Greasemonkey

Angela Kille20 March 2006INF385T Semantic Web

Overview

• What is Greasemonkey?

• User scripts

• Examples

• Semantic web connection

• Related tools

What is Greasemonkey?

• Firefox extensiono Download from: greasemonkey.mozdev.org

• Change the behavior of web pages by installing user scripts

o Download o Write your owno Alter existing scripts

User Scripts

• Single file written in JavaScript

• Filename must end in: .user.js

• Customizes one or more web pages

• Can do anything JavaScript can do – and more because Greasemonkey provides special API functions

User Scripts: Install

• User scriptso userscripts.org – repository of user scriptso Greasemonkey Hacks by Mark Pilgrim (2006)

• Installo Tools | Install this user script…

• Code new user script o Tools | New user script…

User Scripts: Manage

• Firefox Tools menu | Manage user scripts…o See list of installed user scripts

o Change configurations (included/excluded pages)

o Disable scripts temporarily

o Uninstall scripts

o Edit user scripts “live” (Tools | Manage user scripts… | select script, then click Edit)

User Scripts: Metadata

Hello World User Script

// ==UserScript==// @name Hello World// @namespace http://diveintogreasemonkey.org/download/// @description example script to alert "Hello world!" on every page// @include *// @exclude http://diveintogreasemonkey.org/*// @exclude http://www.diveintogreasemonkey.org/*// ==/UserScript==

alert('Hello world!');

User Scripts: Metadata (directives)

// @include *

// @exclude http://diveintogreasemonkey.org/*

// @exclude http://www.diveintogreasemonkey.org/*

// @exclude http://*.google.com/*

// @exclude http://www.amazon.tld/*

• Wildcards

Examples: Links

• Linkifier user scripto Turns plain text URLs and email addresses

into clickable links

• See it in action at:o http://www.mnot.net/blog/2005/05/18/WADL

Examples: Forms

• Textarea Resize user scripto Make textareas larger by pressing Ctrl-Enter

or Ctrl-Spacebar in a textareao Textareas can be shrunk by pressing Shift-

Ctrl-Enter and Shift-Ctrl-Spacebar

• Test at:o http://www.htmlcodetutorial.com/forms/_TEXTAREA.html

Examples: Search

• Search Onsite user script– Search current website’s content with Google– Results displayed floating on the page you

are currently viewing

• Test at:– http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/

Examples: Libraries

• Amazon SPL Linky user scripto Search the Seattle Public Library catalog from

Amazon book listings

• Google Books AADL Linky user scripto Search the Ann Arbor District Library holdings

from Google Books

Examples: Magic Line

• Magic Line user script– Collects all the metadata it can find as you

browse the web: • URL, page title, people’s names, article

descriptions, tags & keywords, referrer URLs, RSS & Atom feeds, FOAF files

Semantic Web

• Site integration with Greasemonkey API function – Allows user scripts to get and post data to any

site at any time

• APIs – Amazon, Google, etc.

Related Tools

• Platypus extension for Firefoxo http://platypus.mozdev.org/o Modify a web page from your browser (WYSIWYG)

and save those changes as a Greasemonkey script

• Greasemonkey compilero http://www.letitblog.com/greasemonkey-compiler/ o Form that converts Greasemonkey user scripts into

Firefox extensions (XPI file)

ReferencesBrooks, T. A. (2005, July). Watch this: Greasemonkey the Web. Information Research,

10(4). Retrieved March 14, 2005, from http://informationr.net/ir/10-4/TB0507.html Filman, R.E. (2006, Jan.-Feb.). Taking back the Web. IEEE Internet Computing, 10(1), 3-5.

Retrieved March 14, 2005, from IEEE.Pilgrim, M. (2005, Nov. 11). Avoid common pitfalls in greasemonkey: How the history of

greasemonkey security affects you now. Retrieved March 14, 2005, from O'Reilly Network Web site: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/11/01/avoid-common-greasemonkey-pitfalls.html

Pilgrim, M. (2005). Dive into greasemonkey. Retrieved March 14, 2005, from http://diveintogreasemonkey.org/

Pilgrim, M. (2006). Greasemonkey hacks: Tips & tools for remixing the Web with Firefox. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly.

Pilgrim, M. (2005, Sept. 1). What is greasemonkey. Retrieved March 14, 2005, from O'Reilly Network Web site: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/network/2005/09/01/what-is-greasemonkey.html

Other Resources:mozdev.org - greasemonkey … http://greasemonkey.mozdev.org/

download greasemonkey for Firefoxuserscripts.org … http://userscripts.org/

repository for greasemonkey user scripts

Questions?