[Ext] Console² 0.1 to 0.3.6.2

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Unarmed
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Post by Unarmed »

Very nice work.

<a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=301039">This bug</a> (extra pixel-width's worth of border below the title bar) came back after another patch was backed out and the wallpaper patch was applied; it might be nice to fix that.

Another option you could add as either a toolbar button or entries in the Tools menu would be the sort order option normally shown in the context menu.

A keyboard shortcut to open the console would also be nice. I'd suggest <kbd>[Ctrl]</kbd>+<kbd>E</kbd>, but that's currently used to focus the browser search bar.
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onemen
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Post by onemen »

Ctrl + Shift + C
old zeniko
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Post by old zeniko »

<a href="http://www.haslo.ch/zeniko/software/console2.xpi">Console² v0.1.4</a> fixes most of the requested issues in addition to the improvements of the latest testing version: Bug 301039 has been fixed again and the sort order is listed in the (renamed) Options menu.

As for the keyboard shortcuts: instead of entering into the dispute about the correct shortcut (I am used to webdeveloper's Ctrl+Shift+J), I'll refer you to the keyconfig extension. Simply create a new shortcut using one of the following functions:

Code: Select all

toErrorConsole();
toggleSidebar('viewConsole2Sidebar'); // open the console in the sidebar
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onemen
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Post by onemen »

can u make all the buttons to be type=menu-button, click on the button to replaced the selecdet option (All -> Error -> warnings -> Messages) and click on the drop down arrow to show the list to choose from
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grayrest
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Post by grayrest »

A feature request: stack traces. I know the mozilla javascript engine generates them and that they're accessable from javascript. I was loosely involved in an effort to get them into the current jsconsole around the 0.9.7 era but the correct api wasn't exposed (I forget the details of why it couldn't be implemented). It's definitely a feature that would provide a compelling case for your extension. ;]
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Post by mw22 »

I really like your extension, zeniko. Fwiw, for the most part, I think it should be included by default in Firefox.
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Post by old zeniko »

@onemen: Tried that, don't like it (it gets too difficult to open the menus with a mouse, not to mention of keyboard accessibility problems). Instead I'll have middle-clicking rotate through the possible options of a menu.

@grayrest: That would really be nice. Unfortunately the console doesn't have direct access to JavaScript's Error object, but only to an nsIScriptError XPCOM object - and that one doesn't include the stack trace. I'll happily display it, as soon as the back-end provides access to the necessary attribute (see nsJSEnvironment.cpp for where the nsIScriptError is created and Bug 125612 for the details). If you know of a work-around for still adding them with code within the reach of a pure XUL/JS extension, let me know!

@mw: And for which part should it not yet be included? ;-)
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Post by mw22 »

Well, I think it should be included totally, it's a major (and needed) improvement from current behavior.

But I have some nits:
- I think the clear button should be enable by default, it is currently visible by default and it's usually the first thing I click on when I open the js/error console.
- The use of the toolbarbuttons is a bit odd. The look like a menu, but it isn't. So I would expect menu behavior there, but I don't get menu behavior. I also get a weird focus outline, which sometimes appears/disappears inexplicably (probably a core bug). Also, the changing of the text when you change an option in the toolbarbutton I find a bit odd.

Well, that's my ui criticism. I don't really have a good idea how I think that could be improved, though.

Also, what I would like (maybe a good idea for your extension?) is to have a different error icon for css errors.


I was getting two dots in every popup menu one time. I don't know how I triggered that bug, but if I see it again and now how to trigger it, I'll report it here.
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Post by old zeniko »

mw wrote:- I think the clear button should be enable by default, it is currently visible by default and it's usually the first thing I click on when I open the js/error console.

My reasoning here is that on the one hand, I don't like to clutter the toolbar with too many buttons (Clear is accessible from the more important Options menu) and if possible only with buttons of one type (the other three are menu-buttons, this one'd be a plain button). On the other hand, I myself have very rarely use the Clear button, since with the filtering capabilities, you get down to what you need as well. For the time being, I'd prefer to leave that as an option to the user with the default in my way (unless you've got more compelling reasons).

mw wrote:- The use of the toolbarbuttons is a bit odd. The look like a menu, but it isn't. So I would expect menu behavior there, but I don't get menu behavior.

Is this better with v0.1.4? What different behavior would you expect?

mw wrote:I also get a weird focus outline, which sometimes appears/disappears inexplicably (probably a core bug).

I'd prefer focus and hover to look exactly the same, but I haven't yet managed to get the button looking raised. Dropping the outline should be possible, but since the buttons are tabbable, I need it so far for keyboard users.

mw wrote:Also, the changing of the text when you change an option in the toolbarbutton I find a bit odd.

It has to change so as to show you which mode is current. The thing I dislike more is that the buttons vary in width depending on the mode. Unfortunately, making the buttons wider looks also shabby, unless the outline is shown (I've got flat buttons on XP, and without the outline, text and drop-down marker just float apart).

mw wrote:Well, that's my ui criticism. I don't really have a good idea how I think that could be improved, though.

This might be one of the reasons why the console hasn't seen substantial improvement in the last years - it's quite difficult to do it right. So help is very much appreciated.

mw wrote:Also, what I would like (maybe a good idea for your extension?) is to have a different error icon for css errors.

Suggestions are welcome, but I got quite used to it - and more importantly, it matches precisely the icons used by the alert boxes.
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Post by mw22 »

zeniko wrote:For the time being, I'd prefer to leave that as an option to the user with the default in my way (unless you've got more compelling reasons).

