Evernote Mac Set Note Creation Date from Selection using AppleScript

EN Set Note Creation Date from Selection AS.applescript

(*
=================================================================
SCRIPT NAME:  Set EN CreationDate from Selection

DATE:  Thu, Jan 7, 2016    VER:  1.2

PURPOSE:
  • Set the EN Note Creation Date using text date which is selected
  • Expects the text date format to be in the form based on current Sys Pref settings
    • For USA:  "Mon d, yyyy"  or  "m/d/yyyy"
    • Example:  Jan 7, 2015
    • OR to be in international date format, like "YYYY-MM-DD", where the dashes could be any character
  • I wrote this to automate the setting of Creation Date for the many web pages I clip, which most
    of the time were published on a prior date.

AUTHOR:    JMichael (member of Discussion.Evernote.com forum)
      Please 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)

HOW TO USE
    •  Select a Note in Evernote
    •  Select the text date in the Note you want to use for the Note Creation date
    •  Click on the Apple Scripts menu in the upper right area of your menu
      • You can also use FastScripts (http://www.red-sweater.com/fastscripts/) 
        to setup a KB shortcut.
    •  Click on the name of this script:  "Set EN CreationDate from Selection"
    •  The script will use this selected date to set the Note Creation Date
    •  A completion dialog window will be briefly show when completed
    
METHOD:
  • Using the Clipboard
    • There is no specific AppleScript function to copy text from an app to the Clipboard
    • So, we have to rely on the "System Events" app to simulate a CMD-C
    • Once you have the text date on the CB, you have go "tell" an app like EN to
      set an AS variable to the CB.
      
  • Handling dates and strings can be a challenge in AppleScript
    • Couldn't find a general purpose text-to-date function that would handle all/most formats
    • So, the code below relies on the text date format being consistent with the date settings
      in the Mac Sys Prefs.
    • See the MacScripter ref below
    • Here are a few examples that will convert properly in the USA:
      date "12/25/04" 
      date "12-25-04"
      date "12 25 04"
      date "dec 25 04"
      date "25 DEC 2004" -- with or without commas
      date "Dec 25, 2004"
      -- All compile to: date "Saturday, December 25, 2004 12:00:00 AM"
    • As of Ver 1.2, the international date format is accepted:
        "YYYY-MM-DD", where the dashes could be any character
        "2016-01-07", "2016/01/07", "2016.01.06"
    
REF:
  1.  AppleScript: Handling Date & Time -- MacScripter, Jul 23, 2007
    http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=24737
  2.  FastScripts -- http://www.red-sweater.com/fastscripts/
  3.  Get selected text from any application
    http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?id=33575

=================================================================
*)
property lsVer : "1.2"
property strCreationDate : "Jan 7, 2016"

set lsProcessTitle to "Evernote Set Creation Date " & lsVer


(*
==================================
  COPY SELECTED TEXT TO CLIPBOARD
    •  Evernote MUST be the active application
    •  User MUST have selected TEXT in the Note
--==================================
*)

activate application "Evernote"

tell application "System Events"
  keystroke "c" using command down -- Simulate CMD-C
end tell

-- MUST BE IN EVERNOTE TO COPY FROM CLIPBOARD ---
tell application "Evernote"
  set strCreationDate to (the clipboard as text)
end tell

--display dialog strCreationDate


--==========================================
--  CONVERT TO DATE OBJECT
--==========================================

-- MUST NOT BE IN ANY APP WHEN USING THE date FUNCTION --

try -- Try Standard U.S. date format --
  set dCreationDate to date (strCreationDate)
on error --- Try International Date format (YYYY-MM-DD)
  set dCreationDate to convertIntlDate(strCreationDate)
end try

--display dialog "Date Object: " & dCreationDate

--==========================================
--  SET EN COMPLETION DATE
--==========================================

tell application "Evernote"
  
  set _sel to selection -- Gets the Note(s) Selected in Evernote
  if _sel ≠ {} then
    set aNote to first item of _sel -- Get ONLY the 1st Note
    set creation date of aNote to dCreationDate
    
  else
    display dialog "*** NOTE NOT SELECTED ***"
  end if
end tell

beep

display notification ("Note Created Date set to: " & dCreationDate) with title lsProcessTitle

--======================= END OF MAIN SCRIPT ================

to convertIntlDate(textDate)
  
  --- textDate MUST be in the format of YYYY<delim>MM<delim>DD
  ---    where <delim> can be any character
  ---    like 2016-01-05
  
  set resultDate to the current date
  
  set the year of resultDate to (text 1 thru 4 of textDate)
  set the month of resultDate to (text 6 thru 7 of textDate)
  set the day of resultDate to (text 9 thru 10 of textDate)
  set the time of resultDate to 0
  
  if (length of textDate) > 10 then
    set the hours of resultDate to (text 12 thru 13 of textDate)
    set the minutes of resultDate to (text 15 thru 16 of textDate)
    
    if (length of textDate) > 16 then
      set the seconds of resultDate to (text 18 thru 19 of textDate)
    end if
  end if
  
  return resultDate
end convertIntlDate

(*
===== END OF:  Set EN CreationDate from Selection =====
*)

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

How to Install AppleScripts or JXA Scripts