AppleScript to Create Rich Text Hyperlink with Custom Protocol from Selected Text

Create Hyperlink with Custom Protocol from Selected Text.applescript

property gstrScriptName : "Create Hyperlink with Custom Protocol from Selected Text"
property gstrScriptVer : "1.0.1"
property gstrScriptDate : "Mon, Nov 16, 2015"
(*
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
PURPOSE:

    • Based on the User's selection, create and put on Clipboard:
      • RTF formatted Hyperlink
      • This supports custom URL Schemes/Protocols not supported by Evernote
    • Paste the Hyperlink back into the document, replacing the selected text
    • While this was designed for Evernote Mac, it should work in all apps.
    • Default font is Verdana 14pt, but can be easily changed below.

VERSION HISTORY:
   CURRENT:  (Ver# & Date at top)
    • Replaced validateURL() function with contains "://"
    • Removed the CreatedDate variable
  
  PRIOR:
    • 1.0  Nov 11, 2015  First Release
      
AUTHOR:  
    • @JMichaelTX (member of Evernote forum (https://discussion.evernote.com/))
      • Please post or PM me with any bugs/issues/questions

INSTALLATION:
  •  Copy to your personal Scripts folder:  /Users/<YourName>/Library/Scripts/
    (create the Scripts folder if it does not exist)
    OR other location if you prefer.
  •  OPTIONAL:  Use FastScripts to easily assign shortcut key
  
REQUIRES:
  • A number of functions/handlers, all of which are at the bottom of this file.
  
HOW TO USE
  •  Select text in your Evernote Note (or other app document) that you want to be a custom hyperlink
  •  Execute this script, either from the Apple Script menu, or from FastScripts (recommended)
        
METHOD:    
  • IF the user has selected text it will be used as the text for the hyperlink
  • Otherwise the user will be prompted for the text
  • Then the user is prompted for the URL, which must be in the format of "protocol://"
  • The standard HTML hyperlink is created:
    <a href="protocol://xxx">Display Text</a>
  • The hyperlink is then copied to standard Clipboard as Rich Text
  • The user's selected text is replaced by the hyperlink.
  • If nothing was selected, it will be pasted at the insertion point.
              
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
*)
----------------------------------
property bolDebug : false -- set to true to turn on diagnostic logs and dialogs.
----------------------------------
--- SET THESE FONT ATTRIBUTES AS YOU LIKE FOR THE HYPERLINK ---
--    Use the std HTML CSS Styles

property gStyleLink : "color:blue"
property gstrFont : "font-family:verdana,geneva,sans-serif;"
property gstrLinkFontSize : "font-size:14px;"
-------------
property LF : linefeed
property gstrLastSection : "Beginning of Script" -- used in error handling to provide general location of error
property gstrScriptTitle : "Title"

property gActiveApp : ""
--——————————————————————————————————————————————————

-- GET THE NAME OF THE CURRENT APP --

tell application "System Events"
  set gActiveApp to name of first application process whose frontmost is true
end tell

set gstrScriptTitle to (gstrScriptName & " " & gstrScriptVer & " -- " & gstrScriptDate)

if bolDebug then
  beep
  display dialog "START Script: " & gstrScriptTitle
  log "Date Created: " & gstrScriptDate
end if -- bolDebug
set gstrLastSection to "COMPLETE Initialization"

###———————————————
try
  ###———————————————
  
  set strCBConfirm to "NONE" --"FULL"
  
  --- GET LINK TEXT AND URL FROM USER --
  set strLinkText to my getTextforLink()
  set strURL to my getURLfromUser(strLinkText)
  
  --- CREATE HTML HYPERLINK ---
  set strHTMLLink to my createHTMLLink(strLinkText, strURL)
  
  --- COPY TO CLIPBOARD AS RTF (Rich Text Format) ---
  my copyHTMLasRTFtoClipboard(strHTMLLink)
  
  --- PASTE FROM CLIPBOARD TO DOCUMENT (overwrites selected text) --
  my pasteClipboard()
  
  --- NOTIFY USER SCRIPT IS COMPLETE (if so requested) ---
  
  set strMsg to ¬
    "▶▶▶ Script COMPLETE ◀◀◀" & ¬
    "
" & ¬
    "Clipboard set to RTF Hyperlink for: " & "

" & strLinkText & "
" & strURL & ¬
    "

" & "Script Ver:  " & gstrScriptVer & "   " & gstrScriptDate
  
  if strCBConfirm = "FULL" then
    
    --- DISPLAY FULL CONFIRMATION ---
    beep
    display dialog (strMsg) with title gstrScriptName
    
  else if strCBConfirm = "BRIEF" then
    
    --- DISPLAY BRIEF SILENT CONFIRMATION w/ auto-close ---  
    set strMsg to "Clipboard set to RTF Hyperlink for " & strHTMLLink
    display notification strMsg with title gstrScriptName subtitle "SUCCESS!"
    
  else
    -- Don't display any confirmation --
    
  end if -- strCBConfirm = "FULL"
  
  --=================
  --  END OF MAIN SCRIPT
  --=================
  
  --———————————————
on error pErrMsg number pErrNum -- HANDLE ERRORS FOR ENTIRE SCRIPT
  --———————————————
  
  set the clipboard to pErrMsg & "
" & gstrLastSection
  
  --- DISPLAY DIALOG TO USER WITH ERROR INFO & ABORT SCRIPT --
  
  beep
  display dialog "▶▶▶ YIKES! Something's wrong! ◀◀◀" & ¬
    "

