[Ext] SessionSaver .2d: new (rewrite)

johnlgalt · Post by **johnlgalt** » October 8th, 2005, 7:38 pm

@gssq - Actually, having used SS for quite a long time, and now testing TMP .3 Alpha, I'd have to say that, arguably, most of the key features are there, *and* the interfacing is a little more intuitive than with SS.

Not trying to down SS, as it has been a mainstay in my repertoire for a while now, but I want a faster, more stable browser, and to that end, SS simply needed replacing.

@Lawrence111, Peng - Why not incorporate an optional roll back feature in Fx that can reset settings modified by the installation of the extension? I mean, the info on the various settings that can be manipulated by the extension / but the user via the extension GUI has to be located *somewhere* in the .XPI that we download, correct? So why can't Fx allow the user to select to uninstall / uninstall and reset settings, or pop up a dialog box asking us to choose how to uninstall, or something like that?

Personally, I think a manual selection entry of Uninstall and Uninstall and reset would be best as other folks like Peng would not have to change their behavior at all with regards to extensions, and folks like Lawrence (and myself) who were finally ditching an extension for good could have the settings reverted in one fell swoop....

Peng · Post by **Peng** » October 8th, 2005, 8:51 pm

johnlgalt wrote:@Lawrence111, Peng - Why not incorporate an optional roll back feature in Fx that can reset settings modified by the installation of the extension? I mean, the info on the various settings that can be manipulated by the extension / but the user via the extension GUI has to be located *somewhere* in the .XPI that we download, correct? So why can't Fx allow the user to select to uninstall / uninstall and reset settings, or pop up a dialog box asking us to choose how to uninstall, or something like that?

Personally, I think a manual selection entry of Uninstall and Uninstall and reset would be best as other folks like Peng would not have to change their behavior at all with regards to extensions, and folks like Lawrence (and myself) who were finally ditching an extension for good could have the settings reverted in one fell swoop....

Eh. Sure, the code in the XPI says what files and preferences the extension modifies, but unless each extension had a list of files/preferences that only it uses, there wouldn't really be a good, reliable way to get rid of them.

Just to clarify, I don't think it's a bad idea, I just think that it's generally un(need|want)ed and hard to implement without the extension author's cooperation, which is, of course, possible.

johnlgalt · Post by **johnlgalt** » October 8th, 2005, 10:17 pm

True, I did not think of multiple extensions that modify the same entry/entries.

Hmmm....I agree on the author cooperation thing, but with so many out there, that is not really feasible either - hence my attempt to make it an ingrained feature in Fx.

Now being a dev, though, I guess I only showed my lack of knowledge regarding the complexity of the issue rather than providing a viable solution....

Oh well.

gssq · Post by **gssq** » October 8th, 2005, 10:30 pm

johnlgalt wrote:@gssq - Actually, having used SS for quite a long time, and now testing TMP .3 Alpha, I'd have to say that, arguably, most of the key features are there, *and* the interfacing is a little more intuitive than with SS.

Indeed the key features are there and with a better UI. The only feature I'm really awaiting before using TMP for both tabbed browsing tweaking and session saving is restoration of form post data. The rest doesn't bother me much.

slomka · Post by **slomka** » October 8th, 2005, 10:46 pm

Performance Optimization Tips (Applies to 0.2 d1 and similar.)
(see the expanded verion at http://kb.mozillazine.org/SessionSaver# ... izing_Tips )

Diagnosis/Tools: use CPU monitor (such as Windows Task Manager or top on Linux)to check if Firefox is taking 100% and for how long and use file monitor tool (such as Sysinternals File Monitor on Windows) to see what is happening with filesystem, -- if you see Firefox process writing/recreating prefs.js/prefs-1.js/pref.js.moztmp then probably it is time to optimize.

Optimizing: make sure you check size of pref.js - keep in mind Sessionsaver saves all session info into this one file (which means that Firefox is essentially regenerating/recreating whole prefs.js going through prefs-1.js and pref.js.moztmp ...) every 10 seconds for auto-save.

If prefs.js size is more than 100KB then consider trimming it (remove old saved sessions!). I had 1MB and performance was so bad it made Firefox to trash for 5 seconds (or longer) essentially blocking any interaction with Firefox (especially when editing form ...) - not good ...

For experts only! If you want to modify the default of 10 seconds you will need to change 10000 (which is 10 seconds in milliseconds) in setTimeout calls in sessionsaver.js which is inside sessionsaver.jar (and regenerate sessionssaver.jar!)

