Firefox Applescript

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

Hey everyone,

I’m trying to write an applescript which will open a certian URL in Firefox, from scratch meaning that it opens firefox and take you directly to certian url. Where I want to go use firefox to go my hotmail account, since i use Safari as my main browser but it doesn’t work well using Safari.


launch "firefox"
tell application "Firefox" to Get URL "http://www.hotmail.com"

So i made this script a application, so when i click on it it opens firefox, but it then opens a new window the url. Maybe I can use Automator for this. This is my first attempt at writing an applescripts and its not to hard to use, but getting it do something specific, is a bit more challenging. Any help wil apreciated… :slight_smile:

Thanks,

Sebastiaan

Model: intel mac
Browser: Firefox 2.0.0.3
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

#2

Hi Sebdude,

I use this script, which works quite well:

tell application “Firefox”
activate
Get URL “http://www.macosxhints.com/”
Get URL “http://www.macdevcenter.com/”
end tell

Of course, I’ve trimmed it a bit for you, as there are some 18 urls opened in the original (and they are all opened in tabs).

'hope this helps.

Sincerely,

VariableAsTheShade

#3

Thanks VariableastheShade,

I’m just wondering though if it is at all possible to write a script that opens firefox but doesn’t open a unnecesary blank search page or tab. My script does pretty much the same, besided that on another computer it opens firefox and opens the link in a new window and with this computer it opens it in a new tab, which already is much better than a new window. Probably has something to do with your firefox settings… So, does anyone know how to write a script which opens firefox and sends it to hotmail… but then without opening extra tabs or windows…??? is it possible???

Sebdude

Model: Macbook 2ghz Black
Browser: Firefox 1.5.0.11 Flock/0.7.12
Operating System: Mac OS X (10.4)

#4

Hi, Sebdude.

Firefox isn’t wonderfully scriptable itself, but you could get System Events to type keystrokes at it that achieve the same thing:

tell application "Firefox" to activate

tell application "System Events"
	keystroke "l" using {command down} -- Highlight the URL field.

	-- Insert a short delay here, if necessary.

	keystroke "http://www.hotmail.com/" & return -- Type in the URL + a return.
end tell

Addendum. If you have GUI Scripting enabled, this is slightly more bullet-proof. Again, insert delays if and where required:

tell application "Firefox" to activate

tell application "System Events"
	-- Requires GUI Scripting to be active.
	tell application process "firefox-bin"
		set frontmost to true
		-- Close any of Firefox's non-browser windows that may be in front. 
		repeat while ((count menu bar 1 each menu bar item) < 10)
			keystroke "w" using {command down}
		end repeat
		-- If there are no windows (apart from an invisible one) open a browser window.
		if ((count each window) < 2) then keystroke "n" using command down
	end tell
	-- Insert the URL into the browser window's location field.
	keystroke "l" using {command down}
	keystroke "http://www.hotmail.com/" & return
end tell
#5

Assuming you mainly use FireFox for Hotmail, set http://www.hotmail.com as the homepage in your preferences, so when FireFox launches it opens Hotmail automatically.

Then you won’t need a script because you will only need to click the FireFox icon.

#6

The simplest solution is usually the most elegent, but Nigel’s script does the job just like I want it to.

Thanks everyone for your help,

Sebdude

P.S. As I’ve seen with Nigel latest script, i probably use applescript even login to hotmail using certain comands, how would I go about doing that?

#7

FYI- The “Get URL” command doesn’t seem to work in FireFox anymore, but there’s a workaround using a shell command:

http://macscripter.net/viewtopic.php?pid=127347#p127347

#8

Hey,

I have applescript open a Pandora page which plays one of my stations in Firefox. Is there a way using applescript to close
any Pandora tabs that are open?

Thanks,

Carl