Err#: " & pErrNum & "
Err Msg: " & pErrMsg ¬
    & "
" & "Last Section: " & gstrLastSection ¬
    & "
" & ¬
    "(Clipboard set to Err Msg & Last Section)" & "

Ver:" & gstrScriptVer & " -- " & gstrScriptDate ¬
    with title gstrScriptName with icon stop
  
  
  ###———————————————
end try
###———————————————


###——————————————————————————————————————————————
###  FUNCTIONS / HANDLERS
###——————————————————————————————————————————————

###——————————————————————————————————————————————
#      pasteClipboard()    Paste Contents of Clipboard to Current App Document
###——————————————————————————————————————————————

on pasteClipboard()
  
  activate application gActiveApp
  delay 0.2
  
  tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "v" using command down -- this is same as CMD-V
  end tell
  
end pasteClipboard

###——————————————————————————————————————————————
#      getTextforLink()    Get Text to be used with HTML Hyperlink
###——————————————————————————————————————————————

on getTextforLink()
  
  set strOldClipboard to (the clipboard)
  
  --- COPY USER SELECTED TEXT (if any) ---
  
  set the clipboard to "NO SELECTION"
  activate application gActiveApp
  delay 0.2 -- MUST have this delay to make sure the "activate" command has completed
  
  tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "c" using command down -- this is same as CMD-C
    delay 0.2 -- use a small delay to give the App time to complete the copy    
  end tell
  
  tell application gActiveApp --gActiveApp
    
    set strSelectedText to (the clipboard as text)
    
  end tell
  
  if strSelectedText = "NO SELECTION" then
    
    --- IF NO TEXT SELECTED, PROMPT USER FOR LINK TEXT ---
    
    set strMsg to "Enter TEXT for your Hyperlink (no text was selected)"
    set strAnswer to ""
    
    set recResult to display dialog strMsg default answer strAnswer with title gstrScriptName with icon caution
    
    set strButton to button returned of recResult
    set strAnswer to text returned of recResult
    
  else
    --- USE SELECTED TEXT ---
    set strAnswer to strSelectedText
    
  end if
  
  --- RESTORE CLIPBOARD ---
  set the clipboard to strOldClipboard
  
  return strAnswer
  
end getTextforLink

###——————————————————————————————————————————————
#      Create HTML Link:    createHTMLLink
###——————————————————————————————————————————————

on createHTMLLink(pstrLinkText, pstrURL)
  
  set strHTMLLink to "<a href=\"" & pstrURL & "\" style=\"" & gStyleLink & "\">" & pstrLinkText & "<a>"
  
  -- MUST include a space character just before the </span> in order to keep font styles --
  set strHTMLLink to "<span style=\"" & gstrFont & gstrLinkFontSize & "\">" & strHTMLLink & " </span>"
  
  return strHTMLLink
  
end createHTMLLink

###——————————————————————————————————————————————
#      COPY HTML TO CLIPBOARD AS RTF:  copyHTMLasRTFtoClipboard
###——————————————————————————————————————————————

on copyHTMLasRTFtoClipboard(pstrHTML)
  
  if bolDebug then display dialog "ENTER copyHTMLasRTFtoClipboard"
  
  -- REWRITTEN AS RTF AND COPIED TO THE CLIPBOARD
  set lstrCMD to "echo " & quoted form of pstrHTML & " | textutil -format html -convert rtf -stdin -stdout | pbcopy -Prefer rtf"
  do shell script lstrCMD
  
  if bolDebug then
    display notification pstrHTML with title "Copy RTF to Clipboard"
  end if
  
end copyHTMLasRTFtoClipboard

###——————————————————————————————————————————————
#      GET URL FROM USER:    getURLfromUser
###——————————————————————————————————————————————

on getURLfromUser(pTextForLink)
  
  set strMsg to ¬
    "Enter Your URL (can include custom URL Schemes) for:" & "
" & pTextForLink & "

" & "(Must have format of 'protocol://')"
  
  set strAnswer to ""
  
  set bolValidURL to false
  set Title to "Enter Your URL"
  
  
  repeat while (bolValidURL = false)
    
    beep
    set recResult to display dialog strMsg default answer strAnswer with title Title with icon caution
    
    set strButton to button returned of recResult
    set strAnswer to text returned of recResult
    
    if bolDebug then
      log strButton
      log strAnswer
    end if
    
    set bolValidURL to (strAnswer contains "://")
    
  end repeat -- while (bolValidURL = false)
  
  return strAnswer
  
end getURLfromUser

If you are new to installing and/or using Mac scripts, or would like detailed instructions, see:

• How to Install AppleScripts or JXA Scripts

• AppleScript: Beginner's Tutorial

at MacOSXAutomation.com

This may also be of interest:
Understanding AppleScript Scripting Additions 

NOTE: This is a script I wrote in Nov 2015 that I am just now publishing in my Gist. Since then I have changed my style and standards, so this script may be somewhat different. It still runs fine.

NOTE: Due to changes Evernote has made to EN Mac, as of Ver 6.11.1, this script no longer works. When the hyperlink is pasted into EN Mac, the app removes the link.