BrowserPicker is a small application that allows you to choose which internet browser you prefer to use for opening your URLs on Windows operating system.
I use multiple desktop browsers daily to separate my interests and avoid mixing subjects. I might use Edge for work related stuff, Chrome for personal stuff and Firefox for development projects. However, a recurring issue arises when clicking on URLs, as they automatically launch the Windows default browser, disrupting my carefully curated browsing setup. To avoid this, I usually need to remember to manually copy the URL, select the appropriate browser, open a new tab or window, and then paste the link.
To avoid this inconvenience, I come up with this little desktop tool that lets you choose which browser you want to use to open URLs.
To use it, you first need to configure it as the Windows default browser. After completing this setup, whenever a URL is clicked or opened by default, BrowserPicker will retrieve all registered Windows browsers from the registry, it then presents a list allowing you to choose the browser you wish to use for opening the link.
Since this is a Windows desktop tool, you can only setup the development build environment on Windows. You need to follow the instructions below to setup the development environment.
For troubleshooting check the ...\assets\images\
directory for screenshots.
- Install any Git Windows client from here.
- install NodeJS (x64) for Windows from here
- setup Windows environment following Microsoft's Node.js Guidelines for Windows
- install the current version of Python from the Microsoft Store (also check the next step below)
- install the latest Visual Studio Community 2022, modify your installation (check
...\assets\images\
directory for screenshots):- in
Individual Components
typeC++
in the search input
- select
Desktop development with C++
- in
Individual Components
typec++ core features
in the search input
- select
C++ core features
(Latest)
- in
Individual Components
typesdk
in the search input
- select
MSVC v143 - VS 2022 C++ x64/x86 build tools
(Latest)
- in
- Install
node-gyp
from here (https://www.npmjs.com/package/node-gyp), follow install and setup instructions in On Windows section
git clone https://github.com/hvmonteiro/browserpicker.git
cd browserpicker
# check if you are running the x64 version of node
node -p "process.arch"
# configure NPM msvs_version to have the value of 2022
npm config set msvs_version=2022
# -or- add `msvs_version=2022` manually using
npm config edit
# install node-gyp globally
npm install -g node-gyp
# configure node-gyp msvs_version to have the value of 2022
node-gyp configure --msvs_version=2022
# install dependencies
npm install
# start the application in DEV mode
npm test
# or start the application in PROD mode
npm start