Session Manager 0.1 to 0.3.9+

[old zeniko]

except I don't want to have to hit Ctrl.

You'll get used to it, if you really want that functionality... BTW: That behavior is consistent with what you get for some other menu items (such as Help -> Release Notes).

Well, that could also be solved by changing Firefox so the underlying menu is not closed, couldn't it?

AFAIK this isn't even possible at the moment. And even if it were, it's still against most HIG's because context menus on menu items aren't discoverable (especially for keyboard users - how did they solve this problem for TMP, anyways?).

Being able to customize every little thing is nice for the user so they get just what they want, but being able to customize very minor things that don't really matter makes the code more complex pretty much unnecessarily and can lead to teh extension being slower and buggier, which is bad for the user.

Actually, allowing to customize everything inside the extension requires a lot of coding which I'm not willing to do. I prefer to offer you one way which works as consistently as possible with how Firefox already works and not bother the user with too many options she/he shouldn't have to think about in the first place. Of course, Session Manager is still absolutely configurable if you know how to code yourself (through "hacks" in userChrome.css and userChrome.js or however you prefer to apply patches).

You know you do have those certain preferences listed at the bottom of the menu, though.

Sure. That's the prefs I consider the most useful - and the ones I want you to see so that you know what's going to happen (and BTW that's the only prefs available to SeaMonkey users through UI - since the Options dialog is Toolkit only).

Hey, what's with sessionmanager.dat?

I really recommend you to learn how to read code if you want to know what's happening inside your profile folder - otherwise these are implementation details you shouldn't have to worry about.

To answer your question: that's the list of reopenable closed windows. This file is deleted when you close Firefox (unless you've checked the "Restore the list of reopenable closed windows at startup" option).

Why do the four extensions I know of from you (Console², Crash Recovery, Fission, Session Manager) all have almost the same GUID, only the last two characters are different?

That's a very rare coincidence... or maybe I just prefer to keep my GUIDs together.

You know, the icon in the Session Manager toolbar button, when you're using small icons, is about two pixels higher than centered.

Interesting. No idea where that comes from. Does it matter?

why don't all of the menu items have _id attributes? Or why don't all of them just use id? Just for your convenience?

I use _id instead of normal ids because the menus currently exist two or three times and I wanted to reuse the precise same code for all of them. And they don't all have _id attributes, because some of them don't need to. Why do you ask?

Yeah. Hacks are fun, but it's a big, messy hack. No thanks. And I like the 3D effects.

Believe me, messy would be quite different. And the missing 3D effect is actually due to your theme (you still get one with the default theme).

Tab closing performance is significantly improved with 0.3.6.4.

I hope it's acceptable now. There aren't many more spots I could optimize this without having to create some ugly hacks...

[Peng]

You'll get used to it, if you really want that functionality... BTW: That behavior is consistent with what you get for some other menu items (such as Help -> Release Notes).

Okay. It's good enough for me.

Does it matter if you have it set to replace existing windows or not when you using the Ctrl thing?

AFAIK this isn't even possible at the moment. And even if it were, it's still against most HIG's because context menus on menu items aren't discoverable (especially for keyboard users - how did they solve this problem for TMP, anyways?).

Okay.

I dunno, it doesn't seem it does work for keyboard users. Hitting the context menu key on the keyboard just opens the context menu for the active thing in the web page you have focused and leaves the menu stuck open. Ick.

Sure. That's the prefs I consider the most useful - and the ones I want you to see so that you know what's going to happen (and BTW that's the only prefs available to SeaMonkey users through UI - since the Options dialog is Toolkit only).

Ooh, not seeing the other preferences in SeaMonkey is not nice. You could put an item to open the preferences in the Session Manager menu in SeaMonkey. Or add a Session Manager (Both "Session Manager" and "SeaMonkey" are abbreviated "SM". Eep.) section to the SeaMonkey preferences..

I really recommend you to learn how to read code if you want to know what's happening inside your profile folder - otherwise these are implementation details you shouldn't have to worry about.

Well I would read the code if extensions were written in basic PHP.

I would like to learn how to write Firefox extensions, both so I could understand other ones and modify/create them, but I just haven't done it yet.

To answer your question: that's the list of reopenable closed windows. This file is deleted when you close Firefox (unless you've checked the "Restore the list of reopenable closed windows at startup" option).

Oh, okay. It's not a very pretty file. I guess the only blank lines are there to separate different windows, so the file isn't nearly as nice-looking.

Interesting. No idea where that comes from. Does it matter?

Yes.

I guess I could screw around with CSS to fix this. If I was more awake and very good at the rect() stuff ever, I'd try to figure it out.

Oh drat, now I've officially challenged myself to do it. *Groan*

I use _id instead of normal ids because the menus currently exist two or three times and I wanted to reuse the precise same code for all of them. And they don't all have _id attributes, because some of them don't need to. Why do you ask?

