Firefox extension to monitor selection

Dusty · 2007-02-12 22:27:16

Hey guys,

For my research, I'm in need of a tool that analyzes people's text selection habits. Basically, I want to record every time a user selects something with a mouse, anonymize it, and store it somewhere. Its not a terribly difficult task, but I have no experience with firefox extensions. Is it possible to write an extension that responds on every mouse-drag event?

I'd be delighted if someone with free time could write some boilerplate code showing how to do this, but even just a few hints or links describing how to proceed might be enough to motivate me to take the time to investigate it.

Thanks,
Dusty

phrakture · 2007-02-12 22:40:57

You could probably write a greasemonkey script to catch the data as a proof-of-concept.
I found this for the event stuff: http://www.quirksmode.org/js/selected.html

ralvez · 2007-02-12 23:43:54

Dusty,

I think you need to define the project a bit more. Is this a desktop app or a web app. ?
What language are you looking for (C, perl, python, javascript).
If you are aiming at web based I would use javascript (if you want to be fancy go AJAX) and track onmouse events, then save the action to a file.

Hope this helps.

Dusty · 2007-02-12 23:53:23

Ah, sorry, I don't want an application, I want to track selections in an existing environment to track real-world selections. (If I just needed something arbitrary, I'd write a plugin for my text editor and be done with it, but I need real data from real users, and I don't think there's a lot of them using Pallavi just yet!). I would prefer to use a word processor, but I'm not hacking open office and I don't think their macro language is event based, so getting selections is tricky. Therefore, my intention is to write a firefox (or, now I think of it, maybe thunderbird) extension that tracks selections for existing users.

Dusty

T-Dawg · 2007-02-13 00:24:35

wtf?
Was this really posted today or is there something going on with the forums? I could have swore Dusty asked this same exact question with phrakture the first to respond with the same advice not too long ago. Deja vu, I'm going nuts.

Dusty · 2007-02-13 01:58:28

I was thinking about it a month or so ago, but I certainly don't recall asking the question OR any answers. If you can find the post, I'll feel like.... I'll feel like that goddam paperclip on microsoft word.

Dusty

Dusty · 2007-02-13 02:04:36

Maybe you're thinking of my foray into USB development? I'm always asking weird arcane questions on here, the kind of thing only Aaron would know. But it seems impolite to ask him directly.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=27014

Dusty

Arch Linux

#1 2007-02-12 22:27:16

Firefox extension to monitor selection

#2 2007-02-12 22:40:57

Re: Firefox extension to monitor selection

#3 2007-02-12 23:43:54

Re: Firefox extension to monitor selection

#4 2007-02-12 23:53:23

Re: Firefox extension to monitor selection

#5 2007-02-13 00:24:35

Re: Firefox extension to monitor selection

#6 2007-02-13 01:58:28

Re: Firefox extension to monitor selection

#7 2007-02-13 02:04:36

Re: Firefox extension to monitor selection

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