Switching-Gears-With-Applescript

Contents

Related

• Blog-Archive
• MacOSX
• Safari
• Applescript
• MacVim
• Skim
• SyntaxHighlighter

Occasionally, I use Safari to view a local file. If it is a PDF, I might want to re-open it in another PDF reader (e.g. Preview or Skim). If the file is a text file with an extension recognized by my text editor, I might want to open it in my preferred text editor. This post explains how I accomplish this.

The following Applescript re-opens a local file from the frontmost window of Safari into a second application. As show below, the second application is MacVim. The script can be easily modified to open files using other applications, for example Skim. This script should be run from the Applescript menu when the document is open-and-frontmost in Safari.

The script assumes that the URL contains the path to a local file, prefixed by file://. There is no testing performed to ensure that the URL represents a local file. The prefix is removed, and the desired application is told to open the corresponding document.

Installation

Place the script in ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari/. For more detailed installation instructions, visit how-to-applescript.

Keyboard Shortcut

Choose a system-wide keyboard shortcut that will “Move focus to status menus in the menu bar”. This can be set up in the “Keyboard & Mouse” System Preferences.

Ideally, this script should be extended

1. to perform simple tests on the format of the URL, and
2. to attempt to download a remote file before trying to open it locally

Enjoy,

• Stu

(*
Purpose: Use this script to re-open using "MacVim" a document that is open in
"Safari".  The script detects the full path of the local file and re-opens it.
Ideally, the script would also close the file in "Safari", but this has not
been implemented.  

Usage: This script should be run from the applescript menu when the document is
open-and-frontmost in Safari.

Installation: Place the script in ~/Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari/  To
access this script, make sure to select "Show script menu in menu bar" in the
AppleScript Utility application (10.5) or in Preferences > General of the
AppleScript Editor application (10.6).

Installation for mouse and trackpad-free access:  Choose a keyboard shortcut
that will "Move focus to status menus in the menu bar".  This can be set up in
the "Keyboard & Mouse" System Preferences.

Author: Stuart J. D. Andrews;
Email: sunny day in nyc at gmail com
Date: April 15, 2011
Environment: Script Editor 2.3; AppleScript 2.1.2; Mac OS X 10.6.7

*)

property myapp : "Safari"
property debug : false
-- property debug : true

try
    set front_process to application "Finder"
    --
    tell application "Safari"
        set VVV to URL of document 1
    end tell
    
    -- remove leading "file://"
    do shell script "echo " & quoted form of VVV & "| cut -c 8-"
    set VVV to result
    errmsg(VVV, front_process)
    
    -- open file in Skim
    tell application "MacVim"
        activate
        open VVV
    end tell
    
    
on error the error_message number the error_number
    errmsg("Error: " & the error_number & ". " & the error_message, front_process)
    
end try


on errmsg(VVV, active_process)
    if debug then
        tell active_process
            activate
            display dialog "Value: " & VVV buttons {"OK"} default button 1
        end tell
    end if
end errmsg