Table of Contents

Introduction


Alloy is all about Actions. Whether you need to launch an app or automate some repetitive and complex tasks - Alloy makes it simple and handy. Create corresponding Actions and use them again and again. 


An Action represents work (activity) needed to be done on the user request; it would be considered as a mini app or an applet. Actions would be as simple as just launching some apps or as complex as launching complicated workflows involving the user input, some system, and Cloud services.


Alloy presents Actions in a usual grid layout. Use swipe up/down gestures to scroll Actions up/down. To launch an Action - tap on it. To rearrange Actions and move them between folders - turn ON the Edit mode and use drag & drop to move Actions to desired place.


Please check the Getting Started with "Alloy - launcher and automator" video that showcases the basics of the app.


To add an Action or a Folder either:

  • Tap on desired free space or 
  • Tap the + button on the top-left corner of the app.

There you can create a new Action, new folder or choose ready-to-use Action from the Action Directory. 


To edit an Action either: 

  • Double-tap or 
  • Tap it when in the Edit mode.

To remove an Action - tap the Remove button when in the Edit mode. 


To show the context menu with list of commands available for an Action either: 

  • Tap the Share button when in the Edit mode or
  • On a device with 3D Touch: firm press to show Action Preview and swipe up.


Note: Alloy may ask you to enable access to some system services and data like location services, contacts, photos, etc. It is recommended to grant such access; otherwise many Actions would fail to operate.

 

Main Usage Scenarios


Using Favorites

Favorites allows to show and use just right set of needed Actions based on your habits and usage statistics. To show Favorites tap a  button on the bottom-right/left corners of the app and tap a desired Action. Or long press a 726-star_2x.png button and swipe to a desired Action. To close Favorites either tap again on a 726-star_2x.png button, or tap on any place outside Favorites, or  tap the [X] button on the top-left corner of the app.


You can pin some Actions to Favorites. Pinned Actions will be always visible and would have top priority. To manage pinned Actions either

  • Show Favorites, turn ON the Edit mode and tap on radio-buttons Screenshot_3_13_15__4_22_PM.png to manage pinned state of desired Actions
  • Show context menu for an Action and choose the "Pin to Favorites" or "Pin off Favorites" commands
  • Use the "Settings | Favorites | Manage Pinned Favorites" list
  • Edit desired Action and use the 726-star_2x.png toggle button to change whether the Action is pinned to Favorites.


It is possible to change Favorites options and fine-tune how Favorites are calculated via the “Settings | Favorites”.


Adding Actions

To add an Action or folder either:

  • Tap on desired free space or 
  • Tap the "+" button on the top-left corner of the app.

There you can create either:

  • Action - a new Action from scratch 
  • Folder - a new Folder, which can hold other Actions
  • App - an Action which represents a shortcut to a certain app
  • Contact Action - an Action which represents a shortcut to a contact
  • Ready-to-use Action from the Action Directory. There you can browse all Actions, new or updates Actions, Actions by tags etc. To simplify searching you can pull-down the search accessory and find actions by name or description.   


Editing Actions

To edit an Action either: 

  • Double-tap or 
  • Tap it when in the Edit mode.

Each Action must have at least the Icon, the Name and a Workflow. To change the Icon - tap on it and chose glyph, colors etc. To change the Name - tap on it and enter a new name. To define Action's Workflow - tap on it.


Please check the Actions and Workflows topics for more information.


You are encouraged to use actions from the Action Directory to learn and understand how to design Actions covering various use-case scenarios.


Today Widget

Alloy includes a Today Widget which presents Favorites right in the Notification Center. Alloy's Today Widget comes with complete support of Glances and Background Workflows so all the Actions will be presented in their best and up-to-date state. For example, if you need to check time left till you parking expires, there's no need to open Alloy app. Pull down Notification Center and check out up-to-date "time left" value. 


