Backpack Scripts for LaunchBar

A while ago, I wrote some scripts for posting items to Backpack accounts from Quicksilver. Since then, Quicksilver has fallen out of favor with me, so I tweaked the scripts for use in the fantastic LaunchBar instead.

The new scripts are located here.

The scripts will allow you to add task items to specific Backpack lists, or add notes to specific Backpack pages, all from the comfort of LaunchBar. Read on for instructions on how to get them set up and use them.

When you download the scripts, you will need to open them in Script Editor and make some changes to the variables at the top of each script.

1. For YOUR_API_KEY, enter your API key which can be located by clicking on My Info in the top right section of your Backpack header. At the bottom of this page is a link to "show your API key."
2. For YOUR_ACCOUNT_NAME, replace the place holder variable with the name of your backpack account, the portion of the URL that shows up before backpackit.com when you visit your account.
3. For BACKPACK_PAGE_ID, enter the number that shows up at the end of the URL in your address bar when you visit that page.
4. For BACKPACK_LIST_ID in the list item script, you'll have to dig a little deeper. The only way I know of to find this is to view the source of the page on which the list resides in your browser, then search the source for the name of the list you're looking for. The number will show up directly before that and will look something like span id="name_list_1509503". You only need the numeric portion.
5. If your account is high enough up the chain to have SSL, enter yes for that variable. If not, enter no.

Save your script with a title that makes sense to you and that will be easy enough to call up in Launchbar. For example, the list script that I have to add items to my Blog Ideas list is called, appropriately enough, Blog Idea.

You will need to save this in the ~/Library/Application Support/LaunchBar/Actions folder (the ~ means that this is the Library inside your home folder). If the Actions folder doesn't exist, create it.

After saving the script, you'll need to relaunch LaunchBar, so you may want to do them all at once. As you probably figured out, you'll need separate scripts for each page (for notes) or list that you want to use.

To use the task script, call up the script in LaunchBar by typing part of the name, and then hit the space bar instead of hitting enter. This will put you in text entry mode, where you can enter the name of the task to be added to that list. After typing it in, hit enter. This will immediately enter the task on the list.

The note script works the same but it has one advanced option. If you would like your note to have a title, type the title before the rest of the note and separate it from the note with a colon. This also means your note cannot have a colon in the text, or this will fail. You can edit the AppleScript to use a different separator if you would like. Just change the colon character in the line that says

set text item delimiters to ":"

and make it whatever you'd like that's not likely to be in the body of the note.