I figured that, at least the second part. I asked because I was curious and because I'm using some CSS to hide the items I'm not interested in.

Believe me, messy would be quite different. And the missing 3D effect is actually due to your theme (you still get one with the default theme).

Oh. I use the icky default theme. I hadn't tried that code. Let's see.

I hope it's acceptable now. There aren't many more spots I could optimize this without having to create some ugly hacks...

Ugly hacks? Fun. 8) Closing tabs is faster for me when I switched from Crash Recovery 0.6.4.2 to Session Manager 0.3.6.4. I guess the improvements were part of Crash Recovery, so they would've been there if I had upgraded to CR 0.6.4.3..


Blah. These interspersed quotes are unwieldy. This would be much easier in a plain text email. I guess I'll snip out the quotes I was just replying to with ":)".

[dougeeebear]

What???

[old zeniko]

Does it matter if you have it set to replace existing windows or not when you using the Ctrl thing?

Would it make sense if it did? And no, it doesn't.

I dunno, it doesn't seem it does work for keyboard users.

And why again would you expect me to implement something similar (being a heavy keyboard user myself)?

Ooh, not seeing the other preferences in SeaMonkey is not nice.

It is not. OTOH, the fact that SeaMonkey doesn't offer as nice an extension framework as Firefox isn't nice, either.

You could put an item to open the preferences in the Session Manager menu in SeaMonkey. Or add a Session Manager section to the SeaMonkey preferences..

I sure could. But that would require quite some coding - which I just don't have the time to do (especially not for the few SeaMonkey users I've got - no offense, guys, but if you insist on this, I'll rather plug SeaMonkey support as a whole - until then, you get the full functionality except having to use about:config for configuration and not getting the nice toolbar buttons).

(Both "Session Manager" and "SeaMonkey" are abbreviated "SM". Eep.)

I think I would prefer you not to take note of such insignificant details... It doesn't really help (there's not much I can do about an abbreviation, is there?).

Oh, okay. It's not a very pretty file. I guess the only blank lines are there to separate different windows, so the file isn't nearly as nice-looking.

"Not a very pretty file"? What's this? A beauty contest? I'm not fond of it, but it does its job - and that's what should concern you.

Interesting. No idea where that comes from. Does it matter?

Yes.

Why?

Oh drat, now I've officially challenged myself to do it. *Groan*

Should you get some nice, non-hacky result, please let me know.

I figured that, at least the second part. I asked because I was curious and because I'm using some CSS to hide the items I'm not interested in.

You should be able to hide all items through CSS - you'll just need different rules for the ones missing _id attributes.

Closing tabs is faster for me when I switched from Crash Recovery 0.6.4.2 to Session Manager 0.3.6.4.

Interesting. Crash Recovery doesn't interfere with tab closing, at all (the save operation is delayed), while Session Manager adds some stuff of its own. Tab closing can only get slower - unless you're using an extension which clashes with Session Manager and gets accidentally disabled by it...

This would be much easier in a plain text email.

You should know how to PM...

[Peng]

And why again would you expect me to implement something similar (being a heavy keyboard user myself)?

Well I wouldn't. But I hadn't thought of that when I originally mentioned it.

I sure could. But that would require quite some coding - which I just don't have the time to do (especially not for the few SeaMonkey users I've got - no offense, guys, but if you insist on this, I'll rather plug SeaMonkey support as a whole - until then, you get the full functionality except having to use about:config for configuration and not getting the nice toolbar buttons).

That's true. It is fully functional. The options window does look really nice now, though (basic tabbed thing, but nicely done), so it's too bad.

"Not a very pretty file"? What's this? A beauty contest? I'm not fond of it, but it does its job - and that's what should concern you.

Hehe. As you know, I like poking around my profile, and I like saying "pretty" rather than "readable". crashrecovery.dat is more readable than sessionmanager.dat due to the blank lines.

Why?

Because it does. It doesn't matter enough for me to try to figure out the problem in my sleepy state, but it botheres me that it's about two pixels higher than the other buttons next to it.

Should you get some nice, non-hacky result, please let me know.

If I do, I certainly will.

Interesting. Crash Recovery doesn't interfere with tab closing, at all (the save operation is delayed), while Session Manager adds some stuff of its own. Tab closing can only get slower - unless you're using an extension which clashes with Session Manager and gets accidentally disabled by it...

It does have to notice if tabs close so it can remove them from the backup. Either way, I think it did get faster. I dont know why, but it did. It's very instant now. I did disable some Tab Mix Plus session stuff, but still have recovering closed tabs enabled (its closed tab recovering is nicer-looking than Session Manager's and has no drawbacks).

You should know how to PM...

PMs still use BBCode.


