How do I run apple script on a particular instance of Firefox?

Question

I have three instances of Firefox called -

1. Firefox
2. Firefox 2
3. Firefox 3

They all live in the Applications folder and the difference is that they have different Firefox profiles and cookies.

I'd like to run an apple script that works on a particular instance of Firefox.

tell application "Firefox"
    activate
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "n" using {command down}
    end tell
end tell

tell application "Firefox"
    activate
    tell application "System Events"
        keystroke "l" using {command down}
        keystroke "a" using {command down}
        key code 51
        keystroke "https://google.com"
        key code 36
    end tell
end tell

If I run this with Firefox open then it works exactly how I want it to.

But, if Firefox is closed, but Firefox 2 or Firefox 3 are open then it has weird behavior.

It will replace the word Firefox with Firefox 2 or Firefox 3 (whichever is open and last active) and then it will run the script using that instance of Firefox which is not what I want.

Answer 1

To test the example AppleScript code, I duplicated Firefox and renamed the copy as Firefox 2.

This was texted under macOS High Sierra, using different scenarios:

• Both Firefox and Firefox 2 running, with Firefox started first.
  • Firefox being frontmost.
  • Firefox 2 being frontmost.
• Both Firefox and Firefox 2 running, with Firefox 2 started first.
  • Firefox being frontmost.
  • Firefox 2 being frontmost.
• Just Firefox 2 running.

In all tested scenarios the example AppleScript code preformed as wanted, Firefox being the one acted upon, not Firefox 2.

I believe the key here is using the fully qualified pathname, e.g. "/Applications/Firefox.app" verses just "Firefox".

tell application "/Applications/Firefox.app" to activate
delay 1
tell application "System Events"
    keystroke "n" using {command down}
    delay 1
    keystroke "l" using {command down}
    keystroke "a" using {command down}
    key code 51
    keystroke "https://google.com"
    key code 36
end tell

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_{Note: The use of the delay command may be necessary between events where appropriate, e.g. delay 0.5, with the value of the delay set appropriately.}