The Fantastical Action Series (2.0)
I've posted Fantastical actions before, but since then some changes to the URL schemes of Fantastical and Launch Center Pro have allowed for better implementations. (▼)(▲)Fantastical has added a few new options to its URL scheme. Most notably, you can trigger a parameter to automatically parse events without you needing to press “add” each time, so after you launch the action you don't have to touch the device again until all of your events have been parsed. Another new parameter allows you to tell Fantastical that you are sending it a reminder to be parsed without manually adding “todo” before the text of the reminder. This isn't that big of a deal, since “todo” was added automatically in the old action set anyways, but it looks a little bit nicer as your reminders are parsed, and I like their attention to such small details. As for Launch Center Pro, new features have allowed for the creation of recursive actions, massively simplifying my previous Fantastical actions for LCP by removing the need for both Pythonista and Drafts to be used in the action chain. This post will detail a series of actions which will allow you to send a list of events from either Drafts or Launch Center Pro and have them be automatically parsed, one by one, in Fantastical. Unlike the last version, the Launch Center Pro actions will no longer require the use of Pythonista or Drafts, they run completely via URL scheme between LCP and Fantastical.
The Parse in Fantastical Action
The Parse In Fantastical Action takes a draft (or Launch Center Pro prompt) and sends it to Fantastical to be parsed. You can parse a single event or multiple events using the same action.
Drafts
Type your event or list of events in Drafts, then run the Parse in Fantastical action to launch the sequence.
If you want to parse a list of events, leave one completely blank line between each event in your draft. Type each event in natural language as you would if you were typing it directly into Fantastical.
Direct Import Link for the Parse In Fantastical Drafts Action
Launch Center Pro
In Launch Center Pro, first run the Parse in Fantastical action. This will bring up an input prompt in which you can type one event. Even if you need to parse multiple events, type only the first one in the prompt box. With your first event typed, hit “Launch” to run the action. You will be sent to Fantastical where the event is instantly added to your calendar, then you are automatically redirected back to LCP, without any input required. This action is recursive, so on your return to LCP, you will immediately be provided with another empty prompt box. Type your second event here and hit “Launch” to parse it and return to LCP for a third. This process will repeat until you hit “Cancel” instead of “Launch”. If you only needed to parse one event, just hit “Cancel” after it has parsed the first event and you're done. (▼)(▲)An important thing to note: recursive actions in Launch Center Pro only work by utilizing a clipboard hack, so make sure not to copy anything onto the clipboard between starting and finishing parsing your events, or you will break the action. Furthermore, make sure you don't have anything important stored only in the clipboard when you launch this action, as it will be overwritten.
Direct Import Link for the Parse In Fantastical LCP Action
The Parse Reminders in Fantastical Actions
The Parse Reminders In Fantastical Action takes a draft (or Launch Center Pro prompt) and sends it to Fantastical to be parsed as a reminder. You can parse a single reminder or multiple reminders using the same action.
Drafts
Type your reminder or list of reminders in Drafts, then run the Parse Reminders in Fantastical action to launch the sequence.
If you want to parse a list of reminders, leave one completely blank line between each reminder in your draft. Type each reminder in natural language as you would if you were typing it directly into Fantastical.
Direct Import Link for the Parse Reminders In Fantastical Drafts Action
Launch Center Pro
In Launch Center Pro, first launch the Parse Reminders in Fantastical action. This will bring up an input prompt in which you can type a single reminder. Just like the event parsing version of this action, it is recursive, so if you have multiple reminders to parse, only type one each time before hitting “Launch”. After that reminder has been parsed you will return to LCP and immediately be given the option to parse your next reminder. Whenever you are finished parsing, just hit “Cancel” instead of “Launch” to end the sequence.
Direct Import Link for the Parse Reminders In Fantastical LCP Action
The Fantastical Action Menu
If you want To conserve space in your Launch Center Pro action grid, you can combine these Fantastical actions into an “action menu”. This will be a single action which, when run, will bring up a list menu in LCP with three options: “Parse Events”, “Parse Reminders”, or “Launch Fantastical”. The first two will begin the corresponding recursive actions listed above, giving you prompt boxes to keep parsing reminders or events until you hit “Cancel”. The third option will, of course, simply launch Fantastical.