Make web search in current opened browser - Farr_Browser_Launcher by lanux128

[joby_toss]

I use Opera as my main browser, but I also need Firefox and Chrome. They all have their strong and week points.

I make, for example, a Google search using "g query" syntax.

Here comes my question: how can I make my web search in the current opened browser and not in the default one?
And if I have all 3 (or only 2) browsers opened, could I specify a preferred order of them?

Maybe this could be doable already, but I have no idea how.
It is annoying to work in Firefox and hitting "g whatever" makes me wait until Opera launches etc...

Thanks!

Edit: the answer was offered by lanux128 in the form of Farr_Browser_Launcher.

[mouser]

i *think* this is what you want:

[joby_toss]

Oh, no. I know about that option.

Let's say my default browser is Opera and I specified Firefox in that option field you mentioned.
But I work in this moment in Chrome. This is the only opened/started browser. How can I send searches to this opened/started browser (not Opera, not Firefox). Because this is already started and the search will take place quickly. As it is now (in this example), I'll have to wait for Firefox to open (and it takes a very long time since I need a lot of plugins).

Could this be possible? Use the already opened/started browser (no matter what that is, even IE) for searches instead of system's default browser or the one specified in Custom Browser field?

I guess it's not that easy to explain with my current English knowledge.

[mouser]

ok i understand what you want.

i think the most elegant solution would be by elaborating on an idea we've discussed several times on DC and i am tempted to code -- which would be a standalone web browser middleman.

The browser middleman would be configured in the above screen, with rules specifying which real browser it should send urls to.  in your case you would want it to send the url to whatever browser is already running.  [The main use for this browser middleman idea was to open certain patterned urls in some browsers and others in others, and others blocked, etc. ]

[JavaJones]

Not being a FARR expert this may already exist, or there may already have been lengthy discussions about why it's not possible, a bad idea, or whatever... buuut, having said that, what about:

A keyword system to use a specific app to open the result of a search. Could be a suffix, e.g. "g query fx" would use Google to search on the "query" text and the application associated with "fx" (Firefox) to open the result when clicked on/invoked. You could then do "g query ie" and get it to open in ie, or "g query np" for notepad. You'd setup custom keyword associations with apps the same way you apparently can for search types and plugins. Obviously the suffix approach has problems, so maybe it could be an additional prefix, or some other modifier, and then there's the concern that not every result may be able to be opened by said app, but then if you know you're looking for e.g. an HTML file or web URL in your search, then it's reasonable to specify a browser to open it, even if other results come up that could not be opened by a browser - you leave it to the user to decide and deal with the consequences.

It seems like this could be fairly cool and powerful functionality...

- Oshyan

[mouser]

A keyword system to use a specific app to open the result of a search.

this exists.

in the help file look up the section: "Advanced Use -> Using Alias Action Keywords"

[JavaJones]

I knew it. So, can it be used to overcome the issue the OP has, and launch a specific browser for search results?

- Oshyan

[lanux128]

even though Firefox is my default, when Firefox is not open i prefer to open any quick queries launched from Farr in K-Meleon (which is less resource intensive). so for that purpose, i wrote a small AHK script to do just that.

• Farr_Browser_Launcher (FBL4)
to use it, just copy the file into a folder of your choice and refer to that path in your Farr's custom browser option. (see pic)



please give it a try and let me know if it works or otherwise.. also thanks to ewemoa for his valuable suggestions.

Edit: new version uploaded, please give this a try. hopefully the "space" bug have been fixed.
i also shortened the program's name to FBL4 (the 4 stands for the number of supported browsers).

[joby_toss]

In my case (win7x64) it only works if BrowserB is IE8 (and it always opens a new window instead of a new tab in the already opened instance).
Not FF nor Chrome works, but I guess it is because I use the portable versions (NSIS launchers).

It is pretty amazing what you did here!  
Thanks!

Edit: Forgot to say that I started using this tool a while back, Browser Chooser, but it involves one more mouse click and quite some attention.

[lanux128]

In my case (win7x64) it only works if BrowserB is IE8 (and it always opens a new window instead of a new tab in the already opened instance).
Not FF nor Chrome works, but I guess it is because I use the portable versions (NSIS launchers).

It is pretty amazing what you did here! 
Thanks!

-joby_toss (May 21, 2010, 01:29 AM)

i see that you're using win7x64.. in that case, you have to edit the INI file (%FarrDir%\Scripts\Farr_Browser_Launcher.ini) and change the path to your browser accordingly. you can refer to the image below.



btw, you're welcome and let me know if the change works as i have no win7 to test.. 

[joby_toss]

Hey...I played around a bit with the paths like you suggested and IT WORKS (even with the portable launchers)!
Brilliant!
Thank you so much!

The trick is not to put the default browser in the first spot (BrowserA - Opera in my case).

Can BrowserC , BrowserD etc. be added?

??? I see no mention about chrome in your script and yet, it works with it, too.???

[lanux128]

Hey...I played around a bit with the paths like you suggested and IT WORKS (even with the portable launchers)!
Brilliant!
Thank you so much!

The trick is not to put the default browser in the first spot (BrowserA - Opera in my case).

Can BrowserC , BrowserD etc. be added?

-joby_toss (May 21, 2010, 02:02 AM)

glad to see it working. yes, BrowserA gives way to BrowserB if BrowserB is already open. think A as the default heavyweight slugger while B is the nimble-footed sprinter.

as for BrowserC , BrowserD can you give an example of how they would be prioritised? like an order of how and when they should be opened.

