TinyURL Service

Here's the link

http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/networking_security/shrink.html

Or just use Shrink, a handy dashboard widget.

Hooray for Rachel! This Service really works wonders! I've been using it tonight to create truncated URLs to add to some trolling comments I posted in a couple of die-hard Zune-lovers sites.

The "Shrink to Clipboard" feature is really really great! It's highly recommended for anyone trying to add URLs to emails, blog posts, comments, and any other place where you don't want (or can't) enter those super-long URLs generated by database-driven sites these days (my own included).

Thanks again to Rachel and to Mat for giving us the heads up.

-Tod

If you copy it into your personal library, yes, a login/logout will do it instead, that's true. Basically, for services, anything that re-launches/re-initializes the appropriate configuration 'space' will do it.

I actually don't think a restart is required. Simply re-logging into OS X should suffice.

So, evidently this little service tool has gotten some posting coverage, moreso than I expected! Yipe! So, I've done a quick second release for folks. :)

I've added a new 'Shrink URL to Clipboard' service as requested by a couple of folks, so that you can still shrink a URL in a read-only text-field; it just puts the result on the clipboard instead of replacing the original.

http://www.riverdark.net/misc/TinyURL.zip (service)
http://www.riverdark.net/misc/TinyURL-src.zip (source code)

I've repackaged it as a simple drag-and-drop as was suggested; you can drop it into ~/Library/Services to have it just for one user, or into /Library/Services to have it system-wide. To uninstall the old version, just delete /System/Library/Services/TinyURL.service and poof.

A restart /is/ still required before the service gets picked up, but that's a limitation of Apple's system-service stuff... I can't really get around it.

Sejuru, services are basically system-wide. Also, not everyone uses Firefox; I use Camino myself. Services can also be used in Quicksilver.

As for my previous comment, I've made the developer aware of the install location issue, as well as this TUAW post (and thus the comments).

firefox plugin? what about camino? safari? others? this is a perfect service utility- and particularly useful on web sites like this where somebody may want to paste a long url on the fly without breaking the css or screwing up the url - it converts the url bar displayed address on the fly via the service menu when inside the browser (or any aware app, text edits et al)...

completely and totally worth every second of the restart....

Why not just use the Firefox plugin, Tinyurl Creator?

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/126

CAUTION: I just used the File -> Show Files command of Installer.app, and apparently the installer puts the Service bundle within /System. Third party software should *never* modify the system folder unless they absolutely have to. A drag and drop install with directions provided in the disk image should be used instead.