Hi AdamB-

This might be the -- uh -- link you're looking for:

 http://processing.org/reference/link_.html

-Matt

Ah... good point.  In my rush to make a terrible pun I missed the fact that the rectangle in the sample code isn't really a button.

I also recommend checking out the interface library if you want to make some nicer buttons.  If you just want something quick and dirty, you can look at the "button" example here:

 http://processing.org/learning/examples/button.html

Mix that (or the GUIs from the interface library) with a properly-placed call to link() and you're in business.

When I use link(), it launches the browser page six times per click. Is there a way to launch the URL only once without killing the draw loop?

If it helps, here is the relevant methods (animate() is called in the draw loop):


void animate(int turn){
 //println(turn);

 // color according to hex list
 noStroke();
 color t = color(color_array[turn]);
 fill(t);

 // draw ball according to bag weight
 ellipse(b[turn].b_xpos, b[turn].b_ypos, b[turn].b_weight, b[turn].b_weight);

 // write folder number on ball
 if (mouseOver(turn) == true){
   stroke(100,100,100);
   fill(100,100,100);
   text(turn, b[turn].b_xpos, b[turn].b_ypos);
   b[turn].b_xpos = b[turn].b_xpos + 0.1*(vel(turn));  // slow it down to make it readable
   b[turn].b_ypos = b[turn].b_ypos + 0.1*(vel(turn));
   if (mousePressed){
     if(mouseButton == LEFT){
       b[turn].b_vx = random(-2,2);
       b[turn].b_vy = random(-2,2);
     }
     if(mouseButton == RIGHT){
       link(makeURL(turn));
     //  noLoop(); // kills the whole draw loop
     }

   }

 }

 else {
   b[turn].b_xpos = b[turn].b_xpos + b[turn].b_vx; // move the ball normally
   b[turn].b_ypos = b[turn].b_ypos + b[turn].b_vy;
 }

 // bounce balls off walls
 if (b[turn].b_ypos > height-(b[turn].b_weight/2) || b[turn].b_ypos < 0 + b[turn].b_weight/2){
   b[turn].b_vy = b[turn].b_vy*(-1.0);
 }
 if (b[turn].b_xpos > width- (b[turn].b_weight/2) || b[turn].b_xpos < 0 + (b[turn].b_weight/2)){
   b[turn].b_vx = b[turn].b_vx*(-1.0);
 }



}

// looks for the mouse at each ball
boolean mouseOver(int turn){
 if (mouseX >= b[turn].b_xpos - b[turn].b_weight/2 && mouseX <= b[turn].b_xpos + b[turn].b_weight/2 &&
   mouseY >= (b[turn].b_ypos - b[turn].b_weight/2) && mouseY <= (b[turn].b_ypos + b[turn].b_weight/2)){
   return true;
 }
 else return false;

}

I tried this... as well as using mouseReleased() (removing mousePressed entirely)... still no dice.

void mouseReleased(int i){
 boolean openPage = false;
  if(mouseButton == LEFT){
       b[i].b_vx = random(-2,2);
       b[i].b_vy = random(-2,2);
     }
     if(mouseButton == RIGHT){
       openPage = true;
       link(makeURL(i), "_blank");
       openPage = false;
     }

}