Action Extension

Alloy includes an Action Extension that allows launching Alloy's Actions right from other apps. This allows to utilize or alter data provided by other apps. To use Alloy Action Extension:

  1. Choose data to work with (e.g. a photo)
  2. Tap the  Share button
  3. Make "Alloy Action" visible (if it is not visible yet) via the More menu
  4. Tap the "Alloy Action"
  5. You will be presented with the list of Actions capable of handling shared data
  6. Tap desired Action to launch it; shared data will be passed to the "Main Workflow" as the action_in variable.

To mark an Action as capable of accepting certain data types - the Action's "Input" property should be specified. For example, an Action working with photos should have the "Input" = "Photo". By default, Action's output will be returned to the host app, potentially changing shared data. To avoid this (if it's not desired) the Action's "Output (Extension)" property should be turned OFF.


Also, there is special support for Safari browser that allows to view or change page's URL or content. To make a Safari extension an Action should have the "Property List" as the input type. When launched, such an Action will receive a map containing "URL", "title" and "content" variables as input. To change page's URL or content an Action should output a map containing respective new values.


To allow taking only page's URL from Safari an Action should have the "URL" as input. For example, to add a bookmark in Alloy - choose the "Bookmark" Action and then choose "Install". Note, in that case Action's output is ignored.  


iMessage Extension

Alloy now includes handy iMessage Extension, which allows to utilize content provided by Actions and send that content to iMessage recipients. The iMessage Extension shows familiar set of Favorites; Glances and background updates as fully supported. To launch an Action – tap on it as usual. After an Action finished running – its output, converted to a form suitable for iMessage, will be inserted to the entry field as a new message. So it is possible, for example, to easily send current location, last photo with added watermark, tip calculation etc.


Actions may act same for both the App and the iMessage Extension or may act differently, if the iMessage Workflow or iMessage specific tasks are defined. Many built-in Actions were updated to support the iMessage Extension; you can discover them all by the "iMessage" tag.

It is possible to add new Favorites to the iMessage Extension by taping the  "Add Favorite" button. The "Choose Action" view will be shown allowing to choose either installed Actions or compatible (having "iMessage" tag) Actions from the Actions Directory.


By default the iMessage Extension uses Dynamic Favorites and Pinned Favorites. Though it is possible to have dedicated Pinned Favorites just for the iMessage Extension. This can be done either by:

  • Adding Favorites from iMessage Extension
  • Toggling the  button during Action's editing
  • Via the "Settings | Favorites | Manage iMessage Pinned Favorites" view.

Note: as soon as at least one Action is pinned to iMessage Pinned Favorites they will be explicitly used instead of general Pinned Favorites.


Alloy now includes a new special kind of Workflow – iMessage Workflow, which will be launched when the user taps an Action in the iMessage Extension. If no iMessage Workflow is defined – the Main Workflow will be launched by default.


In many cases similar Workflows with minimal changes can be utilized as the Main Workflow and, for example, iMessage Workflow. To avoid having two Workflows and copy-pasting tasks between them it is (sometimes) feasible to have just one Main Workflow with some differences based on the type of the project (e.g. the App or the iMessage Extension) the Action is running in. A "Get Project Type" task allows getting the project type and handling it in the following Switch to make desired project specific behavior.


Often, it can be useful to send results of the Actions represented as Glances by email, SMS or via the iMessage Extension. To do this the Glance should be rendered as an image with help of a "Render Glance as Image" task.


Share Extension

Alloy includes a Share Extension that allows sharing data with Alloy. This allows to utilize data provided by other apps. To use Alloy Share Extension:

  1. Choose data to work with (e.g. a photo)
  2. Tap the  Share button
  3. Make "Alloy" Share Extension visible (if it is not visible yet) via the More menu
  4. Tap the  "Alloy" Share Extension
  5. You will be presented with a prompt to Share; optionally specify the name for the data there
  6. Tap the Post button
  7. Launch Alloy app
  8. You will be prompted to open data with some Action or to save it for later use to the local storage. If open data was chosen:
    • You will be presented with the list of Actions capable of handling shared data
    • Tap desired Action to launch it; shared data will be passed to the "Main Workflow" as the action_in variable
  9. If save for later was chosen - data will be saved to the local storage and it can be accessed at any time later by taping  the button.

