PluckThis
With the PluckThis feature you can convert sites from your browser either using a bookmarklet or an item in the Tools and context menus. The bookmarklet should work on every browser with JavaScript support. The menu item is supported only through the Mozilla plug-in.
Mozilla users are recommended to install the Plug-in.
How it works
The bookmark contains JavaScript code that sends the current page's title and URL to JPluck X using a special HTTP request. In turn, JPluck X responds by activating its window and opening the document settings dialog. (You may have to switch to the JPluck X window manually, depending on your system settings. On a standard Windows XP configuration, for instance, the taskbar icon will flash to indicate that the application is requesting focus.)
JPluck X must be running for PluckThis to work. If it is not, you will get a Could not connect to... or similar message.
The new document is populated with the default document settings (Document -> Default...). The maximum link depth is automatically set to 0 and the download cache flag is disabled by default. (Most of the time you want to pluck only the current page, and you want to pluck it only once.) You can still change the link depth and download cache setting if you want to.
You cannot add sites while a dialog is open or a conversion is in progress. (JPluck will send an error message.)
Install bookmarklets
To install the bookmarklets, right-click on the link and select Bookmark This Link (Mozilla), Add to Favorites (IE) or a variation thereof in other browsers.
Internet Explorer will warn you that the Favorite may not be safe to add, you can ignore this warning. (If you want to be sure, you can view the bookmarklet's code by viewing the source of this page.)
Currently, there are two bookmarklets:
| Bookmarklet | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PluckThis summary | Activates JPluck X and shows a summary page with the name and title of the document. | |
| PluckThis history.back() | Activates JPluck X and immediately instructs the browser to go back one page in its history. You end up on the page where you invoked PluckThis. Note: the page where you invoked PluckThis might appear twice in the browser history. | Firebird 0.6.1: does not go back in browser history (bug in JavaScript engine). |
If you know JavaScript you can modify the bookmarklets to suit your needs, as long as you end up sending a command URL to JPluck X. (See Details below.)
Mozilla plug-in
The plug-in installs "PluckThis" commands in the Tools and right-click context menus.
The main advantage of the plug-in over the bookmarklet is that it invokes PluckThis via scripting, rather than through the browser window. This leaves the browsing history unaffected.
Default PluckThis JXL
When PluckThis is invoked, sites are added to the active JXL by default. You can configure JPluck to switch to a specific JXL: File -> Preferences -> Miscellaneous -> PluckThis.
Details
JPluck X runs a simple HTTP server on port 9126 that responds to special command URLs.
Example command URL:
http://127.0.0.1:9126/addSite?name=Yahoo&url=http://www.yahoo.com/
For security reasons the server is bound to the local loopback address (127.0.0.1), meaning that it cannot be reached through the network. Furthermore, the server only responds to the command URLs and does not have the capability to read or send any files. Running the server does not impose a real security risk.