How to Copy a URL and text in one step
OK - for what it's worth, do you find yourself thrashing back and forth between a page that you want to post a link to, and the page at AI where you are writing your post? And all because the Mac clipboard can't hold both the URL of the link AND the selected text that you want to quote in your post?
Example: I want to select some text from an article on the site "www.maciscool.com" and then switch to AI, and paste in BOTH the URL AND the text I selected in one swoop.
Here is a trivial AppleScript to do it:
tell application "Safari"
set thePost to URL of front document
set theSelection to do JavaScript "window.getSelection()+'';" in front document
if theSelection is not "" then set thePost to (thePost & return & return & theSelection & return)
set the clipboard to "[_quote]" & return & thePost & return & "[_/quote]"
end tell
With this little scriptlet, all you have to do is select the text that you want to quote and run the script; then paste into your post. It even adds the quote tags for you.
1. Select the text between the horizontal lines above, and then choose Services ->Script Editor ->Make New AppleScript from the Safari menu.
2. Switch to Script Editor. Remove the underscores from in front of the both instances of the word "quote" in line 5 (had to do that to get it to post here) and save the script as an application in the /Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari folder in your home folder.
3. If you do not have the Script Menu showing in your menu bar (a little scroll icon in the row of icons on the upper right of the menu bar), then install it by double-clicking /Applications/AppleScript/AppleScript Utility and checking the box that says "Show Script Menu in Menu Bar".
4. The script that you installed should now appear in the Script Menu when Safari is frontmost.
5. To use, go to the web page that you want to refer to, select some text in the article, and choose the script from the script menu. Then go back to AI and hit command-V to paste. It will paste an opening quote tag, the URL of the page you did your selection on, some blank lines, the text you selected, and a closing quote tag.
Example: I want to select some text from an article on the site "www.maciscool.com" and then switch to AI, and paste in BOTH the URL AND the text I selected in one swoop.
Here is a trivial AppleScript to do it:
Code:
tell application "Safari"
set thePost to URL of front document
set theSelection to do JavaScript "window.getSelection()+'';" in front document
if theSelection is not "" then set thePost to (thePost & return & return & theSelection & return)
set the clipboard to "[_quote]" & return & thePost & return & "[_/quote]"
end tell
With this little scriptlet, all you have to do is select the text that you want to quote and run the script; then paste into your post. It even adds the quote tags for you.
1. Select the text between the horizontal lines above, and then choose Services ->Script Editor ->Make New AppleScript from the Safari menu.
2. Switch to Script Editor. Remove the underscores from in front of the both instances of the word "quote" in line 5 (had to do that to get it to post here) and save the script as an application in the /Library/Scripts/Applications/Safari folder in your home folder.
3. If you do not have the Script Menu showing in your menu bar (a little scroll icon in the row of icons on the upper right of the menu bar), then install it by double-clicking /Applications/AppleScript/AppleScript Utility and checking the box that says "Show Script Menu in Menu Bar".
4. The script that you installed should now appear in the Script Menu when Safari is frontmost.
5. To use, go to the web page that you want to refer to, select some text in the article, and choose the script from the script menu. Then go back to AI and hit command-V to paste. It will paste an opening quote tag, the URL of the page you did your selection on, some blank lines, the text you selected, and a closing quote tag.
Comments
Originally posted by kmhtkmhtkmht
You kinda lost me after the first line... Maybe cause I am tired and my attention span is lacklustre this evening. Perhaps some Percolation would Perc me Up?!
The Mac clipboard can't hold two things at once. So if you want to copy a discontiguous selection, or two things from different text boxes on the screen, you can't do it.
So if you want to post something like
Hey guys, take a look at what this guy had to say about the new MacBook:
http://www.somecrazyguy.com/macbook.html
The new MacBook is pretty, but as usual with Apple, it's too expensive, has no upgradeable decent graphics card, the screen is too small, it's too heavy, it doesn't have a PCMCIA or floppy slot, blah blah blah blah blah....
This paste has two things that need to be copied, and they aren't together - one is in the address bar and the other is part of the text on the page. Then ordinarily you'd have to copy the URL, go back to AI and paste the URL, then go back and copy the text of the article you want to quote, then go back to AI and paste that, then type in the "quote" and "/quote" tags....
This lets you load the clipboard with everything in one shot, ready for pasting. Just select, run the script, switch to AI, and paste.
It also means that you can go ONCE to the page you want to mention, and not have to keep it on another tab to go back to for the second copy.
Originally posted by kmhtkmhtkmht
I just use "CTRL" and Highlight the two bits of text that I want...
"CTRL" and a mouse click would invoke the contextual menu - like a right-click. So that makes no sense.
That works only in Word, not in Safari. There is nothing that lets you select the contents of the address bar and some text in Safari - not control, not command, not option, not even shift.
--B
- it hung downloading and installing the Clipboard plug-in
- on a "Move To..", it didn't display any dialog for where to move to, nor tell me if it moved the file or not
- it crashed and the OS killed it.
So I junked it. Too much keyboarding for me anyway, I'm a mouser.
Anyway, this script is a single-purpose shortcut, not a general purpose application enhancer. Copying and pasting a URL/text selection combination is so common that I thought it merited a script. Plus, it adds the URL without you having to explicitly select it, and it also adds the quote tags for vBulletin to format the pasted information as a quoted block.
You can also use the same idea to automatically submit selected text to Wikipedia, rather than having to copy it, switch to Wikipedia, paste it and click Search...
tell application "Safari"
set selectedText to do JavaScript "window.getSelection()+'';" in front document -- get the selected text
end tell
if selectedText is not "" then -- if there is a selection
set selectedText to my formatForWiki(selectedText) -- format for Wikipedia
set wikiURL to "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/"; & selectedText
open location wikiURL -- launch Wikipedia in default browser
end if
-- Subroutine to replace blanks with underscores for Wikipedia
to formatForWiki(theString)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to space
set theWords to (words of theString)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "_"
set theString to theWords as text
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to ""
return theString
end formatForWiki
Very similar to the existing Contextual Menu Options in Safari for Go To Address, Search in Spotlight, Search in Google, and Look Up In Dictionary.
Originally posted by lundy
I'm a mouser.
See, that's a serious QS incompatibility. Sorry. Works great for some, doesn't sit well with others.
--B