White List URL Browser Selector?

malcomvetter asks: "OK, so I'm stuck working in a Microsoft environment. My preference is Firefox for the external 'untrusted' web content out there and our internal 'trusted' web apps require IE, but rather than pick one browser over the other as 'default' I came up with this idea: I want a tool that gets installed as my default browser in Windows, and all URL strings that Windows passes to it can then be simply regex'ed for domain and then routed (re-passed) appropriately. Hence, having the ability to allow admins to maintain a white-list of 'trusted' IE sites (or [insert browser here] sites) and those URLs are passed to IE, all others defaulting to (in my preference) Firefox. And when I thought about it, I was surprised that I hadn't heard of an existing tool to do that. I have used the Firfox extension for 'open in IE', but I'd like a tool that I can configure and forget about. Has anyone seen such an app? Would it be an extremely hard thing to build?"

Comments

Two Possible Suggestions

[digitalvengeance]

As a developer who has been forced to use IE in applications in the past, I can say that the Microsoft "Web Browser Control" is basically the IE rendering engine encapsulated in an OCX. Its extremely simple to include this rendering engine in any windows application. I'd imagine it would be trivial to write a firefox extension* that parses the URL and loads an IE control in a new "empty" frame if the URL is on the white list, then passes the URL to the control to be handled.

We might be able to use one of the tabs modification extensions that already exists as a starting point for usurping default firefox tab behavior, and I'd be interested in helping with a project of this nature.

*I have no experience writing firefox plugins, but the variety that are available show that the architecture is fairly extensible.

A much simpler, but much less integrated approach would be to use a "URL Launcher." Basically, a program that determines if the domain from the URL entered is "IE-only" or not and fires the appropriate browser accordingly. This would be a 5-10 minute project for a good developer, but would be effective.

Josh.

Re:Two Possible Suggestions

[tolan-b]

What you describe regarding embedding the IE renderer in Firefox is basically what AOL are doing with their new experimental Firefox based browser.

New Netscape?

[crowdozer]

Perhaps this is something that new Netscape browser that mashes IE and Firefox together could offer.

Where are you typing in the URI?

[numbski]

If you're typing it into an address bar, then that address bar needs to be located someplace.

If you're talking about seamlessly browing from Site X (external) to Site Y (internal), then I suppose an XPI (possibly an edit to 'open in IE'?) that would detect the regex and spawn IE.

So far as the other way around....I don't see a good reason you'd be typing a URI into IE. So far as clicking links and having them spawn in Firefox, I don't really see a workable solution. :\

What part of the internal site 'demands' IE? I would hope not just the UserAgent string? ActiveX control? Have you tried the ActiveX XPI for Firefox?

Re:Where are you typing in the URI?

[CowboyMeal]

I have seen many proprietary tools that require IE because they use weird javascript or have other non-standardnesses. The ActiveX XPI wouldn't help for these. I would also think that using that XPI would open you up to some of the browser security holes that people go to Firefox to avoid.

I like the idea of a link-handler XPI though. A seamless solution would also require this be implemented in IE to send you back to firefox to browse non-IE requiring sites.

Sounds like a job for the new Netscape..

[phaze3000]

Take a look at this article from a couple of days ago on the new Netscape. It can use either Gecko or IE rendering on a per-site basis.

It's still in beta at the moment, but I expect a final version to be out in the not too distant future.

Re:Sounds like a job for the new Netscape..

[booch]

Exactly. You can set the default renderer to be Mozilla's Gecko, and then have settings for individual pages, telling it to use the IE renderer. You can also define other settings for specifically listed sites, just like in Firefox.

A simpler solution?

[skinfitz]

Why not simply use a Squid filter to sanitise any HTML the web for any browser using the IE user agent string. Shouldn't be too difficult to remove any ActiveX controls using regex expressions.

Re:A simpler solution?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not simply use a Squid filter to sanitise any HTML the web for any browser using the IE user agent string. Shouldn't be too difficult to remove any ActiveX controls using regex expressions.

Right...

Unless you NEED to use those ActiveX controls...

Re:A simpler solution?

[Leffe]

Just make a whitelist where they are allowed and don't filter them then.

Netscape Prototype

[Pan T. Hose]

It is based on Mozilla Firefox 1.0, and can switch between Gecko and IE for rendering the content. See this story for more details: New Netscape Browser Prototype Available.

I hate to be a troll

[Anonymous Coward]

But this is the dumbest idea I've heard in a while. Where are you typing in the address? Start->run?

There's a simple "open in IE" extenstion for firefox, just install that.

Work off of the View in IE source.

[a whoabot]

Get the source for the View in IE extension for Firefox/Mozilla. Add to that a list and then when you go to a page on that list it automatically launches it in IE. That would certainly not be hard to build.

For some reason at time of posting, the whole mozdev.org site seems to be down, but otherwise I would have gotten the link to the View in IE extension.

Re:Work off of the View in IE source.

