Bellhop Help
Sharing Services
Bellhop shares services using Service Pack files, which are files that bundle any number of services into a portable file. The extension for service pack files is .bhsp. You can export service packs to share them with others and you can import them to leverage pre-written services.
Service packs are useful when you wish to transport a single service or small set of services. For example, you may have written a service to do some fancy text manipulation that you wish to send to a friend. Instead of sending the raw script code, you can simply drag the service out of the document and into your email client (or the Finder) and Bellhop will automatically create a service pack with the selected service. A service pack is essentially a collection of services that are bundled together into a single package. When you export a selection, either by dragging to the Finder or selecting the File > Export to Service Pack... menu item, the selected services are collected and written to a file. The file contains all of the settings for the services, as well as any comments, as well as some additional information used to identify each service and its scripting family. Once packaged, you can easily transport services via email, or some other method.
You can also import service packs back into Bellhop by either selecting File > Import > Import Service Pack... from the application menu, dragging the service pack file onto a collection in the service list, or by dragging a service pack URL from the Bellhop Service Library onto a collection in the service list. Bellhop will open the service pack, read the contents of the file, and add the contents of the service pack into the selected collection.
Creating Service Pack Files
You can create service packs from the main menu or simply by dragging a selection of services to the Finder. To export services using the menu, simply select the services you wish to export from the service list, and then choose File > Export to Service Pack... from the menu. You will then be presented with a dialog asking you where you would like to save the service pack.
You can also create service packs by selecting the services you wish to export, and then dragging them out of Bellhop from the service list and onto a Finder window, or even directly into Mail's compose window to send it as an attachment. This provides you with an easy way to trade services between people via email, for example.
Importing Service Pack Files
Importing service pack files is also easy. You can do so via the menu, by dragging a service pack file directly onto Bellhop's service list, or by dragging a link to a service pack file (e.g. from the Bellhop Service Library) onto the service list.
To import a service pack file from the menu, select File > Import > Import Service Pack... from the menu. You will be presented with a dialog to choose the service pack file to import.
You can also drag a service pack file directly into a Bellhop document by dragging the file's icon onto the service list. You can drag files from the Finder, or drag a service pack file attachment directly out of Mail into Bellhop.
When the service pack file is dropped onto a collection, the services contained within the service pack will be imported into that collection. If you attempt to drop the same service pack into the collection again, Bellhop will warn you that some of the services are already present in the collection, and will ask you if you wish to continue with the import or not.
You can also drag service packs from a web page into Bellhop by dragging the link from the page directly into Bellhop's service list. For example, the Bellhop Service Library contains various services that you can download directly into Bellhop.
When the service pack URL is dropped onto a collection in the service list, the services contained within the service pack will be imported into that collection. If you attempt to drop the same URL onto the collection again, Bellhop will warn you that some of the services are already present in the collection, and will ask you if you wish to continue with the import or not. This way, you can update a service that you dragged from the web by simply dragging the service pack URL onto a collection again.