I am sorry for bugging you all day...

[alta88]

wow, i guess that'll teach any future posters to ask for usability enhancements.

[dougeeebear]

Whew!!!

[Peng]

[old zeniko]

It's quicker than having to open the Extension Manager and scroll down and find the proper extension.

If you've got Console² installed, you can also type the initial letters of an extension to get to it. Opening the Options dialog would then be a matter of hitting [Alt]+[T], [E], [S], [E], [S], [Alt]+[O] (i.e. Tools -> Extensions -> SESsion Manager -> Options).

It does have to notice if tabs close so it can remove them from the backup.

It does indeed - it just doesn't do anything else at that point (the actualy saving is delayed to when you shouldn't notice - or not notice as prominently).

I did disable some Tab Mix Plus session stuff

Which might also have slowed down tab closing (since TMP's session manager might save the closed tab right away).

PMs still use BBCode.

True. Of course you could also go for HTML, but I see your point.

I am sorry for bugging you all day...

Unfortunately I'm not in the position to tell you to go outside and have fun - at all.

wow, i guess that'll teach any future posters to ask for usability enhancements.

Why so? Because of the heavy reading (that's what this forum's got a search function for)? Or because of me denying many requests? Well: what else would you expect me to do? If you've got a good suggestion and it is implementable with reasonable effort, you have a good chance to get it (if you read through this thread, you'll note that this has happened more than a few times). Unfortunately not every suggestion is a good one - and not every suggestion is consistent with how I think things should work. And if you don't like that I've got the final say - then you're probably in the wrong thread here...

[C@rb0n]

I hope it's acceptable now. There aren't many more spots I could optimize this without having to create some ugly hacks...

There's always room for improvement.

[AnonEmoose]

zeniko,

I still say you are a saint.... hehehe
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic ... 96#2134196

[old zeniko]

Interesting. No idea where that comes from. Does it matter?

Yes.

In that case: <a href="http://www.haslo.ch/zeniko/software/sessionmanager.xpi">fixed</a>.

[Will Pittenger]

Have they gotten rid of either of the following?

* Session Saver used to have a conflict with TabMix+. That other extension though does not restore tabs properly. Either it leaves tabs out or it restores them in the incorrect point in their history. I heard about this from MRTech.
* I had problems with SS reseting my MenuManipulator changes. Something else is reseting them now, so until I get a fix for that, this is relatively unimportant. However, I am asking about this in the MenuManipulator thread.

[old zeniko]

Have they gotten rid of either of the following?
* Session Saver used to have a conflict with TabMix+. [...]
* I had problems with SS reseting my MenuManipulator changes. [...]

1. "They" don't get rid of anything. If anybody, I do (and you can say "you" to me ).
2. This is the Session Manager thread and not the SessionSaver one.
3. There are (also) for this extension some slight conflicts with Tab Mix Plus. As far as I've heard however, nothing you couldn't live with.
4. I can't imagine how a session related extension could reset MenuManipulator's settings. You're in fact better off discussing this at MenuManipulator's thread. (Anyway, I'd prefer it if you wouldn't mention problems you had, but only those you have reproducibly.)

[Peng]

If you've got Console² installed, you can also type the initial letters of an extension to get to it. Opening the Options dialog would then be a matter of hitting [Alt]+[T], [E], [S], [E], [S], [Alt]+[O] (i.e. Tools -> Extensions -> SESsion Manager -> Options).

Oh, cool. Thanks.

I use some keyboard things in Thunderbird, but never in Firefox. I guess it's because in Firefox I'm never doing repetitive things quickly.

Which might also have slowed down tab closing (since TMP's session manager might save the closed tab right away).

I'm not sure. I think it may do things right away, though.

True. Of course you could also go for HTML, but I see your point.

HTML is even worse. Plain text email is nice because all I would have to do for the quotes is remove all the lins beginning with >> and...that's it.

Unfortunately I'm not in the position to tell you to go outside and have fun - at all.

In that case: <a href="http://www.haslo.ch/zeniko/software/sessionmanager.xpi">fixed</a>.

Cool, thanks. I'll upgrade in a few minutes.

It was really only one pixel too high? I thought it was two.

*Checks with the GIMP*

Yeah, it is only one pixels. Huh. Well, thanks for fixing it.

Sorry I didn't get around to trying to figure it out for myself, but I had been awake for a long time and can hardly handle all those pixel values in rect()s when I'm fully awake.

Edit: Firefox crashed and I had set Session Manager to uninstall, so that was a good time to upgrade it. I like how it does some things I would do automatically, like name sessions "YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM" when I save them or save a backup of my session automatically when Firefox crashes. Not that I really need the latter, since it's so far proven to be completely reliable, but the precaution is worth a little disk space usage. (Oops. forgot to click the Submit button, and now there are new posts.)