Drop in preference panels

japser · Post by **japser** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:55 am

Finally some work has been done on <a href="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=184394">bug 184394</a> which should bring a plugin/extension architecture for preference panels, a great opertunity for 3d party developers.

So what are the posibilities you might ask? Well as a proof of consept one of the developers has made an Advanced preference panel which will allow Camino users to have a very similar UI then Firefoxes about:config to change ALL preferences available.

Isn't it pretty?
<img src="http://www.jasperhauser.nl/download/camino_advanced.jpg">

But that's not all. Fact is that it won't be like Firefox extension because the pref panes can't change anything in the camino code (UI and such). But on the other hand it can hook up to most of the mozilla code. So panels such as Image blocking or a panel dedicated to all image option, a userConent.css editor, or a special SearhURl editor could all be made fairly easy. But perhaps you are a very good coder/hacker with much better ideas who could make even cooler panels?

The beauty of it is that if you write the panel correctly in cocoa you never need to restart camino to apply the changes. As soon as I have more information on all this, I'll make sure a proper tutorial and the files will be made available.

MozJF · Post by **MozJF** » March 2nd, 2005, 12:35 pm

Well, Camino will be - at least - usable for a "die-hard" user of firefox.

Well, it only miss cache size definition and it will be a good browser.

/me is already outside ;o)

eccoana · Post by **eccoana** » March 2nd, 2005, 3:11 pm

japser wrote:So panels such as Image blocking or a panel dedicated to all image option, a userConent.css editor, or a special SearhURl editor could all be made fairly easy.

the new panel is fine, no question. but where is the difference to the current situation? people who could code in cocoa or whatever can already code everything like that. almost no-one did it. why should the situation change now?

smorgan · Post by **smorgan** » March 2nd, 2005, 10:45 pm

MozJF wrote:Well, it only miss cache size definition and it will be a good browser.

Um, you've always been able to set cache size, because Camino respects the Mozilla prefs. A few lines in user.js, and you are set. Or, now, you can just add a pref pane to control cache from preferences

smorgan · Post by **smorgan** » March 2nd, 2005, 10:46 pm

eccoana wrote:but where is the difference to the current situation? people who could code in cocoa or whatever can already code everything like that. almost no-one did it. why should the situation change now?

Well, drag-and-drop install and documentation on how to easily make a pref pane should at least make it more approachable.

MozJF · Post by **MozJF** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:08 pm

smorgan wrote:
MozJF wrote:Well, it only miss cache size definition and it will be a good browser.

Um, you've always been able to set cache size, because Camino respects the Mozilla prefs. A few lines in user.js, and you are set. Or, now, you can just add a pref pane to control cache from preferences

It would have been better to define size using a dialog box, not with an user.js tweaking !

smorgan · Post by **smorgan** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:14 pm

MozJF wrote:It would have been better to define size using a dialog box, not with an user.js tweaking !

There was a lot of discussion, and the consensus of the developers was that it was an infrequently-used enough pref that it would not be given any UI--as always, some people disagree.

That's not really relevant to this thread though; the point is that now it will be easier for people to make special pref panes when they really want prefs that the developers have chosen not to expose in the UI.

Uncle Asad · Post by **Uncle Asad** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:36 pm

japser wrote:Isn't it pretty?

Beautiful

Will the proof-of-concept Advanced prefpane be available for download somewhere once all this lands? (I assume it will never be shipped with release versions of Camino.)

petard · Post by **petard** » March 2nd, 2005, 11:55 pm

Uncle Asad wrote:
Will the proof-of-concept Advanced prefpane be available for download somewhere once all this lands? (I assume it will never be shipped with release versions of Camino.)

Yes, although it will be targetted at advanced users and mostly unsupported. And there might even be sample code for doing a prefpane in applescript or python, if potential prefpane authors really find objective c too daunting.

japser · Post by **japser** » March 3rd, 2005, 2:02 am

eccoana wrote:
japser wrote:So panels such as Image blocking or a panel dedicated to all image option, a userConent.css editor, or a special SearhURl editor could all be made fairly easy.
the new panel is fine, no question. but where is the difference to the current situation? people who could code in cocoa or whatever can already code everything like that. almost no-one did it. why should the situation change now?

One of the bigest changes with this patch will be that the Camino profile/preference folder will have a folder names PreferencePanes where usres can drop their extra panels into. Then Camino will auto detext them and launch them when it launches. This means that they won't need to reinstall them everytime they download a new copy of camino and also makes sure they can remove them very easily if they want.

Note that a bug has been filed including a patch to make sure pref panels can also me written using applescript studio, making sure even non cocoa developers can write pref panels.

eccoana · Post by **eccoana** » March 3rd, 2005, 2:35 am

japser wrote:Note that a bug has been filed including a patch to make sure pref panels can also me written using applescript studio, making sure even non cocoa developers can write pref panels.

the problem is that you cannot create a project of type PreferencePane with Xcode as an AppleScriptStudio application.
so it's not a Camino thingy but Xcode related.

I currently rewrite CEP in Xcode but I don't know how to change the prefs on the fly. knowing the correct Xcode method to update Camino preferences on the fly would help much!

japser · Post by **japser** » March 3rd, 2005, 2:44 am

I'm sure that petard or any other developer will help you answer your questions, I'm pretty sure that the tutorial (that should be made) will contain explanations for any of your questions.

jedik · Post by **jedik** » March 21st, 2005, 5:55 am

Hi.

How do I enable the *Advanced* preference pane? Or is it restricted to developer's builds?

Thanks in advance.

Jedi Knight

BDog · Post by **BDog** » March 30th, 2005, 4:50 pm

jedik wrote:Hi.

How do I enable the *Advanced* preference pane? Or is it restricted to developer's builds?

Thanks in advance.

Jedi Knight

I would also like this panel... Pretty pretty please? :-)

eeyoredragon · Post by **eeyoredragon** » May 29th, 2005, 12:54 am

Will take a look at this. Been messing around with Objective C and Cocoa and have been looking for a good toy to work on

Drop in preference panels

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