Access web browser tabs programmatically | Swift 3

Question

Is it possible to access the open tabs of Safari or Google Chrome? A URL would be good or the title of the tab or both?

The purpose of the app then the user could specify some websites and add labels to them and the app would measure how much is spent on those websites, the app would be allowed through accessibility.

Answer 1

Use an AppleScript to get the title and the URL of each tab.

You can use NSAppleScript in Swift to run an AppleScript.

An example (Safari)

let myAppleScript = "set r to \"\"\n" +
    "tell application \"Safari\"\n" +
    "repeat with w in windows\n" +
    "if exists current tab of w then\n" +
    "repeat with t in tabs of w\n" +
    "tell t to set r to r & \"Title : \" & name & \", URL : \" & URL & linefeed\n" +
    "end repeat\n" +
    "end if\n" +
    "end repeat\n" +
    "end tell\n" +
"return r"

var error: NSDictionary?
let scriptObject = NSAppleScript(source: myAppleScript)
if let output: NSAppleEventDescriptor = scriptObject?.executeAndReturnError(&error) {
    let titlesAndURLs = output.stringValue!
    print(titlesAndURLs)
} else if (error != nil) {
    print("error: \(error)")
}

---

The AppleScript return a string, like this:

Title : the title of the first tab, URL : the url of the first tab
Title : the title of the second tab, URL : the url of the second tab
Title : the title of the third tab, URL : the url of the third tab
....

---

An example (Google Chrome)

let myAppleScript = "set r to \"\"\n" +
    "tell application \"Google Chrome\"\n" +
    "repeat with w in windows\n" +
    "repeat with t in tabs of w\n" +
    "tell t to set r to r & \"Title : \" & title & \", URL : \" & URL & linefeed\n" +
    "end repeat\n" +
    "end repeat\n" +
    "end tell\n" +
"return r"
var error: NSDictionary?
let scriptObject = NSAppleScript(source: myAppleScript)
if let output: NSAppleEventDescriptor = scriptObject?.executeAndReturnError(&error) {
    let titlesAndURLs = output.stringValue!
    print(titlesAndURLs)
} else if (error != nil) {
    print("error: \(error)")
}

---

Update:

Here's the AppleScript with the comments.

You can run it in the "Script Editor" application.

set r to "" -- an empty variable for appending a string
tell application "Safari"
    repeat with w in windows -- loop for each window, w is a variable which contain the window object
        if exists current tab of w then --  is a valid browser window
            repeat with t in tabs of w -- loop for each tab of this window, , t is a variable which contain the tab object
                -- get the title (name) of this tab and get the url of this tab
                tell t to set r to r & "Title : " & name & ", URL : " & URL & linefeed -- append a line to the variable (r)
                (*
                 'linefeed'  mean a line break
                 'tell t' mean a tab of w (window)
                 '&'  is for  concatenate strings, same as the + operator in Swift
                *)
            end repeat
        end if
    end repeat
end tell
return r -- return the string (each line contains a title and an URL)