Get the URL of the current (active) browser tab

Hello everyone.

Short version: The code below finds out the URL of the current (active) browser tab for most of the modern browsers.

Long version:
How to get the URL of the browser tab I'm using? The problem is quite common and there have been several scripts to tackle it here in the forum.

The best solution for quite sometime (IMHO) was Sean's DDE code but unfortunately Google Chrome doesn't support DDE. Recent changes to Chrome invalidated the Chrome_OmniboxView workaround so I didn't knew how to get it until I saw uname's use of the ACC library (Sean strikes again ). uname's code depended on the language used in Windows (I use Win7 x64 in Spanish) but I found out a workaround. I even managed to extend my solution to cover Chromium-based browsers (like the new Opera), and even got it to work in Maxthon.

Anyway, the code below finds out the URL of the current (active) browser tab. I've tested it successfully (on Win7 x64 Spanish) with the following browsers:

• Google Chrome 46
• Mozilla Firefox 41
• Internet Explorer 11
• Opera 32
• Microsoft Edge 20
• Opera 12
• Google Chrome 37-38 (Canary)
• Maxthon 4.4
• Iron 45
• Coowon 1.6.8.0
• CoolNovo 2.0.9.20
• Slimjet 5.0.11.0

I'd appreciate any feedback, particularly if it DOESN'T work
 
Download: GetActiveBrowserURL.ahk

See the current script in the new board: https://autohotkey.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=3702

Regards,
Antonio
 
EDIT 2014-06-17:
- Faster in Chromium browsers: After the first use, successive queries are instantaneous (faster than DDE!) Thanks to XeroByte for the nudge ;-)
- Improved error messages in the hotkey example
- Tested without problems in all AutoHotkey versions (U32, A32, U64) and also in Windows 8.1
 
EDIT 2014-07-05:
- Now it works with CoolNovo (blame Kudos ) and (probably) any other Chromium-based nested-window browsers

EDIT 2014-10-18:
- Now it works with Microsoft Edge (only tested via VM) and Slimjet (both suggestions by Kudos)
- Better URL detection (thanks LarryC for the feedback)
- Added workaround for runtime errors suggested by Kipp (in the old forum) a year ago
- Removed support for Google's failed Origin Chip experiment

EDIT 2015-12-31:

- This board will be read-only from now on. Development of this script will continue in the new board: https://autohotkey.c...opic.php?t=3702

---------------------------GetActiveBrowserURL.ahk---------------------------Not a browser or browser not supported (MozillaWindowClass)---------------------------OK   ---------------------------

script from atnbueno works for me , maybe use msgbox alwaysontop

msgbox, 262208, , Test

otherwise , only for firefox, I used this before

;- copy firefox url
;----------- ALT+F3 --------------------------------------
*~$!F3::
C1=
Clipboard := ""
send,!s
sleep,100
send,^c
sleep,100
ClipWait,1
C1:=clipboard
if (ErrorLevel)
    return
msgbox, 262208, ,%c1%,2
return
;==========================================================

Script by atnbueno works for me, too! (Using Firefox)

Hi, doesn't work in Coolnovo 2.0.9.20 - based on chromium browser (like Google Chrome).

It would be awesome if you could provide a fix! Thanks! 

Thanks DataLife, ozzii, garry, bruno, and Kudos for the early feedback.
 
ozzii and Kudos, can you give me more information/context about your problem? I've tested the French Firefox from PortableApps.comand Coolnovo and they work here:
http://dl.dropboxuse...le_Fx_fr_OK.png

http://dl.dropboxuse...Coolnovo_OK.png

Regards,

Antonio

EDIT: What the ...?!? It stopped working in another test with Coolnovo. And now it works again. Now I'm baffled. And now I don't like Coolnovo

This is very impressive! Thanks Atnbueno!

I will certainly keep your method among my collected useful utilities, i especially love how it works in so many different browsers. However for the time being I think i will continue using my current chrome-url-grabbing method which is a lot messier and requires a special setup with a browser extension.

The method I use is more-or-less instant (assuming the web page has finished loading) whereas your method works a lot slower (i only tested in chrome) consistently taking more than 500ms. is there anything that can be done about that?

For anyone's future reference, here is my current method:

#u:: msgbox % GetChromeURL()

GetChromeURL(){ 
	; use Chrome Ext "Url in title" - to get Chrome URL cleanly found here https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/url-in-title/ignpacbgnbnkaiooknalneoeladjnfgb?hl=en
	;~ The setup of the Extension settings needs to be exactly like this: {title} |-| {protocol}://{hostname}{port}/{path}{args}{hash}
	StopLoopAt= ; := A_Now
	EnvAdd,StopLoopAt,10,Seconds
	loop{ ;loop until the URL is added to the title or timeout at 10 seconds
		WinGetTitle, CurrChromeURL, ahk_class Chrome_WidgetWin_1
		if (instr(CurrChromeURL, "|-|",0) or A_Now >= StopLoopAt){
			break
		}
		sleep, 200
	}
	if errorlevel
		return
	CurrChromeURL := RegExReplace(CurrChromeURL, "i).*\|\-\| (.*) \- Google Chrome", "$1")
	return %CurrChromeURL%
}

As i mentioned - this is obviously not anywhere near as refined as Atnbueno's amazing method.

Hello again.

Slightly improved version in the OP:
- Faster in Chromium browsers: After the first use, successive queries are instantaneous (faster than DDE!) Thanks to XeroByte for the nudge ;-)
- Improved error messages in the hotkey example
- Tested without problems in all AutoHotkey versions (U32, A32, U64) and also in Windows 8.1

Hi Antonio, sorry for the delay! It's annoying that the email notifications for followed topics on this forum are all greyed out :'(

Anyway.. I get this message in CoolNovo 2.0.9.20: The URL couldn't be determined (Chrome_WidgetWin_1)

Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot? Maybe this info from AU3_Spy.exe will help:

Thanks!!

The below function call is returning a blank value to accWindow :-(

accWindow := Acc_ObjectFromWindow(nWindow)

So I guess the DllCall in Acc_ObjectFromWindow is maybe failing..? Unfortunately I'm not skilled enough to know much more!

Hello again.

Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot? Maybe this info from AU3_Spy.exe will help: [...]

Not with Window Spy, but I just gave it another look to CoolNovo with AccViewer.ahk and apparently a CoolNovo window is a window inside a window, and my script looks for the url in the outside one

If you want you can check this with the List command of WinGet (you'll get a "2" or higher even when you see just one CoolNovo window, and the URL can only be found in the second one, not the first one as in all the other Chromium-based browsers):

#i::
	WinGetClass, sClass, A
	WinGet, aList, List, % "ahk_class " sClass
	MsgBox, % aList "`n" aList1 "`n" aList2
Return

I'll give a try to tweak the script for this case, but I can't promise anything.

EDIT: Wow, that was easy. I've updated the OP script to support CoolNovo

Wow! Thank you so much!!     

Thanks i'll probably use this some time, i was looking for it in the past for some script but i never found a good solution.

Another thing that is problematic is copying the url that is under the mouse cursor, with chrome at least.