3 ms·

Hey that’s a useful feature indeed, and it can already be added by the user with rcmd’s Window Actions which support AppleScript. I actually have done that myse

by alin23 4y ago

Hey that’s a useful feature indeed, and it can already be added by the user with rcmd’s Window Actions which support AppleScript. I actually have done that myself already for Firefox. I could maybe try to implement the main part of the “find and switch to the tab if it exists” so that users can simply assign the URL. Thanks for reminding about this use case!

gcanyon 4y ago
Oh, that's interesting. Okay, I'm pulling the trigger. I used to write AppleScript in a previous life, so I think I can handle that part. (we'll see if I'm right...)
gcanyon 4y ago
I have rcmd installed and working, and I wrote this AppleScript: tell application "Safari" repeat with w in windows set mt to (tabs of w whose URL contains "https://mail.google.com/") if mt ≠ {} then exit repeat end repeat if mt ≠ {} then set mt to item 1 of mt set the current tab of w to mt set the index of w to 1 end if -- activate -- needed if not activated otherwise end tell How do I set up window actions in rcmd? I don't see that in the page on your site.
- alin23 4y ago
  Not sure if you already installed the Experimental Window Switching part, leaving it here just in case: Click on Switcher in the rcmd menu Scroll to the bottom and click on Try experimental window switching Install Hammerspoon Install the rcmd script Screenshot: https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.png https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.... After that, you should be able to press Right Option + Equals ralt-= to assign a key and an action to the currently focused app: https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png If assigning doesn't do anything, try restarting both Hammerspoon and rcmd, there can be a race condition when the script is installed the first time.
  - gcanyon 4y ago
    Wait -- why do I need Hammerspoon to trigger an AppleScript that I wrote? Actually, now that I think about it, isn't this easier to do: 1. Write the AppleScript (done) 2. Save it as an app 3. Assign a right-command to that app. 4. There is no step 4.
    - alin23 4y ago
      Hammerspoon is needed because App Store apps are sandboxed and can't focus specific windows, can't run arbitrary scripts and AppleScripts. What that gives you is the ability to map Right Option+letter to specific windows or tabs of the currently focused app. So in your case you could dorcmd-s for Safari then ralt-m for mail tab, ralt-h for HN tab and so on, and it can also open those tabs/windows if they aren't already open. And you also get a visual switcher to see what your options are in case you tend to forget these shortcuts. Here are some examples of how I tend to use that feature: https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions-h264.mp4 https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions-h264.mp4 I'll have to make it more discoverable and user friendly though.
      - gcanyon 4y ago
        Ah, okay. Did you know that AppleScripts can be saved as "apps"? I'm happily launching the mail tab in safari by pressing rcmd-m without Hammerspoon or anything other than stock RCMD. That gives me everything I was looking for. It would be nice to be able to assign ralt-<letter> to launch different apps -- e.g. rcmd-m does gmail in Safari, ralt-m opens Messages. and rcmd+ralt-m could do something else entirely. I've used Windows at times, but I don't miss window switching beyond the above use cases.
gcanyon 4y ago
Okay, I've worked it out and it works perfectly with no requirement for window actions. I created an AppleScript: tell application "Safari" repeat with w in windows set mt to (tabs of w whose URL contains "https://mail.google.com/") if mt ≠ {} then exit repeat end repeat if mt = {} then if not (exists window 1) then make new document with properties {URL:"https://mail.google.com"} else set mt to make new tab in window 1 with properties {URL:"https://mail.google.com"} set the current tab of window 1 to mt end if else set mt to item 1 of mt set the current tab of w to mt set the index of w to 1 end if activate -- needed if not activated otherwise end tell Then: 1. I export the script as an app. In the dialog I set it to stay open. 2. I run the app. 3. I use the standard rcmd method to assign M to that application. 4. I quit the app. 5. I export the script as an app again. In the dialog I *do not* set it to stay open. And done! Now I rcmd-M and if there is a mail.google.com tab, Safari switches to it and jumps to the front. If there is not a mail.google.com tab, the frontmost window gets a new tab set to mail.google.com. I haven't tested yet what happens if there is no window. It should create one with mail.google.com. I'll test that in a minute and if it doesn't work I'll correct it and update here.
gcanyon 4y ago
The solution I posted works for most use cases, but apparently Safari can have zombie windows with no tabs. I quit and restarted, and updated the script to handle the situation where there are no windows, but I need to wait until there are zombie tabs again to double-check that my fix for that works. Once that's done I'll post again.