No, not really. Maybe when I would SCREAM for it. ;)
PLEASE, ADD THE CLEAR BUTTON BY DEFAULT!!!!!!
Seriously, when I'm testing a site/thing/whatever, I always like to start fresh and don't like to see the messages that already have cluttered up the console. That's why I use it relatively much.

mw wrote:- The use of the toolbarbuttons is a bit odd. The look like a menu, but it isn't. So I would expect menu behavior there, but I don't get menu behavior.
Is this better with v0.1.4? What different behavior would you expect?


I was using v.01.4, but I've now seen v.0.1.5, and I think that behavior is probably better. Thanks.

I'd prefer focus and hover to look exactly the same, but I haven't yet managed to get the button looking raised. Dropping the outline should be possible, but since the buttons are tabbable, I need it so far for keyboard users.

Yes, but there you get differences between how a normal menu reacts. A normal menu isn't tabbable.

mw wrote:Also, the changing of the text when you change an option in the toolbarbutton I find a bit odd.

It has to change so as to show you which mode is current. The thing I dislike more is that the buttons vary in width depending on the mode. Unfortunately, making the buttons wider looks also shabby, unless the outline is shown (I've got flat buttons on XP, and without the outline, text and drop-down marker just float apart).

Yes, exactly, that's what disturbing me the most, the varying of the width depending on the mode.

mw wrote:Also, what I would like (maybe a good idea for your extension?) is to have a different error icon for css errors.

Suggestions are welcome, but I got quite used to it - and more importantly, it matches precisely the icons used by the alert boxes.

I'm not sure what you mean here.
I mean the icon you get when errors are shown in the error console. The icon for css errors is the same as that for js errors. It's my opinion that you can more easily distinguish js and css errors from eachother when they have a different icon. And when python gets added as a scripting language in the future, I think it should also get it's own icon.

Thanks for the reply.
If I have a good suggestion/idea (which I think is good), I'll let you know.
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Post by phiw13 »

This works fairly well now. I agree with mw about the menus.

zeniko wrote:
mw wrote:Also, what I would like (maybe a good idea for your extension?) is to have a different error icon for css errors.

Suggestions are welcome, but I got quite used to it - and more importantly, it matches precisely the icons used by the alert boxes.


Hmm, I feel left out :-(.
I don't get any icons at all. Here is a screen shot of the look on OS X, with the latest trunk build.

Delving in there with the DomInspector, I see you are calling a list-style-image for console-row[type="error"]: global/skin/icons/Errors.png. That image doesn't exist on my system, not in console2.jar, nor in the classic.jar.
Are those the same icons as the ones used by the official JS console ? (on OS X, those are located in global/console/console-bullets.png).

Also, I don't get any feedback when accessing the menus with the keyboard (no outline or whatever).

BTW - I added a separator between each menu item in the screenshot ;-).

edit: maybe an alternative to icons for the various error types: give each a separate background colour.
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Post by old zeniko »

phiw13 wrote:I agree with mw about the menus.

I'll be happy to change them, as soon as a good alternative is available. So far, this is the best solution I've been able to come up with.

phiw13 wrote:I don't get any icons at all. Here is a screen shot of the look on OS X, with the latest trunk build.

I'll look into it. I use the same CSS as the original console, but I've not yet cared about the platform specific #ifdefs / skin differences.

phiw13 wrote:Also, I don't get any feedback when accessing the menus with the keyboard (no outline or whatever).

The outline should be only present, if you tab to the button or if you click it and then hover over another one. If this is the case, it's the same as above, although this might just as well be a Firefox/theme bug I'd have to work-around (the outline comes from the tabbable class).

phiw13 wrote:edit: maybe an alternative to icons for the various error types: give each a separate background colour.

I'd rather go with small overlays at the right bottom corner of the icons, so as to keep the visual cue not too intrusive and maintain the established icons. Though somebody will have to design them... (not me)
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Post by phiw13 »

zeniko wrote:
phiw13 wrote:I don't get any icons at all. Here is a screen shot of the look on OS X, with the latest trunk build.

I'll look into it. I use the same CSS as the original console, but I've not yet cared about the platform specific #ifdefs / skin differences.

Ah, OK and fair enough.

zeniko wrote:
phiw13 wrote:Also, I don't get any feedback when accessing the menus with the keyboard (no outline or whatever).

The outline should be only present, if you tab to the button or if you click it and then hover over another one. If this is the case, it's the same as above, although this might just as well be a Firefox/theme bug I'd have to work-around (the outline comes from the tabbable class).

I've no problems accessing them, I just don't get any visual feedback. I'll dive into this tomorrow, see if I come up with something. To be fair, I've never studied that part of the chrome; and with the default console, I rarely used the keyboard. Could be a theme bug as well.
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Schrade
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Post by Schrade »

I completely agree that the clear button should be visible and able to be pressed on the toolbar. It's the first thing I do when I am trying to debug something - start from fresh.
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Post by old zeniko »

The updated v0.1.6 should fix (in a hackish way, so it probably won't always work) the missing icons. If anybody knows how to theme extensions differently depending on the used platform/theme, I might improve the fix. Additionally I've modified the focus outline - you might now see it on OS X, too (got no own Mac, so there won't be any testing - and skinning isn't really my business, anyway).

As for the Clear button: I understand your need for it (and your laziness of not wanting to customize the toolbar ;-)), but you'll have to first answer me my first point from above: where to put it? The four buttons so far present behave all like menus. If I turned them into a real menu bar, would you still put the Clear button beside them? IMHO it'd look somewhat lost (and strange) there, and it might confuse the one user who actually uses this extension and doesn't grasp the difference. In any case, the customizable toolbar actually gives you a choice - be thankful. ;-)
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