Writing an e-Mail app in applescript

Question

I'm using a webmail account(NOT Gmail: hate its interface), and I DON'T want to use the mac's Mail app(must maintain double contacts lists for one thing).

I use Google Chrome and have set the internal mail handler, so when i click a mailto: link, it opens up the url for my webmail.

However, other apps like Picasa, doesn't support mailing to a webmail url(short of Gmail: DUH :-), only to the mac's Mail app.

I've managed to switch to Google Chrome as the main mail app in mac's Mail app's settings, so now I can select Chrome for e-Mail in Picasa.

But there, I run into problems: Chrome doesn't handle the call from Picasa well. It switches to the foreground, but no action is taken.

After much googling and thinking, I have the impression that the easiest way to accomplish this(don't want to BUY and app for this simple thing), is to write an app in applescript for it.

The areas I'd appreciate help with are:

• What is the format for Picasas call to apps: does it send the paths to the pictures I'm sending as arguments AKA parameters, as a memory block, or what?


• How do I pick up the picture paths to create an attachment list?


• How do I send the request to Chrome, to create a new email with the attached files? I'm thinking by "simply" building a mailto: string with the picture paths attached, and invoking Chrome with the mailto: string as argument(s), but I don't know if that's possible, and if not, how else to make Chrome understand what I want it to do.

Thanks,

I've seen Webmailer, along with other apps of the same kind. Alas, they all refer to mailto links, which isn't really what I'm looking for.

Still, I downloaded and tried Webmailer, and to sum up, the Shell Script feature MIGHT help, if I can get it to work, and if I knew what to look for.

1. I've tried the Shell Scripts feature on mailto links in a document(TextEdit), and it permits me to log the calling arguments, which is what I hoped to do with the call from Picasa. But when I select Webmailer for e-Mail in Picasa, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING happens: even if I set Webmailer to compose an email in stead, it doesn't even start Chrome.

2. I'm focusing on Picasa: if anyone can tell me how to use the Email icon(quote: "Send photos in the Photo Tray by e-mail") in Picasa, then I'm content. From there on, I'm sure I can extend that solution to any other app from which I want to send attachments: pls refer to my initial questions above.

3. Regarding attachments(the reason I want to have this working in Picasa, obviously), there also seem to be a problem with the mailto protocol: I haven't found any confirmation that it supports attachments at all. That's why I'm thinking that the solution MUST involve some programming, so there doesn't seem to be much of a choice in that regard.

Thanks,

Answer 1

Unless you're dying to program this yourself, you should probably check out Webmailer. It does pretty much exactly what you're looking for — a handler for mailto links and other system email actions that will redirect them to Gmail, or whatever else you want (it can work with scripts or any URL you want to give it). It's no longer maintained, but I believe it works with Mountain Lion, and it's not the sort of thing that's likely to break anytime soon.

Answer 2

I would suggest that you visit the Chrome store, get the GMail extension made by GMail, install it. Research how you find and open Chrome extension files on your disk. If I remember correctly the GMail extension has the option to make Chrome + Gmail the default Mac email application. You may learn something by exploring the code of that extension. It may help you create something similar for your web mail client. Good luck.