Alkaline is a desktop application for Mac OS X that lets users perform cross-browser testing using the Litmus testing grid.

 

Using simple URL handlers you can ask Alkaline to test any URL. These URL handlers can be used in scripts and plug-ins for other applications. We have created two ourselves, for Coda and TextMate. You can download these from the plug-ins area on the Alkaline page. If you create a new plug-in please let us know so we can add it to the list.

 

Available URL handlers

In each of these examples, the data passed to Alkaline in the URL handler must be URL encoded. Naturally, the user must have Alkaline installed in order for them to work.

 

Create a new browser test

Calling this URL handler will open Alkaline and present the user with the new test screen. By providing a URL, the URL box will be pre-filled. The screen will let the user confirm which browsers they want to test their page on, then start the test.

 

Optionally you can call this action without a URL present, to just show the new test dialog without pre-filling a URL.

 

alkaline://new?url=[URL]

 

Open an existing browser test

Each browser test has a unique test ID. This can be found by browsing a user's tests on the Litmus website and looking at the URL. For example, the URL might be http://salted.litmusapp.com/tests/138167. The test ID here is 138167. Calling this URL handler will open this test in Alkaline.

 

alkaline://open?test=[TestID]