Open URL in New Safari Tab

Question

Level 1

16 points

Open URL in New Safari Tab

I would like to have Safari navigate to a specific URL in a new tab. I'm a noobie in AppleScript but I've been able to cobble the following together.

set theURL to "https://www.someURL"

tell application "Safari"
activate
set currentTab to current tab of window 1
set URL of document 1 to theURL
end tell

It works when Safari isn't running or when a Safari window is open but otherwise I get a "Safari got an error: Can’t get document 1. Invalid index." error. How do I correct my code?

Also how to I format these posts so that my code looks like code, and

Is there a good AppleScript tutorial available somewhere?

imac, Mac OS X (10.6.6), None

Posted on Mar 3, 2011 2:14 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tony T1

Level 6

10,238 points

Mar 3, 2011 2:31 PM in response to MartinLiss

Try:


set theURL to "http://www.apple.com"
tell application "Safari" to open location theURL

Also how to I format these posts so that my code looks like code,


....
....

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Answer 2

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 4, 2011 9:35 AM in response to MartinLiss

I figured the rest out:)

set theURL to "https://www.someURL"
tell application "Safari"
 activate
 tell application "System Events"
 tell process "Safari"
 -- System Preferences|Universal Access|'Enable access for assistive devices' must be selected for the following to work
 click menu item "New Tab" of menu "File" of menu bar 1
 end tell
 end tell
 set currentTab to current tab of window 1
 set URL of document 1 to theURL
end tell

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Answer 3

Tony T1

Level 6

10,238 points

Mar 4, 2011 2:26 PM in response to MartinLiss

Did you need all that code?
I get the same results with:


set theURL to "http://www.apple.com"
tell application "Safari"
 open location theURL
 activate
end tell

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Answer 4

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 4, 2011 3:04 PM in response to Tony T1

Thanks but there's a problem in that your code always opens theURL in a new window. When Safari is already running that's okay even though I was trying to do it instead in a new tab, but when Safari isn't running it gives me TWO windows, my home page and a page for theURL.

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Answer 5

Tony T1

Level 6

10,238 points

Mar 4, 2011 4:56 PM in response to MartinLiss

MartinLiss wrote:
Thanks but there's a problem in that your code always opens theURL in a new window.

No need for GUI scripting, try:


set theURL to "http://www.apple.com"
tell application "Safari" to tell window 1 to make new tab with properties {URL:theURL}

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Answer 6

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 4, 2011 9:46 PM in response to Tony T1

If Safari is running when that script is executed a new tab to theURL is created (good) but focus stays with the current tab (bad). If Safari isn't running then the script as is doesn't do anything. Adding a 'tell application "Safari" to activate' line solves that problem but brings us back to the first problem (tab doesn't get focus).

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Answer 7

Tony T1

Level 6

10,238 points

Mar 5, 2011 6:20 AM in response to MartinLiss

<pre style="
font-family: Monaco, 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;
font-size: 10px;
font-weight: normal;
margin: 0px;
padding: 5px;
border: 1px solid #000000;
width: 720px;
color: #000000;
background-color: #E6E6EE;
overflow: auto;">
tell application "Safari"
activate
tell window 1 to make new tab
open location "http://www.apple.com"
end tell</pre>

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Answer 8

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 5, 2011 8:49 AM in response to Tony T1

Two problems:

1. If I already have a tab for "http://www.apple.com" then running the script creates a blank tab, and
2. If I close Safari without Quiting, running the script results in a 'Can't get window 1. Invalid index.' error.

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Answer 9

Tony T1

Level 6

10,238 points

Mar 5, 2011 9:22 AM in response to MartinLiss

Just needed to add "set current tab" (and delete "open location")


set theURL to "http://www.apple.com"
tell application "Safari"
 activate
 tell window 1 to set current tab to make new tab with properties {URL:theURL}
end tell

Tony

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Answer 10

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 5, 2011 9:31 AM in response to Tony T1

When Safari is closed but not Quited, running that script results in the same 'Invalid Index' error.

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Answer 11

Tony T1

Level 6

10,238 points

Mar 5, 2011 10:30 AM in response to MartinLiss

This is my last attempt 🙂


set theURL to "http://www.apple.com"
tell application "Safari"
 activate
 try
 tell window 1 to set current tab to make new tab with properties {URL:theURL}
 on error
 open location theURL
 end try
end tell

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Answer 12

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Mar 5, 2011 12:30 PM in response to Tony T1

Thank works perfectly. Thank you (and the others who posted) for your help, I've learned a lot.

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Answer 13

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 24, 2011 1:21 PM in response to MartinLiss

Now that I've upgraded to Lion and its new version of Safari, this no longer works

set theURL to "https://www.airset.com/AirSet.jsp#gi.lkCezQTmARbJ+app.Calendar_v.month+t.today"

tell application "Safari"

activate

(*

tell application "System Events"

tell process "Safari"

-- System Preferences|Universal Access|'Enable access for assistive devices' must be selected for the following to work

click menu item "New Tab" of menu "File" of menu bar 1

end tell

set currentTab to current tab of window 1

set URL of document 1 to theURL

*)

try

tell window 1 to set current tab to makenewtabwith properties {URL:theURL}

on error

open locationtheURL

end try

end tell

When Safari is already open It just gives me a new tab called 'Untitled' and the URL says 'Go to this address'. My first thought was that the Universal Access setting ahdn't been carried over and sure enough I had to set it again but it didn't help.

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Answer 14

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 24, 2011 3:38 PM in response to MartinLiss

I'm embarrased. I didn't notice that the tell Application... code was commented out since it wasn't needed and I only kept it there for reference, so let me re-ask my question. Under Snow Lepeord the following gives me a new tab with the correct URL while under Lion I have the problem described above.

set theURL to "https://www.airset.com/AirSet.jsp#gi.lkCezQTmARbJ+app.Calendar_v.month+t.today"

tell application "Safari"

activate

try

tell window 1 to set current tab to makenewtabwith properties {URL:theURL}

on error

open locationtheURL

end try

end tell

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Answer 15

MartinLiss Author

Level 1

16 points

Jul 24, 2011 3:45 PM in response to MartinLiss

Problem solved.

set theURL to "https://www.airset.com/AirSet.jsp#gi.lkCezQTmARbJ+app.Calendar_v.month+t.today"

tell application "Safari"

activate

try

tell window 1 to set current tab to makenewtab--with properties {URL:theURL}

set URL of document 1 to theURL

on error

open locationtheURL

end try

end tell

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