WebRunner 0.5 – Mac Support

WebRunner now has Mac support. By support I mean we have a DMG for installs and we use CFBundleDocumentTypes to associate *.webapp files with WebRunner. Launching a *.webapp file should launch WebRunner and load the *.webapp profile.

Thanks to Eric Shepherd for the pointers to CFBundleDocumentTypes.

I am interested in feedback on the Mac menu (which I hide). To close the web application, just close the window. I know this is not very Mac-ish, so I am interested in how we could display the menu, but have it say “Google Mail”, instead of “WebRunner”. Yes, I’d like the menu to change based on the web application. Hmmm, maybe we could put something in the webapp profile.

Anyway, have fun…

Install: webrunner-0.5-mac.dmg (18MB)
Profiles: gmail.webapp, gcalendar.webapp, gdocs.webapp & groups.webapp

UPDATE #1: removed the silly debugging alert
UPDATE #2: added a menu for quiting and fixed cozby’s (see comments) bug

20 Replies to “WebRunner 0.5 – Mac Support”

  1. It is a XULRunner app and I know that you can make custom menus. But I don’t know how to make OSX change the text of the “special” menu item – the one that says “WebRunner” (or whatever the name of your XULRunner app) – based on the web application being hosted in WebRunner. Is that clearer?

  2. So is WebRunner attempting to provide the sorely needed shared XULRunner runtime? What makes WebRunner different from XULRunner again?

    This issue is a broader general problem with deployment/installation of XULRunner applications. It would be great if this can be a catalyst to bring more attention to the core issue.

    As far as the “special” Mac menu item, OS X takes care of that automatically when you launch your app bundle. The main Property List file at [YourApp].app/Contents/Info.plist determines the visible app menu name.

    It’s best to play with OS X in the way it works natively. Adobe AIR does this very nicely. You have your own Mac app bundle (Custom icon, Dock-able, etc.), but it still shares the same runtime as all other AIR apps.

    They are further ahead in this area and in a number of others. (But not all!)

  3. Actually, I’m willing to bet that if you overlay the hiddenWindow on the mac, it will properly update that menu (not sure about the app name though).

  4. i’m using webrunner for isolating flash music players (eg: Hype Machine, last.fm) from my regular web session, and it’s working *great*.

    feature request: be able to specify a list of URLs in the profile instead of just one, and have a menu (or context menu) option to switch between them.

  5. I think enefekt has the right idea about creating app bundles for each custom webrunner app while having them share a single runtime. Would anyone be interested in a simple setup tool that creates an app bundle based on a .webapp file (or creates the .webapp file from information supplied in a wizard / dialog box?)

    If there is interest, I am willing to throw together a little setup tool that can generate WebRunner.app bundles on demand.

  6. Just a thought but should WebRunner be renamed WebAppRunner? There are some other products named webrunner and the .webapp file extension made me think that WebAppRunner could be an appropriate name.

  7. Not sure where I should report this, but found a lil bug when using gmail webapp. When your chatting and ‘pop-out’ the chat window and then close it, it closes the entire WebRunner instance.

  8. > Mukunda – do it as a Firefox extension

    Yes, that would be really cool. I’ve been thinking about this myself, something along the lines of: browse to a webpage, press “Extract to stand-alone application” (or menuitem), scrape as much information needed as possible from the page for the webapp file, let user confirm, and off you go.

  9. I’m already on it – will have a firefox extension built soon. Though I am initially testing it as a single xul dialog within webrunner….

  10. Brilliant work dude. Using it to display Zimbra mail. Love it

    A couple of things for Mac OS X
    1) can it work with Apple+Q for quiting the app
    2) can the .webapp item be dockable?

    Thanks – this is great

  11. Mr K:

    I’m working on your #2 point: My packaging wizard will allow you to build custom App bundles. Once it’s finished you can use my extension to make your own webrunner with .webapp settings embedded inside your custom dockable webrunner.app bundle.

  12. Interesting but I think the project MUST grow. The ini-like file is a very good starting point but maybe you should give more (easy to implement) “config” possibilities and install/setup/enhance too (to resemble desktop applications). I’m sure your project could be as popular as Adobe AIR.

  13. Is it possible in to change the default home page from the mozilla page to a custom one ?
    – the preference browser.startup.homepage does not seem to be recognized .

    Webrunner works great the first time a webapp is opened. But it we later close the app window and try to restart it it no longer works (empty page appears).

    Great job!

  14. Along with command+q to quit the app, it’d be nice if command+h to hide and command+m to minimize were enabled as well.

    Thanks for the useful tool.

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