Harnessing the Power of Tana’s Multi-Action Commands

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had an insatiable curiosity for learning and innovation. This passion has led me down many intriguing pathways, but none has gripped me as much as Tana and Commands. I’ve found myself completely entranced by their power and versatility, resulting in a growing collection of over 200 different commands in just less than 2 months.

Nowadays, my favorite pastime is creating new commands, a process that combines problem-solving, creativity, and a splash of ingenuity. I live for those ‘Aha!’ moments when an idea takes form and everything falls into place. And each successful command brings a rush of achievement that is truly addictive.

Today, I want to let you in on my world. I’ll be sharing something I’ve previously touched upon during my inaugural Commands workshop – the concept of creating a master command.

In my upcoming template, Contextual Hierarchy, you will be dealing with a seemingly endless list of nodes in the Resource Status options. Precision is key here, which is why my statuses are divided into three precise categories: Reading, Watching, and Listening. Within these are 3 unique status variations I juggle.

One evening, while playing some gentle obscure music to fuel my creativity (an old habit of mine), a thought struck me: Instead of having three buttons, why not create a command that changes the status depending on the current value? A command that could shift ‘To Read’ to ‘Reading’, ‘To Listen’ to ‘Listening’, and ‘To Watch’ to ‘Watching’, with just one simple click. This is where the Node filter steps into the spotlight.

So, fueled by the melodies of Endel Sound x Plastikman and a fresh pot of tea, I began creating one master command with three subsets. I lovingly named them ‘Set Value Reading’, ‘Set Value Listening’, and ‘Set Value Watching.’ Each command was granted a Node filter, allowing it to spring into action when the values matched or move on if they didn’t.

After some trial and error, punctuated by the occasional triumph (and spontaneous victory dance), it worked! Podcasts shifted to ‘Listening,’ movies to ‘Watching,’ and books to ‘Reading.’

The thrill of this victory was quickly replaced by a new challenge. I wanted to hide the 🔥 command when I was consuming a node or after I had consumed it. I tackled this by adding a Node filter to my master command.

In this way, I could maintain a cleaner interface – if a resource was consumed or in the process of being consumed, my ‘Fire command’ remained invisible, only showing when necessary.

Next, in the same vein, I wanted to create a command that would automatically mark a resource as consumed, whether it was a book, podcast, or movie.

And just like that, I did it! By leveraging the power of Node filters and nested commands within a master command, I condensed my buttons count to just two, maintaining only one visible at any given time.

Each successful command is like a new story added to my book of innovation. These small victories, these ‘Aha’ moments, are why I adore what I do. I’m continuously astounded by the potential of this single feature, and I’m bubbling with anticipation for what new possibilities the future holds.

Until then, you can find me lost in the world of Tana’s commands, navigating the intriguing maze of search expressions, one sip of tea at a time.

PS: You can still join me on June 23rd for a new adventurous trip to Commands-sphere, it will be fun, I promise!