You'll definitely need to change the latter; do so Search Scope tab of the File Filter action.
• The Copy to Clipboard action will optionally paste the results into the frontmost application. This is a great feature, but I opted not to use it because I don't want the additional cognitive overhead of having to set the cursor location before invoking the workflow.
• In addition to changing the website path that's hardcoded in the script, you'll probably want to eliminate the trailing line break and placeholder "TITLE" that I add. Adding alt text is left as an exercise for you, too.
• The trigger name I use, "mapimg," reflects that this is creating a link for my Map of Chicago Magic website. That's what the workflow icon reflects, too. If I create a version of this for another of my sites, I'll use a specific name for that one too. Ideally, there would be one workflow that asked which website path to use, but I didn't try to figure that out. If you do, please let me know.

Finally, let me add that I'm really pleased with Alfred 2. I started using Alfred less than a year ago, having been a LaunchBar user since Mac OS X 10.0, and I'm looking forward to the workflows that others share. I hope you find mine useful; download it using the link below.

Download the mapimg workflow.