by alin23 4y ago

gcanyon 4y ago

Oh, that's interesting. Okay, I'm pulling the trigger. I used to write AppleScript in a previous life, so I think I can handle that part. (we'll see if I'm right...)

gcanyon 4y ago

I have rcmd installed and working, and I wrote this AppleScript: tell application "Safari" repeat with w in windows set mt to (tabs of w whose URL contains "https://mail.google.com/") if mt ≠ {} then exit repeat end repeat if mt ≠ {} then set mt to item 1 of mt set the current tab of w to mt set the index of w to 1 end if -- activate -- needed if not activated otherwise end tell How do I set up window actions in rcmd? I don't see that in the page on your site.

alin23 4y ago
Not sure if you already installed the Experimental Window Switching part, leaving it here just in case: Click on Switcher in the rcmd menu Scroll to the bottom and click on Try experimental window switching Install Hammerspoon Install the rcmd script Screenshot: https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.png https://lowtechguys.com/static/img/rcmd-window-experimental.... After that, you should be able to press Right Option + Equals ralt-= to assign a key and an action to the currently focused app: https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions.png If assigning doesn't do anything, try restarting both Hammerspoon and rcmd, there can be a race condition when the script is installed the first time.
- gcanyon 4y ago
  Wait -- why do I need Hammerspoon to trigger an AppleScript that I wrote? Actually, now that I think about it, isn't this easier to do: 1. Write the AppleScript (done) 2. Save it as an app 3. Assign a right-command to that app. 4. There is no step 4.
  - alin23 4y ago
    Hammerspoon is needed because App Store apps are sandboxed and can't focus specific windows, can't run arbitrary scripts and AppleScripts. What that gives you is the ability to map Right Option+letter to specific windows or tabs of the currently focused app. So in your case you could dorcmd-s for Safari then ralt-m for mail tab, ralt-h for HN tab and so on, and it can also open those tabs/windows if they aren't already open. And you also get a visual switcher to see what your options are in case you tend to forget these shortcuts. Here are some examples of how I tend to use that feature: https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions-h264.mp4 https://files.lowtechguys.com/rcmd-window-actions-h264.mp4 I'll have to make it more discoverable and user friendly though.
    - gcanyon 4y ago
      Ah, okay. Did you know that AppleScripts can be saved as "apps"? I'm happily launching the mail tab in safari by pressing rcmd-m without Hammerspoon or anything other than stock RCMD. That gives me everything I was looking for. It would be nice to be able to assign ralt-<letter> to launch different apps -- e.g. rcmd-m does gmail in Safari, ralt-m opens Messages. and rcmd+ralt-m could do something else entirely. I've used Windows at times, but I don't miss window switching beyond the above use cases.

gcanyon 4y ago

Okay, I've worked it out and it works perfectly with no requirement for window actions. I created an AppleScript: tell application "Safari" repeat with w in windows set mt to (tabs of w whose URL contains "https://mail.google.com/") if mt ≠ {} then exit repeat end repeat if mt = {} then if not (exists window 1) then make new document with properties {URL:"https://mail.google.com"} else set mt to make new tab in window 1 with properties {URL:"https://mail.google.com"} set the current tab of window 1 to mt end if else set mt to item 1 of mt set the current tab of w to mt set the index of w to 1 end if activate -- needed if not activated otherwise end tell Then: 1. I export the script as an app. In the dialog I set it to stay open. 2. I run the app. 3. I use the standard rcmd method to assign M to that application. 4. I quit the app. 5. I export the script as an app again. In the dialog I *do not* set it to stay open. And done! Now I rcmd-M and if there is a mail.google.com tab, Safari switches to it and jumps to the front. If there is not a mail.google.com tab, the frontmost window gets a new tab set to mail.google.com. I haven't tested yet what happens if there is no window. It should create one with mail.google.com. I'll test that in a minute and if it doesn't work I'll correct it and update here.

gcanyon 4y ago

The solution I posted works for most use cases, but apparently Safari can have zombie windows with no tabs. I quit and restarted, and updated the script to handle the situation where there are no windows, but I need to wait until there are zombie tabs again to double-check that my fix for that works. Once that's done I'll post again.