Merging multiple apps into one app (or instance)

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Level 1

6 points

Merging multiple apps into one app (or instance)

Basically, i'm trying to create a 'social' app that combines the apps I use for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and the default iMessages app.

At the moment I've just made an app in Automator that just launches all the separate apps at once, and have them set out in a comfortable window configuration so I can see/access everything.

Is there a way to somehow combine all these apps into one standalone app or one single instance? Just so I can have one little icon in the dock that manages all the apps (so I can open/quit them all at once just by using the one icon), and so it doesn't take up space on the dock when all the apps open.

I've tried things like editing the .plist file in apps to hide their icon, but it causes most of the apps to function incorrectly. Also, as a temporary way to exit all the apps at once, I created another Automater app that closes them all simultaneously, but it's still not quite what I'm after!

Hope that makes sense! Any help would be appreciated.

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 3.06 GHz Intel Core2Duo 6GB 1067Mhz

Posted on Mar 21, 2013 12:40 AM

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Answer 1

twtwtw

Level 5

4,936 points

Mar 21, 2013 2:52 AM in response to Nick Kenner

One App to rule them, One App to find them

One App to launch them all and in the dock combine them...

Uh. Yeah.

What you want, if I'm understanding you, is an entirely new app that does the work of all the other apps. Are you sure there's not a third-party social media app somewhere that does that? It would seem like a natural development, though honestly I'm not into social media enough to appreciate whatever technical difficulties that might pose.

Barring that, you're limited. The social media apps I know about tend to focus on user interaction, which means they're not going to take kindly to efforts to hide them from the GUI, and unless they are all applescriptable getting them to work together would be torturous at best.. Even a small app that watches the other apps and tries to mediate between them would need a protracted foray into cocoa to accomplish.

But maybe I'm not understanding you. Could you give a better (more example-oriented) description of what you have in mind?

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Answer 2

Nick Kenner Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 21, 2013 4:52 AM in response to twtwtw

Well I think you understand it..

Basically, I click open an app in my dock. This in turn opens all the social apps (twitter, facebook, etc) at the same time, but does not show them in my dock. And then I quit the original app, which automatically quits every social app running.

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Answer 3

Mar 21, 2013 5:48 AM in response to Nick Kenner

See Merging multiple apps into one app (or instance) your other duplicate thread on this.

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Answer 4

Nick Kenner Author

Level 1

6 points

Mar 21, 2013 9:30 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

This is in a different forum. No one there could help, so moving it on to Applescript.

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Answer 5

softwater

Level 5

5,556 points

Mar 22, 2013 5:01 AM in response to Nick Kenner

I'm not sure anyone here will be able to help either.

It's a simple matter to write a script in either AppleScript or Bash that will launch and/or quit all those apps in one fell swoop. In AppleScript, you could have them all open at particular positions and specific window sizes on wherever you wanted on your desktop. However, I'm not so sure you can keep them out of the Dock (the tip Frank linked to in your other thread doesn't seem to work for me on Mountain Lion).

But it seems to me from reading both your threads that what you're after is a single user interface for all your social media apps. I have seen such apps advertised, but like others here, I don't use social media apps myself and couldn't recommend one.

A bit of judicious searching in either the app store or google should turn them up for you though.

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