p bilton's dashboard

I'd like to be able to IM with Sandy, too!

I've experimented with it and I still can't get it to do exactly what I want it to do.

I'm still having a problem sending a URL to Sandy in such a manner that Sandy will display the URL as a link with a given name, not as simple text. For now, that doesn't seem to be working very well. I've fallen back on simply having Sandy display the URL as text, since sending Sandy an html link causes other problems.

javascript:var msg=prompt('Write to Sandy:',document.getSelection()+' ');if(msg!=null){var win=window.open('http://iwantsandy.com/email/create?message[subject]=From bookmark&message[body]=Remember '+msg+' ('+location.href+')','_iwantsandy');}

Bricoleur,

You're right. The script would be better if it also captured the URL. I've edited the script so that it includes a URL. (In order to make it behave something like Google Notebook.)

Javascript stuff: (in case you're interested)
var msg -- creates a variable named 'msg'
+ symbol -- How to join two strings together
location.href -- The current URL
document.title -- The Title of the current page.
document.Selection() -- whatever is currently selected on the current page
window.open(a, b) -- command to open a new window
prompt(a, b) -- command to open a dialog box (ask the user to edit text)
message[subject] -- the subject of the message to send to Sandy
message[body] -- the body of the message to send to Sandy.
http://iwantsandy.com/email/create -- URL where an email is created to Sandy
_iwantsandy -- name I chose for the new window

There's a problem though. Sometimes Sandy's storing these snippets as a "Contact" not as a Note or Appointment, etc. I'm not sure what to do about that. I'm trying to have the link be *additional information* and otherwise ignored.

I was also playing around with the idea of creating a real html link. One that included both the URL and the title of the current page. (<a href="theURL"> Link name </a>) Sandy always interprets that as a Contact. (I also had to put the title in quotes "like this" in order to stop Sandy from using the title as a name of the thing to be remembered.)

URL only:
javascript:var msg=prompt('Write to Sandy:',document.getSelection()+' ');if(msg!=null){var win=window.open('http://iwantsandy.com/email/create?message[subject]=From bookmark&message[body]=Remember '+msg+' ('+location.href+')','_iwantsandy');}

URL and Title of the current page:
javascript:var msg=prompt('Write to Sandy:',document.getSelection()+' ');if(msg!=null){var win=window.open('http://iwantsandy.com/email/create?message[subject]=From bookmark&message[body]=Remember '+msg+' (<a href="'+location.href+'">"'+document.title+'"</a>)','_iwantsandy');}

I certainly couldn't have come up with anything this elegant so I am somewhat loathe to kibbitz... but...
I still like to capture the url (as per one of the requests) and there is no way to do this with this... so for now I'm sticking with my less elegant hack... but hoping you'll make it even a better routine kevin ;) – Bricoleur, on August 14, 2008 06:37

This bit worked for me only after changing the %20 to real spaces in the bookmark location field. Great hack! – Markk, on August 13, 2008 12:22

Great idea!

It seems I spoke too soon. I was able to get it working. (I don't know what I was doing wrong before.)

This is a neat little script.

1) it copies whatever is currently selected on the page and puts it in the form.
2) It prompts the user to edit the text (add tags, etc.)
3) It automatically adds the word "remember" to the beginning of the text.
4) It opens the iwantsandy email page in a new window
5) it emails the text in the form to Sandy.

javascript:var%20msg=prompt('Write%20to%20Sandy:',document.getSelection()+'%20');if(msg!=null){var%20win=window.open('http://iwantsandy.com/email/create?message[subject]=From%20bookmark&message[body]=Remember%20'+msg,'_iwantsandy');}

To use this script:
1) Create a bookmark.
2) Right click on the bookmark and select "properties"
3) Copy the script above into the location field.

I experimented a little with Schmelding's javascript idea, here's what I got.

1) the http://iwantsandy.com/email/create page doesn't do anything with 'message' or 'body' or 'subject' arguments. Until it does, I can't write a bookmark to automatically fill in the body of the message on that page.

So I tried Yahoo mail and Gmail instead.

http://compose.mail.yahoo.com/?to=san...

http://mail.google.com/mail/?view=cm&...

2) I edited the example bookmark to check for null. (So that selecting 'Cancel" won't do anything.)

javascript:var%20msg=prompt('Write%20to%20Sandy:','Remember%20REQUEST%20TIME.');if(msg!=null&&msg!='Remember%20REQUEST%20TIME.'){location.href='http://compose.mail.yahoo.com?to=sandy&subject=From%20bookmark&body='+msg;}

3) Currently, I still like Bricoleur's idea better. But if I could get a couple more things to work right...

a) Anybody know how to get javascript to access a text string containing all of the highlighted words on the current page?

b) It would be better if the iwantsandy.com/email/create page accepted a 'body' parameter.

To get the desired effect I simply did the following:

1) Create bookmark (I'm using ff but should work in ie I suppose) for my home page on I want Sandy on my Bookmarks toolbar

2) go into the bookmark and look at it's properties - it should read http://iwantsandy.com/iwantsandy - and change the link to http://iwantsandy.com/email/new

3) I set the "load this bookmark in sidebar" option (so I get the side bar rather than a new page opening)

4) That's it!

When I select the bookmark, the sidebar opens ... I simply type remember in the sandy box drag the url to the side bar and then select any text I want from the web site and drag and drop it into the sidebar.... add tags and viola - I've captured it all (sans pictures) to I Want Sandy ... Sandy "remembers" the URL and I can access the portion I've "clipped" by looking at the "context" when I call the item up.

Not perfect ... but it does work

Yeah, I would love this feature as well. I tried testing sending to my personal brightkite e-mail, but I think Jott adds stuff to the e-mail that confuses the parsing engine at BK. – Chris Pohlad-Thomas, on July 08, 2008 17:25

any progress on this? i have a project starting in 2 weeks that could use this. – ScottKoegler, on June 08, 2008 12:52

Niran,

Yes, it was the Twitter integration to which I was referring.

—Theory

Er, what IS the mobile number you text to Sandy from in the UK... I can't find it...

Or were you referring to Twitter integration?

Rael, I still can't figure out how to get rid of empty tags. In particular:

* I create a tag called "foo" (e.g., for testing purposes)

* I delete all items with the "foo" tag

* The tag persists in my tag cloud for some period of time

* If I have referenced the tag in any emails to Sandy, it persists forever

right?

How do I get rid of it?

Hi Lo!

This is now fixed as suggested above; take a gander at http://getsatisfaction.com/iwantsandy... for all the details.

Thanks again for calling the issue out.

—Rael

Ah, that's great. Thanks, Rael.

Lo