front end - Combine InputAlias with InputString to parse expressions from a string

My knowledge of low-level notebook programming is very limited so I would be very grateful for any input regarding the following issue:

I would like to define an input alias (via InputAliases) that evaluates

parse[InputString[]]

in-place (like selecting it and then performing Menu → Evaluation → Evaluate in Place or Cmd + Return). The function parse will translate my textual input into an expression (and insert it at the current cursor position).

Currently, I am using the following alias,

SetOptions[EvaluationNotebook[],

    InputAliases->{"parse"->RowBox[{"parse","[","InputString","[","]","]"}]}]

and the workflow looks like this

1. ESC parse ESC to produce parse[InputString[]]


2. Press Ctrl + . a few times to select parse[InputString[]]


3. Evaluate in place via Cmd + Return


4. Type something into the input field and press Return

Basically, I would like to get rid of steps 2 and 3. I would appreciate any other solution if the desired behavior cannot be achieved using InputAliases. I would also be more than happy if an InputField could be used instead of InputString.