Using Tinderbox with External Editors

Here is a description of a method for using external editors with Tinderbox. It is a bit of a kludge, but it seems to work reliably and smoothly.

Requirements

OS X, Tinderbox, a running web server on your local machine, willingness to type commands in Terminal.

Why?

You can edit the text of a note in Tinderbox; you don't need to use an external editor. Nevertheless, there are several advantages in doing so, and some disadvantages. If you set things up the way I describe below you will be able to open a note in Tinderbox and instantly be taken to an external program where you can edit the note; the external editor can be different for different file types. The notes' contents can be imported back in to Tinderbox with a single click.

Simpler way in v.3.5

Since Tinderbox v.3.5 allows access to the OS X Services menu, you can use services provided by some programs to edit the contents of a Tinderbox note and save the result back into the note. This will be much simpler than the method described here if your editor of choice provides a services menu item to do this.