Open multiple URLs in the Browser using NSWorkspace

Question

In my App I want to open multiple URLs in the web browser.

I do this like so:

int options = NSWorkspaceLaunchWithoutActivation | NSWorkspaceLaunchWithErrorPresentation;

[[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURLs: urls
                withAppBundleIdentifier: @"com.apple.safari"
                                options: options
         additionalEventParamDescriptor: nil
                      launchIdentifiers: nil];

Safari now only ever opens six URLs at once and when I am using the NSWorkspaceLaunchWithErrorPresentation I get the following error message:

You can’t open the application “Safari” because it is not responding.

Now when I set the bundle identifier to com.google.Chrome it is even worse and only 4 tabs are opened. Firefox (org.mozilla.firefox) opens 6 tabs as well.

Answer 1

A simple way to get around the limitation you've described would be to use a wait, or sleep function. It should allow you to open as many URLS as you decide:

-(void)openURLs {

for (int i = 0; i <= 18; i++) { // open 18 URLS for this example

        NSString *url = @"http://google.com";
        [self openURL:url];

        [NSThread sleepForTimeInterval:0.2f]; // wait .02 second
    }
}

- (void)openURL:(NSString *)url {

int options = NSWorkspaceLaunchWithoutActivation | NSWorkspaceLaunchWithErrorPresentation;

    NSArray *urls = [NSArray arrayWithObject:[NSURL URLWithString:url]];

    [[NSWorkspace sharedWorkspace] openURLs: urls
                    withAppBundleIdentifier: @"com.apple.safari"
                                    options: options
             additionalEventParamDescriptor: nil
                          launchIdentifiers: nil];
}

NOTE: Depending on how you want to load the urls (in the background, etc.) you could use a dispatch queue to load them using a separate thread.