[donutz]

Do you mean this extension?

ieview

That extension adds a right-click option for viewing a page in IE.

Probably they'd want to look at that extension, along with something like the slashfix extension. Slashfix has code that causes Firefox to do something when it encounters a certain URL (slashdot.org)...You'd want something like the code in that to check against your list, then use code in ieview to pop open an IE window when one of those pages are detected.

Or something like that.

Go for it.

[nes11]

Get to work on that and let me know when you finish. I just filed for the patent. ;-)

User Agent Switcher

[BYC(VCU.EDU)]

It's not exactly the same thing but, I use 'User Agent Switcher'. I'm under the same requirements for both internal and external web sites, it has yet to fail me. User Agent Switcher

Erm

[tod_miller]

If you are going to an internal or IE only site, click your ie link, otherwise hit your intarwebnet link and hey ho up comes firefox...

do you need an application do help wipe your ass as well? This is the lamest ask /. EVAR!! :-)

0xDECAFFBAD
0xCOFFEEACE

thanks

PS: did anyone spot the seinfeld reference ('right regular, left decaff') and which episode is it in? c'mon it is eeeasy!

There already is a pretty good blacklist

[Zocalo]

You check traditional DNSBLs like the XBL DNSBL list run by Spamhaus which list compromised systems. A better option however might be to also use the SURBLs that are used by SpamAssassin and similar anti-spam tools. Most of the domains listed have been spamvertised, but there is also a list for sites used in phishes. The next logical step would probably be a list of sites that try and install spyware or other unwanted binaries or scripts (cookies would be a bit much) on a visiting PC.

Since it works just like a DNSBL, you would need your plugin that grabs the URL, does a quick SURBL lookup and open a standard error page if it gets a 127.0.0.x response to the lookup. The option to continue anyway needs to be something that a network administrator can override, naturally. Best of all (and I can't believe I'm typing this), owing to the high level of integration of IE into Windows it might actually stop people from opening HTML spams in Outlook, inadvertantly or otherwise, as well.

Thinking about it, why stop at IE? Anyone care to write a Mozilla Extension?

Re:There already is a pretty good blacklist

[Anonymous Coward]

Your post has absolutely, positively nothing to do with the article. At all. Read it again, please.

White List URL Browser Selector?

[unangst]

You wrote:

"Would it be an extremely hard thing to build?"

If you're asking that question, then the answer "yes".

Re:White List URL Browser Selector?

[malcomvetter]

I would generally agree with your remarks. However, my comments were edited. I meant it to inlcude a sense of sarcasm as to why no one has yet built it.

Re:White List URL Browser Selector?

[JoloK]

Ooooo, you're l33t ! What a great answer... chump.

Re:White List URL Browser Selector?

[unangst]

So our intended sarcasm is having a hard time shining through, eh? That's the nature of quick posts online and emails. We think one thing and type another. We need a white list THOUGHT conversion for the browser interface as well... a much more complicated undertaking.

Re:White List URL Browser Selector?

[malcomvetter]

Good, Johnny. You can be line leader today for your exquisite example of sarcasm. Now Johnny, tell us all how that would be much different from:

"Ooooo, you're l33t ! What a great answer!"

which is exactly the editing my comments received.

Re:White List URL Browser Selector?

[biryokumaru]

actually, the program would be almost trivial. you would simply have it be passed an url, which is what windows does when it calls a browser, like "firefox http://www.google.com". then compare that url to a database, maybe by just filtering it to the domain or whatever. then simply do a shell command for firefox or ie depending on what your database of urls says to use.

the only vinders programming im familiar with is within the .net framework, so unless you have that i couldn't do it. i could helpya if you were runnin xcfe!

Re:White List URL Browser Selector?

[damiam]

The parent's point was that if you have to ask how hard a program would be to build, it's probably too hard for you to build.

That said, you're right; it'd be quite easy for any half-decent Windows programmer.

Confused

[JavaRob]

Along the lines of what others are saying -- where are you typing these URLs?

Two obvious solutions come to mind - use different bookmarks in each browser (esp. those links in the toolbar for sites you visit all day), and pop up a FF window and an IE window when you get started in the morning.

OR -- you can use shortcuts on your desktop or the quick launch bar for the really popular ones. These could also be in your path if you have a lot, and want to type something into Start->Run.

These can be normal link shortcuts for FF (assuming that's your default browser), or put in the command line to launch IE for the ones that need to pop in IE.

Does that cover it? If you're thinking about clicking links in email, IM, that sort of thing, you'd need what you're asking for (though frankly, there's a lot of software out there that just calls IE directly and ignores your default browser...). It's a damned simple thing (you could impl it with a batch file, I think), but I'm not sure how to change what program opens URLs.

How about hijacking the http calls?

[malcomvetter]

How about hijacking the http calls by [insert browser] and then if browser source != whitelisted browser for this URL, send back html "This URL will be entered in [browser name] momentarily" and pass the URL to the correct browser .... That way it's not tied to the initial call but could happen during the entire http session.

if only ....

