Method of opening a browser and tab

[reelstuff]

I am looking into a method of opening up a browser window, and then a subsequent, tab and wondered if anyone here might have a suggestion of how to accomplish this.

To explain the idea behind this, I have several URLs that I would like open up in a browser but not a browser instance for each URL

So the idea would be to open up the first browser instance, then each URL after the first one would be opened in a tab.

On most modern browsers, command T opens a tab, but that tab is usually blank, I wonder if there is a method that is minimally invasive to the users system,

That would allow this to be accomplished using live code,

Any suggestions or thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks, Tim

[wsamples]

Hi, Tim. This isn't really "the answer" to your question, but...

This may depend entirely on how the user's browser itself handles this and/or how the user has set it up. My default browser is Opera and if I use "launch url" multiple times, each url will open in a new tab within one window. However, not all browsers will do this, nor could you depend on all users to select this mode even if their browser offers it. You might also run into users who prefer each url you launch to have its own window. For instance, with tabbed browsing, it can become clumsy to navigate by opening links in new tabs while keeping track of the tabs one started with originally, and some users may loathe this and resent you imposing it on them. Perhaps it's worth asking if you really need to dictate the user experience this way?

[wsamples]

FWIW...

In Windows 7, Internet Explorer seems to also open URLs in tabs, by default, using "launch url", but Safari in OS X appears to open each in its own window by default. Maybe you could experiment with other browsers...

Also, you could have very legitimate reasons for your preference - and the function of your application could make any other considerations irrelevant - and I do not mean to be dismissive


Warren

[reelstuff]

Hi, Tim. This isn't really "the answer" to your question, but...

This may depend entirely on how the user's browser itself handles this and/or how the user has set it up. My default browser is Opera and if I use "launch url" multiple times, each url will open in a new tab within one window. However, not all browsers will do this, nor could you depend on all users to select this mode even if their browser offers it. You might also run into users who prefer each url you launch to have its own window. For instance, with tabbed browsing, it can become clumsy to navigate by opening links in new tabs while keeping track of the tabs one started with originally, and some users may loathe this and resent you imposing it on them. Perhaps it's worth asking if you really need to dictate the user experience this way?

Hi, Yes, I see your point, I am basically creating this as a utility, to edit multiple websites (online) in one window, if you had say 10 to 12 windows open not only would you be using up a lot of memory, but it would just be very difficult to navigate between them, but I can see what you mean, I suppose I could use a custom browser, but in tests, so far it does not work well outside of fire fox, some windows versions have problems with it the custom browser, too, perhaps get shell might do it, but I have not tested it out, and I really don't like using it unless there is no other choice, I suppose I could pass the URL to a get shell command, and open either a new tab or a new window depending on the users preference.

Thanks for your comment, (for some reason I did not get an email, I usually do when someone responds,)

[reelstuff]

FWIW...

In Windows 7, Internet Explorer seems to also open URLs in tabs, by default, using "launch url", but Safari in OS X appears to open each in its own window by default. Maybe you could experiment with other browsers...

Also, you could have very legitimate reasons for your preference - and the function of your application could make any other considerations irrelevant - and I do not mean to be dismissive


Warren

Hi, not at all and I appreciate you taking time to reply, I started out trying to do this because as a designer I have a lot of websites to edit, and opening each URL, day after day was getting to be a real chore, so I may have to have a look at either using a custom browser window and the shell to open a tab, or find a method of using only firefox, still it is an interesting, thing, I ran across a few utilities that could do this but they are very limited in what they can do, I also found that safari in OSX does not seem to like opening successive windows, my first test crashed and burned, LOL,

[wsamples]

If it's just for yourself, as it sounds, then you have some possibility since you know which browser you want to use, etc.. Do a search on controlling browser from command line and you will turn up some results. Depending on which browser you use, you may be able to use shell()

For example:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 636AALT1Pl

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Command_Line_Options

http://www.binaryturf.com/lesser-firefo ... e-options/

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/C ... 9e97&hl=en

Would using saved sessions help? Opera and iCab both save sessions which you can reopen very conveniently. Other browsers may as well.

Good luck!

[reelstuff]

Thanks for those links I was just looking around to see what I could learn about this topic, I know there was some talk of updating the browser external at some point but I do not think they have progressed on it as yet, still looking at using the web plugin too but that is still in development, I always like to see just what I can do to save time,