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[Solution] Creating AutoHotKey hotkey/shorcut to Portable Firefox U3

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mybootorg
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[Solution] Creating AutoHotKey hotkey/shorcut to Portable Firefox U3

I've searched far and wide on the web, on this forum and the forums of Autohotkey and can't seem to find an answer to this.

I use Autohotkey on all of my computers and love having my favorite programs or actions a few key presses away. I'd love to extend this to being able to launch Firefox Portable from my flashdrive.

Problem is, by looking at all the executables involved, and they way they kick off in the manifest, I can't see any easy way to accomplish this.

Has anyone else found a solution? Or have a suggestion?

Thanks.

--UPDATE--

After tons and tons of experimentation and Googling, I decided to cut to the chase and purchase a really neat program called "Appsnapper" http://www.appsnapper.com/

It's cheap, money-back guarantee; it installs on your U3 and allows you to associate Windows file extensions with programs on your thumb drive.

To satisfy my need to Autohotkey Firefox for U3 to ALT-F, I simply created an HTML document (could be blank, I chose to fill it with useful links - kind of a custom home page), dropped it on my drive and then used a U3 environment variable to hotkey it directly.

%U3_DEVICE_PATH%\home.html

Viola. It works. And Appsnapper is great for so much more. Examples - I have Portable Winamp associated with Mp3's and other audio types. VLC is associated with AVI's, MPEG's etc. Portable Nero is associated with .NRG, .ISO, etc. You get the idea.

At any rate, I hope this is useful to someone. Appsnapper basically hijacks any application calls to document types it's configured to look for. Then it redirects them to the apps you want on your U3.

PS: hotkeying to a website did not launch Firefox for U3 for obvious reasons. ie. www.google.com/index.html Because a URL is not a file extension - which is what Appsnapper is looking for. Thus the need to place a physical html document on my U3 and link to that.

John T. Haller
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Sorry

But the current version of Firefox for U3 is not published by PortableApps.com and is completely unsupported.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

mybootorg
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Um, yes, I'm aware of that.

Um, yes, I'm aware of that. But regardless, this is a forum for U3 application discussion, is it not? I thought I might get a pointer from someone.

John T. Haller
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Nope

This forum is for U3 apps published by PortableApps.com only. We don't support apps from other publishers.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

mybootorg
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I wasn't aware the topic was

I wasn't aware the topic was that specific. I don't need support. But if you'd be kind enough to let my thread live, perhaps someone will be able to put me on the right path to finding an answer to my question. Thanks.

John T. Haller
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Sorry

Again, sorry, but this forum isn't for general U3 app support, just for PortableApps.com's U3 apps. The current Firefox for U3 isn't supported (by anyone at all to my knowledge), so you're on your own.

If you're using Firefox Portable on the open PortableApps.com Suite, we'd be happy to help.

Sometimes, the impossible can become possible, if you're awesome!

roamer
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U3's Forums.

You can most likely get help there.
Visit them here...

I just did a quick search of the U3 home page and click "support" then U3 Community.
__________________________________________
Aww, great. Now what am I gonna put here?

OliverK> you don't live on a cow
IRC: It brings out the best in all of us...Especially when tired.

mybootorg
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Thanks for the tip roamer.

Thanks for the tip roamer. I'm not getting anywhere over there either.

http://u3community.com/viewtopic.php?p=3671#3671

I've Googled this extensively and everywhere I go, I find John T. Haller adding comments that are steering me in the right direction but still no cigar. It looks like I'm going to have find a way to either launch firefox for U3 with it's series of helper applications at the same time. Or script my own launcher. Here's John from a thread way back:

"in the U3 platform, the apps have to be called by the U3 Launchpad [...] This is because U3 apps have 4 different pieces that have to be called (with Firefox for U3, for instance, it's FirefoxForU3Configure.exe, FirefoxForU3Start.exe, FirefoxForU3Stop.exe, FirefoxForU3Cleanup.exe) whereas the [ordinary] apps have a single piece"

mybootorg
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My original post has been

My original post has been updated to reflect the solution I ended up using.

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