Suggestion to Rue (or whoever is maintaining this extension): add prefs like sessionssaver.timeinterval=10000 to allow users to modify ...

lovewithnoface · Post by **lovewithnoface** » October 9th, 2005, 1:52 am

I'm a big fan of session saver because I tend to have several windows with 30 tabs each, but I was wondering how to access "snapback window" when starting back up.

I accidently accessed it once, and I now can't figure out how.

When I close firefox, I save my session as X, and then window by window close firefox, telling it to keep the last window. When I load it, I ask it to load my last session. Problem is, it only loads the last remaining window. There's no snapback tab, no snapback window, nothing. So, I closed all the tabs in the window preparing to reopen session X, but I first decide to view one page (because waiting for 7 windows with 30 tabs each takes awhile) and my fingers slip, and I hit some other button and one of my old windows pops up. Exactly as if I'd gone to my menu and selected "snapback window"

Problem is, I have no idea how to duplicate it. So, how do you open a previous session (or just your default) window by window? Is it supposed to be possible or did I just hit something?

If I'm asking questions in the wrong place, please, just let me know.

And yes, I have already been informed that keeping fewer windows open is an option. :wink:

Cheers.

rue · Post by **rue** » October 11th, 2005, 9:53 pm

d1 nightly 30: <a href="http://adblock.ethereal.net/SessionSaver/sessionsaver-02-dev.xpi">Installer</a>, and <a href="http://adblock.ethereal.net/SessionSaver/sessionsaver.jar">jar-file</a>.

Changelog wrote:new: Archive To File -- import/export for sessions and settings (adblock+tabmix, included)
new: single vs. multi window Capture
new: Tools > SessionSaver > [session] > right-click -- (a novel idea)
.
very slight mending on windowCapture cookie-removal loop test -- -1>0
refinements to SnapBack tab-dropdown handling for remote-files (eg. ftp/.txt/etc) with no title
refinements to [areaTypes]-handling in captureTab()
further mending for early Components-access in latest Deer Park (9.20.05)
mended QuickSync-Retrieve -- to properly access browserWnd.SessionSaver.sessionRecall
disabled syncStats (logging of sync-transit statistics)
disabled shutdownSync handling (really, only garnish for remote-knowledge of crash vs. not)
added hidden bool-pref "sessionsaver.settings.syncmenu" to control visibility of sync-clients submenu
added capture+restore for various docshell-permission items (allow javascript, images, etc.)
added capture+restore for two "common" third-party tab properties: 'protected', and 'locked'

pass2 wrote:added binary + file-buffer for archival-filing
mended archival-file name generation (no longer zero-scale, for month)

Again, Deer Park testing is partial, so hit back if anything fails.

bhe2g1 · Post by **bhe2g1** » October 12th, 2005, 1:05 pm

Hi rue, can anything be done to properly restore tabs that were loading when Firefox crashed in a previous session? Here's an example of something I've seen a few times. Bunch of tabs are open, some are still in "Loading..." state then Firefox crashes for some reason, restart Firefox, the tabs that were in "Loading..." state show up with the tab title of "(Untitled)", so sites that were loading from the previous Firefox session are now lost for those tabs. Tabs that finished loading are restored properly.

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.7.10) Gecko/20050716 Firefox/1.0.6
Don't remember a version of SessionSaver I've used (including d1 nightly 30) that didn't show what I described.

Peng · Post by **Peng** » October 12th, 2005, 10:24 pm

Hey, a couple versions of SessionSaver (or Firefox) ago, it could save what you had in the filter box in about:config, but now it doesn't. What's wrong? (I don't know if this ever worked in Deer Park, but I think it did.)

Also, could SessionSaver have one of those default preferences files (defaults/preferences/<something>.js in the XPI...)? It has quite a few preferences, and it would be nice if they weren't all taking up space in my prefs.js (though the saved sessions would, of course, take up many times more space than the other stuff) and to be able to have a complete list of them there.

Also also, could it be faster for it to use a file in the profile instead of preferences to store saved sessions, because then the browser wouldn't have to build and write out prefs.js so often? Because of the new 'Archive To File' thing, that code would be already partly done, and it could just automatically use something like 'sessionsaver.ssv' in the profile instead of preferences.

Also also also, speaking of the 'Archive To File' thing, why did it also back up my Adblock preferences?