[DrSkwid]

people had chosen plan9

Realising that mime types were *not* the answer esp. based on the file extension, the plumber does exactly what you ask but for *all* applications

It regex matches the text sent to it and acts accordingly.

I do almost what you ask but for the internal browser "mothra" and to firefox via ssh.

Mothra is getting old and can't even handle frames and tables so it is necessary to have a 4.x browser available for web access.

Doable but not worth doing.

[fm6]

Obviously there are many ways you can do this. The simplest I can think of is a Firefox extension similar to "Open in IE" that works automaticaly when it sees you navigating to a page on a list. Which saves you a little hassle, but is still pretty messy. Probably what you'd want is some kind of framework application that embeds Gecko, MSHTML, and maybe a couple of others, and switches between them as preprogrammed.

Thing is, these applications all require work. The plugin is maybe a week of somebody's time, and the framework is a major project. Who's going to invest their time in such a thing? Not Firefox enthusiasts, who donate their labor because they love the software, not because they want to make life easier for people who can't ditch Internet Explorer.

Probably you could get somebody to do it if you paid them. But if you have that kind of money lying around, you should spend it on making your company's servers less dependent on proprietary tech.

Just because something doable and useful, doesn't mean it's worth the trouble.

Re:Doable but not worth doing.

[proub]

Who's going to invest their time in such a thing? Not Firefox enthusiasts, who donate their labor because they love the software, not because they want to make life easier for people who can't ditch Internet Explorer.

Hey, at least one of us is trying to do just that :-)

Seriously, this is a frequently-requested enhancement to the IE View extension. About the only thing keeping it from happening so far is my complete lack of free time. It's top of the list, though. It's almost certainly doable, but requires a good bit more additional work than some earlier posters have assumed.

Why not?

[CokeJunky]

I am seeing alot of people saying that nothing exists and why don't you use browser/tool/etc X, instead of offering useful advice.

No, this tool would not be too hard to write. I have written a protocol handler for windows (years ago). All it takes is a registry entry to point windows to the program, and a program that processes it's command line arguments through a list of greps with actions (hard coded or stored in a config file if you like). The only difficult part is that once in the browser, you can't easily intercept the selected links and check every one.

I think a rudimentry attempt at such a program could be done in 30-40 lines of C code, or with a perl script closer to 10 lines or less. All you have to do is find out what the registry entry for the protocol handler is, and change it. I found it by digging through the registry with regedit, but I suspect that the MSDN knowlege base probably has an article on it.

There is no need to browbeat someone over such a request because it doesn't make sense to us. The true measure of a utility such as that is that someone wants to use it, and someone (probably the same person) is willing to write it -- if it doesn't already exist.

This is what we call the pragmatic approach, eh?

Re:Why not?

[malcomvetter]

Thanks. The goal here is not to create the end-all solution, but to work in the current environment while things are imperfect. I agree that ideally we would just choose one browser and change the web apps that require something else, but in the interest of migrating to that point, I think an interim solution is needed to: + hijack any all all URLs + compare to whitelist + open in an appropriate browser + be scalable and deployable ... not just for my laziness as some would suggest, but for a slew of end-users who haven't a clue ... it just works. Now I heard of an old project where a company wanted to rewrite URLs, so they hijacked them at the http level. Anyone familiar with this?

one possibility

[sootman]

A lot of people are asking where the URLs come from. I assume you're clicking on emailed links, or have desktop shortcuts, or something. I hope your desire isn't to type "intranet.mycompany.com" into FF and have IE launch. If that's the case, look at the other tips regarding the "view in IE" extension. If not, keep reading.

One possibility would be to write a .BAT file (or Perl if you have Cygwin or whatever) that does the parsing and launching. Then dig into the registry, find out where the default browser is set, and change that path to be your script.

For example: to see google.com with IE, just launch cmd.exe and say

c:\progra~1\intern~1\iexplore.exe http://www.google.com

To see Google in Firefox, it's

c:\progra~1\mozill~1\firefox.exe http://www.google.com

Perhaps wait for the new Navigator...

[Random Guru 42]

The new and upcoming version of Netscape is supposed to use both the Mozilla and Microsoft HTML rendering engines. If I'm not mistaken, I heard that there will also be a way to have pages automatically use MS's renderer based on content; it's possible to also do that based on domain.

If you can hold on a while longer, you might find it easier to use that rather than jury-rigging something up yourself.

ViewShield

[codeboost]

I came across a tool that might be useful. It doesn't open a different browser, however, it lets you configure most IE security, privacy and content settings on a per-site basis. If you don't trust a site, you can enforce high privacy, security settings (including IP hiding) while clicking on the link. One other nice feature is that it lets you configure proxy servers for different domains/sites.

Re:ViewShield

[codeboost]

I Forgot: You can check it out at www.viewshield.com