[lanux128]

??? I see no mention about chrome in your script and yet, it works with it, too.???

-joby_toss (May 21, 2010, 02:02 AM)

you only need to specify the path in the INI file for the browsers to work. in case the paths do not exist, then the script will look to Internet Explorer (which is available in all versions of Windows) as a fail-safe instead of showing an error message. that's why earlier you had the links opening in IE8. btw, what were the browser paths in win7x64?

[joby_toss]

The main priority should be: is it opened (only 1)? use it!

If none opened: use A.
If 2 opened: if A and B or C or D - use A
                    if B and C or D - use B
                    if C and D - use C
If 3 opened: if A and any 2 other - use A
                    if B and C and D - use B
If all opened - use A.

As for browsers paths, in my case, here they go:
- installed:   IE8x86 - C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
                 IE8x64 - C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
                 Opera (installed because I can't make it default browser if outside ProgramFiles) - C:\Program Files (x86)\Opera\opera.exe
- portable:   Chrome5 - D:\Joby\Internet stuff\ChromePortable\ChromePortable.exe
                  Iron4 - D:\Joby\Internet stuff\ChromePortable\App\IronPortable.exe
                  Firefox3 - D:\Joby\Internet stuff\FirefoxPortable3\FirefoxPortable.exe
                  Palemon - D:\Joby\Internet stuff\Palemoon-Portable\Palemoon-Portable.exe
                  SeaMonkey2 - D:\Joby\Internet stuff\SeaMonkeyPortable\SeaMonkeyPortable.exe

[lanux128]

Edit: Forgot to say that I started using this tool a while back, Browser Chooser, but it involves one more mouse click and quite some attention.

-joby_toss (May 21, 2010, 01:29 AM)

Browser Chooser was also discussed here as an alternative but somehow it didn't work

The main priority should be: is it opened (only 1)? use it!

If none opened: use A.
If 2 opened: if A and B or C or D - use A
                    if B and C or D - use B
                    if C and D - use C
If 3 opened: if A and any 2 other - use A
                    if B and C and D - use B
If all opened - use A.

-joby_toss (May 21, 2010, 02:36 AM)

the logic looks nice.. i'll work out something along these lines.

• BrowserA = Opera
• BrowserB = Chrome5
• BrowserC = Iron4
• BrowserD = Firefox3

[lanux128]

here is the version you requested, supports four browsers - A to D in order of preference. you may want to edit the INI file first to reflect the actual path in your system. also in certain cases, you may have to change the "BrowserX_ProcessName" section since this "ProcessName" is used to detect which browsers are open, e.g. Iron Portable's processes are seen in the system as "Iron.exe" not "IronPortable.exe" and so on.

please try this out and let me know how it works out for you.

Edit: i've uploaded the fixed version in this post here.

[joby_toss]

You might wonder why I haven't replied yet!

It's because I'm speechless!

 

[lanux128]

You might wonder why I haven't replied yet!

It's because I'm speechless!

-joby_toss (May 22, 2010, 07:29 PM)

i'm glad that they work well for you and thanks for your kind words.

[lanux128]

btw, FBL will work wherever you can specify a custom browser like this:
c:\pathto\Farr_Browser_Launcher2.exe <url>

currently i have it working in mIRC as well. to make it work, put the following lines in your remote section (press Alt+r to invoke the scripts editor dialog).

[Select]

on ^*:hotlink:*//*.*:*: { }
on *:hotlink:*//*.*:*: { run C:\Program Files\DonationCoder\Farr\Scripts\Farr_Browser_Launcher2.exe $1 }
on ^*:hotlink:*www.*:*: { }
on *:hotlink:*www.*:*: { run C:\Program Files\DonationCoder\Farr\Scripts\Farr_Browser_Launcher2.exe $1 }

obviously you need to change the path accordingly.

[joby_toss]

Obviously, FBL was designed for and works within FARR as lanux128 described here.

But the cool thing is that it works with other apps, too, like mIRC (see the above post).

It also works with Executor; just go to Settings->Misc. and enter FBL's path in the "Optional browser" field (and don't forget the $U$ parameter for keywords).

Make web search in current opened browser - Farr_Browser_Launcher by lanux128

[thancock20]

Thank you so much for this lanux128.  I just made it my default browser (using a little freeware tool called "DefaultBrowser"), and so far it's working just fine. 

[lanux128]

you're welcome, thancock20. you can also edit the INI file to change the browsers or their preference order.

[thancock20]

Oh, I guess I should have mentioned I had already edited the INI file.  If Firefox is open it's used, but if not then Chrome is.  I just decided today to try making it the default browser, and see if it would work across all of Windows instead of just programs that allow a custom browser.  So far, I haven't had any problems with it.  

[lanux128]

thanks for the report, that's good to know. your reports confirms that Farr_Browser_Launcher (FBL) will act as a middleman for opening links without any problems.

[thancock20]

UPDATE: I recently discovered that when I clicked on some html files (ones with spaces in them) I would get some really strange results.

However, I looked in the source and changed this line

[Select]

  geturi := %0%

to

[Select]

  geturi := """" . %0% . """"

and, after compiling, it now works like a charm.

Of course, this issue would never come up if the program was only used as originally intended.  But I thought I would share in case anyone else wanted to go the route of making FBL their default browser.

Also, this is the original 2 browser version, but I imagine the 4 browser version has a line like the one above as well.