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.8b5) Gecko/20051012 Firefox/1.4.1 ID:2005101204

Edit: Also also also also, I have another vote for the "sessionsaver.interval" preference mentioned in http://kb.mozillazine.org/SessionSaver#Slow.3F_Performance_Optimizing_Tips, though I'm not sure I'd use it myself.

rue · Post by **rue** » October 13th, 2005, 12:03 am

bhe2g1:
The next time it happens, would you mind doing two things -- a.) try hitting reload on the tab, or checking its back-button. It would make more sense if the tab had only lost track of which index was active, during the crash; ..b.) failing that, copy + send your prefs.js (make sure "save a backup.." is enabled).
--
peng:
The funny thing is: about:config should be working -- the details capture fine, but simply fail to restore. Maybe adding a delay will work.
.
Regarding archival: it was more a usage consideration. It seemed natural that someone using "Archive All", would be either backing things up, or migrating to a new profile. Why not toss in a few convenience-prefs? Contrasted: archives of individual sessions carry only the session.
.
Also, presently, things are hard-coded. At some point, UI/prefs will be exposed, to adjust which things can be archived (All), or Synced.
.
Speaking more generally: the whole "management-via-menu" thing was intended to be holdover until a proper session-manager was complete. Management code was shelved, a year ago, for complications. A completely different take on management is still planned.
.
Lastly, per IO/optimizing: SessionSaver was never expected for use in the manner it's grown to -- massive archival. Based on feedback, nightly 28 included major rewriting of the capture-code -- for speed. For an upcoming nightly, the entire data-storage backend will be abstracted, lending flexible switching between formats. Likely, prefs.js will continue to be preferred for the primary session. Due to overhead, both in lookup and filesize, RDF will probably never be used. Keyed plaintext is where it's at.

Peng · Post by **Peng** » October 13th, 2005, 12:34 am

Hey, that was a quick reponse.

I'm not suggesting using RDF or anything, just that it might work better for the sessions to be stored in basically one of the export files, instead of in prefs.js at all.

Edit: Oh, I have a question about the preferences: What's the difference between the session at sessionsaver.windows.* and sessionsaver.default.*? Is "windows" the completely current one, and "default" a copy of what was restored right when the browser started?

bhe2g1 · Post by **bhe2g1** » October 13th, 2005, 12:51 am

rue wrote:bhe2g1:
a.) try hitting reload on the tab, or checking its back-button.

Reload button does nothing on those tabs, does just like it does on a new blank tab. Back button is greyed out.

rue wrote:b.) failing that, copy + send your prefs.js (make sure "save a backup.." is enabled).

Have a copy of prefs.js to send, let me know where.

Peng · Post by **Peng** » October 13th, 2005, 1:54 am

Oh... Another thing. This may or may not have been mentioned before, but because SessionSaver apparently deletes the SnapBack menu items, it totally doesn't work with Menu Editor, because when they're removed, Menu Editor forgets where they were located. Could SessionSaver instead disable them or use "hidden: true" instead of totally removing them? To keep everything organized, I have to have SessionSaver's items at the bottom of my somewhat long Tools menu, even though it's the thing I access most often!

adad · Post by **adad** » October 13th, 2005, 5:12 am

I try it again :

Is there a way, to keep the Z-Order unchanged, after the initial loading/storing.

If not, this would be a Feature Request.
I would like my windows ( don't use Taps ), to always open in the same order.

In earlier version, the workaround was, to click through the windows in the needed order.
Now, I have to reload every window, to assemble the needed order.
This can take 10 minutes ...

bye, Jan

rue · Post by **rue** » October 13th, 2005, 12:36 pm

Peng:
That is, of course, the proper approach. Unfortunately, the menuitems failed to hide when SessionSaver toggled this way. The behaviour was verified from moz1.3.1 through Firefox as of Feb.2005. Oddly, it was only the Tools' menu that showed this issue. Toggling items in File worked fine. It would be nice to resolve proper, but for now, the item-swap workaround is the working solution.
.
And, that's correct- the windows-branch holds the current session. The default-branch holds the last-saved backup, by SessionSaver's default-configuration.
--
Jan:
Just create the file <a href="http://kb.mozillazine.org/User.js_file">user.js</a> in your profile-dir. Then, using a text-editor, open prefs.js (same directory) and copy this entry: "sessionsaver.windows.zorder". Paste that into user.js. Just remember: this will lock the zorder-pref, so long as user.js remains.

[Ext] SessionSaver .2d: new (rewrite)

one window at a time?