Is there a way to add Google Chrome as an external web browser in Flash Builder Standalone for Mac? - eclipse

Question

It currently seems impossible to add Google Chrome as an external web browser in Flash Builder Standalone for Mac. In this context, Eclipse only cares about "Unix executables" and not .app files.
For example, the path to Firefox on a Mac is: /Applications/Firefox.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox-bin
which is only found by right-clicking and choosing 'Show Package Contents' on Firefox.app in your Applications directory.
If you try to add Google Chrome as a new external web browser, you'll have to repeat this process to navigate to /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS where the 'Google Chrome' Unix exxecutable resides.
The problem is that space in the name. If you attempt to click OK in Eclipse, you'll get an error preventing you from continuing:
The location value is not a valid path
name
Are there any workarounds for this so I can use Chrome as my development browser only? I did some searching and all I could come up with was this:
https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=297273
UPDATE: A kind and savvy Flash Builder engineer gave me a helpful tip. Note that you'll need to show hidden files in Mac, by opening Terminal and entering the following command:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder
Press Return to relaunch Finder. Once hidden files are shown, "You’ll find what you need in [YOUR WORKSPACE]/.metadata/.plugins/org.eclipse.core.runtime/.settings/org.eclipse.ui.browser.prefs.
There’s a 'browsers' property there that defines XML for defining Eclipse’s web browsers. Add a new browser location and name and restart Flash Builder."
In this case you'd add:
<external location\="/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" name\="Google Chrome"/>\n
I can confirm that this works. Hopefully we won't have to resort to this kind of hackery on the next go around.

Answer 1

You can do this from the UI in FB 4.5 - However, you need this exact path (unquoted and unescaped) in Preferences->Web Browser. Select "Use External Browser" and add the line below as the location (You may not need the 'name\="Google Chrome" bit, but looks like it worked all in one line for me):
/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome" name\="Google Chrome

Answer 2

You could create an executable here: /usr/local/bin/chrome with these contents:
#!/bin/sh
open -a 'Google Chrome' $1 &
And then ensure Chrome's Preferences settings for "Web Browser" are this for external web browser "Google Chrome":
Name: Google Chrome
Location: /usr/local/bin/chrome
Parameters: %URL%

Answer 3

Update
As of Eclipse 4.3.1, the script approach (below) no longer works, but the simpler option of simply selecting "Google Chrome.app" as an external browser (using Eclipse UI) is fixed.
Old (obsolete) answer
My workaround was to create a shell script that opens Chrome (see below), and point Eclipse to this script. In this way Chrome is opened with 2 tabs - the home page and the requested page - but this was good enough for me.
#! /bin/sh
open /Applications/Google\ Chrome.app $*

Answer 4

You need the path to the Unix Executable file of Google Chrome.
How to:
in Finder, right click Google Chrome.app "Show Package Content".
Navigate down to Content/MacOS
cmd + i and copy the path to the Unix Executable File
In Eclipse Preferences Web Browser / Location, "brows.."
Paste in the path to the Unix Executable.
The path, something like: /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS
Location: /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome
Parameters: -sandbox

Answer 5

The simplest way to get Flash Builder Standalone for Mac to recognize Chrome as the default system browser is
Open Safari
Go to menu Safari > Preference > General
Change 'Default web browser' : Safari
Change 'Default web browser' : Chrome
Close Safari
This solution is more general as it applies to any application which chooses the incorrect system browser. (thanks to Kelvin Lawrence at IBM)

Answer 6

For me worked with the following configuration:
Location: /usr/bin/open
Parameters: -a "Google Chrome.app" %URL%

Answer 7

I found the solution in a blog's post that doesn't exist anymore, it involves configuring the Location to be /usr/bin/open and the parameter is %URL%.
You need to make sure that google chrome is your default browser and it will work properly. This is the only method that worked for me on OSX Lion.

Answer 8

/Applications/Google\ Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS
escape the space in the path to the google chrome executable. OS X only cares about unix executables, because its posix based as well, it doesn't actually have much to do with eclipse.