To mark an Action as capable of accepting certain data types - the Action's "Input" property should be specified. For example, an Action working with photos should have the "Input" = "Photo".


Note: it is feasible to use the Alloy's Share Extension vs. Action Extension to handle data with Actions which require access to some Cloud services like Dropbox. The Action Extension disallows use of such services so the Share Extension is the only alternative as of now.


Clipboard

Alloy allows to utilize clipboard content as input for Actions. To do this:

  1. Put desired data to process to clipboard
  2. Launch Alloy app
  3. Tap the Paste 809-clipboard_2x.png button 
  4. You will be presented with the list of Actions capable of handling clipboard's data
  5. Tap desired Action to launch it; clipboard's data will be passed to the "Main Workflow" as the action_in variable

To mark an Action as capable of accepting certain data types - the action's "Input" property should be specified. For example, an Action working with photos should have the "Input" = "Photo".


Drag and Drop

Alloy now includes Drag and Drop support - an ability to use Actions to handle data dragged and dropped from other apps. Note: this feature requires iOS 11 and is available on iPad only. To use this feature: 

  1. Start dragging some data (photos, text or URLs) in some app.
  2. Drag the data to Alloy.
  3. Drag the data over an Action of interest. If that action accepts a kind of data being dragged - the action will be highlighted and dragged data's preview will be decorated with the (+) sign. Data acceptance is calculated matching a kind of data being dragged to particular action's Input property.
  4. Drop the data to the Action. If the action accepts that data - it will be launched; dropped data will be passed as the action_in variable. By default Action's "Main Workflow" will be executed, though it is possible to use a new kind of workflow - "Drop Workflow" to handle dropped data.

To mark an Action as capable of accepting certain data types - the Action's "Input" property should be specified. For example, an Action working with photos should have the "Input" = "Photo".


Local Storage

Alloy provides you a local storage for files either shared with the app or obtained as result of Actions run. Local storage can be accessed at any time by taping the  button. There it is possible to preview, delete or use Actions to handle files in the local storage. To use Actions with local files: 

  1. Select one or several files of the same kind (identified by extension).
  2. Tap the Open button
  3. You will be presented with the list of Actions capable of handling selected files
  4. Tap desired Action to launch it; selected files will be passed to the "Main Workflow" as the action_in variable

To mark an Action as capable of accepting certain file types - the Action's "Input" property should be specified. For example, an Action working with photos should have the "Input" = "Photo".


Reset Action

It is possible to reset some Actions and initialize them with the fresh set of data. To reset an Action:

  1. Show context menu for the Action - either:
    • Tap the Share button when in the Edit mode or
    • On a device with 3D Touch: firm press to show Action Preview and swipe up.
  2. Choose the "Reset" command.

For example, resetting the "Call Kate" Action would allow choosing different contact to call e.g. John Doe, which effectively turns the Action to be "Call John".  


Note: if an Action does not provide the "Installation Workflow" - it can not be reset therefore the "Reset" command will not be present in context menu.


Getting Help

Alloy provides you extensive help topics for all the aspects of running and designing Actions and Workflows. 


When in app: You can get help in almost any screen by taping the  Help button. Or you can access various help resources in the "Settings | Help" screen:

  • "Introduction": shows a short presentation that covers major aspects of app use
  • "Install Sample Actions": installs sample Actions to showcase major areas of automation
  • "Help Topics": shows the help topics for everything Alloy could provide
  • "Integration with Alloy": shows how to integrate Alloy with other apps
  • "Feedback": sends feedback by email
  • "Support": opens Alloy's support site in the Web Browser
  • "Website":opens Alloy's Web site in the Web Browser
  • "About": shows version copyright and credits

When on desktop, laptop or tablet:

Here are Some Helpful Links: