Profile switcher

dev_null · Post by **dev_null** » May 29th, 2005, 2:30 am

Hi,

I'm looking for an extension that switches between several profiles while Firefox is running.
I have several profiles for private surfing, work, gaming, ...
It's a bit cumbersome to shut down FF in order to switch to another profile. So I was wondering if this is possible at runtime using an extension. Even if there is none currently, do you think it should be possible? Another nice feature would be to switch to a default profile on startup or shutdown. Do you think that is possible?

Thanks,

dev_null

Nanaki · Post by **Nanaki** » May 29th, 2005, 3:05 am

I have created a tool, but it's not an extension. It's a tray app for Windows. I might put it online when it's customizable.

EDIT= Here we go, FFlauncher 0.1.6.
It consists out of two files: fflauncher.exe and fflauncher.ini. The second you have to edit to your needs of course. The example I supplied looks like this:

Code: Select all

[Firefox]
Path="C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
Profile="default"

[Deer Park]
Path="C:\Program Files\Deer Park Alpha 1\firefox.exe"
Profile="extensions"

Explained:

Code: Select all

[Firefox]

<-- the name appearing in the context menu

Code: Select all

[Path="VALUE"]

<-- the path to your firefox.exe

Code: Select all

[Profile="VALUE"]

<-- the profile you wish to apply

You can add as much as you like of course. When you now launch fflauncher.exe, you will gain an extra system tray application. With the above file, it looks like this when you click it:

Of course, you can't apply the same profile on different versions of firefox. You can run different versions and different profiles at the same time tho.

Download here

Hope this helps,

edit=note that your profile you set to be as default will still be remembered in Firefox.

dev_null · Post by **dev_null** » May 29th, 2005, 4:38 am

This is a bit simpler that using the profile manager, but I was looking for something that can switch to another profile while FF is running. Not sure if this is possible at all, but I hope there is a way. If nobody has written such an extension I'd like to give it a try if someone can give me a hint where to look for more information on profiles. On xulplanet I found something in the xpcom reference, but because this is uncommented, I'm not sure if it can do what I want.

keithy397 · Post by **keithy397** » May 29th, 2005, 5:00 am

Moz Suite's Navigator Browser (now SeaMonkey) has a Profile Switcher, perhaps you can find some info in those forums.

Pick a forum.

Nanaki · Post by **Nanaki** » May 29th, 2005, 5:06 am

And if you want, I can just implement killing firefox.exe and then launching the new profile.

krmathis · Post by **krmathis** » May 29th, 2005, 6:46 am

Nanaki. Nice application you got there, but its Win32 only.
The advantage with Firefox extensions are that they are platform independant. So it does not matter if you're a Windows, Mac OS or GNU/Linux user!

Nanaki · Post by **Nanaki** » May 29th, 2005, 7:19 am

Yeah, but I'm still in the process of learning extension development.

(but this app was actually just made for myself

)

Besides, a Firefox extension is Firefox-only, is it not?

keithy397 · Post by **keithy397** » May 29th, 2005, 7:26 am

Nice Nanaki, how does it work? Download and install zip file, place code where?

A thought, I assume you could add safe mode by adding the (space)-p to the end of the target path. Handy for those bad days!

Nanaki · Post by **Nanaki** » May 29th, 2005, 10:42 am

You just have to unzip it somewhere. Then you can edit the supplied.ini.

An -p is for a profile; it's "-safe-mode". Dunno if it works, but theoratically it should.

keithy397 · Post by **keithy397** » May 29th, 2005, 10:48 am

OK cheers Nanaki.

I must be tired if I'm thinking -p has suddenly changed to -safe-mode!!

the-edmeister · Post by **the-edmeister** » October 27th, 2005, 3:46 pm

This thread deserves to be bumped - this is a very nice little program.

Ed

Old Greg S · Post by **Old Greg S** » October 27th, 2005, 5:18 pm

I fail to see how this works other than with two different versions of firefox.exe in two different locations and not run at the same time. Is this correct? I have mutiple profiles but would like to use this to open 2 profiles at the same time with the same firefox.exe. The moz no remote works great for this but not when clicking a mail link from within Outlook Express. Either way, this is a nice program. I especially like the about balloon tip, nice touch!

keithy397 · Post by **keithy397** » October 27th, 2005, 5:20 pm

I wondered what this thread was all about until I noticed I was involved in it 6 months ago!

It is a good little tool The edmeister, I'm still using it!

Old Greg S · Post by **Old Greg S** » October 27th, 2005, 5:24 pm

This does the same thing as the moz no remote that I mentioned above, click a mail link inside of Outlook Express and get the error Firefox is already running but not responding.

Nanaki · Post by **Nanaki** » October 28th, 2005, 11:49 am

Greg S wrote:This does the same thing as the moz no remote that I mentioned above, click a mail link inside of Outlook Express and get the error Firefox is already running but not responding.

I give you two options I can implement:

- Assign a default Firefox. Only that Firefox will open links clicked on from external applications. However, if you launch another Firefox version with this app, it won't fetch the links.
- Assign the links to the first runned Firefox. However, you won't be able to open a second instance of any Firefox with this tool.

Pick one.