[EXT] Forecastfox (fix version)

[Gorlash]

Okay, I'm having the same issue as others. Firefox updated itself to 53.0.2, and Forecastfox just *vanished*. Resetting defaults had no effect.
So I reverted back to Forecastfox version 2.4.8, and all works fine... well, sorta. Fortunately, it remembers my past settings, because I cannot set any settings on the settings screen; all my button clicks are just ignored.

For now, however, this works just fine!!

[Netscaper]

Okay, I'm having the same issue as others. Firefox updated itself to 53.0.2, and Forecastfox just *vanished*. Resetting defaults had no effect.
So I reverted back to Forecastfox version 2.4.8, and all works fine... well, sorta. Fortunately, it remembers my past settings, because I cannot set any settings on the settings screen; all my button clicks are just ignored.

For now, however, this works just fine!!

You can uncheck automatic updates by going to Tools>Add-ons select the 'Extensions' tab on the left, then click on the little gear on the top right (by the search bar) and uncheck 'Update-Add-ons automatically'

[pag77]

The current situation in the development of version 4.1:

[pegasusjavea]

The current situation in the development of version 4.1

I like the look of that - it is very similar to v2.4.8. Will v4.1 also minimize to the address bar and have Options to reduce the amount of information?
Thank you for the development so far.

[pag77]

Will v4.1 also minimize to the address bar?

No. Its limitations from Mozilla: only button-popup-window on toolbar , and only inject forecast on each websites (without some adresses from mozilla.org and google.com)

have Options to reduce the amount of information?

yes

[pegasusjavea]

Will v4.1 also minimize to the address bar?

No. Its limitations from Mozilla: only button-popup-window on toolbar , and only inject forecast on each websites (without some adresses from mozilla.org and google.com)

have Options to reduce the amount of information?

yes

Thanks. I meant the button-popup-window. You described it as minimized and I have read what you have said previously about Mozilla restrictions.

[pag77]

version 4.1 has button-popup-window on toolbar and inject forecast on each websites (without some adresses from mozilla.org and google.com)

[Gorlash]

You can uncheck automatic updates by going to Tools>Add-ons select the 'Extensions' tab on the left, then click on the little gear on the top right (by the search bar) and uncheck 'Update-Add-ons automatically'[/quote]

Ahhh!! Excellent, thank you; I was trying to find this option, but I didn't notice the little settings gear!!

[ftodd1]

While the new version interface looks nice, I preferred the old layout. You were able to achieve more customization and it seemed to update more frequently. The biggest issue I have is you can not show multiple days on the tool bar. I like to see 3 to 4 days in a row. I was able to get the old version to work with latest FF update, I am thinking of reverting back to the old xpi.

[bherber]

I'm having the same problem. As soon as I got upgraded to Firefox 53.0.2 my "2.2.2.1-signed" version stopped working and the only city it shows is New York. I'm unable to add/change/delete any other cities/locations. When I upgrade to the only other option, i.e. 3.4, it doesn't even show up on my add-on bar. And from the other responses I've seen here, I want my options back. I like to see 4-5 days worth of look-ahead forecasts and to be able to configure other details...

[SandLizard]

I reverted back to version 2.4.8 also. I haven't tried changing any options, though, everything is the same as before. When 4.1 is available I will try it. I tried to find alternatives but all I found was Aniweather and it stopped working correctly years ago (tried it anyway, still doesn't work). All the others I found were like version 3.4 of forecastfox, just a button to click to see any weather. Even then forecastfox is still the best. I hope version 4.1 provides the functionality and options I desire. I was upgraded to FF 53.0.2 as well.

[Leif-AMO]

While the new version interface looks nice, I preferred the old layout. You were able to achieve more customization and it seemed to update more frequently. The biggest issue I have is you can not show multiple days on the tool bar. I like to see 3 to 4 days in a row. I was able to get the old version to work with latest FF update, I am thinking of reverting back to the old xpi.

I'm having the same problem. As soon as I got upgraded to Firefox 53.0.2 my "2.2.2.1-signed" version stopped working and the only city it shows is New York. I'm unable to add/change/delete any other cities/locations. When I upgrade to the only other option, i.e. 3.4, it doesn't even show up on my add-on bar. And from the other responses I've seen here, I want my options back. I like to see 4-5 days worth of look-ahead forecasts and to be able to configure other details...

I reverted back to version 2.4.8 also. I haven't tried changing any options, though, everything is the same as before. When 4.1 is available I will try it. I tried to find alternatives but all I found was Aniweather and it stopped working correctly years ago (tried it anyway, still doesn't work). All the others I found were like version 3.4 of forecastfox, just a button to click to see any weather. Even then forecastfox is still the best. I hope version 4.1 provides the functionality and options I desire. I was upgraded to FF 53.0.2 as well.

Let me address these concerns and offer opinions from a developer's perspective. I develop a different add-on, so I am familiar enough with the add-on APIs and Mozilla's development direction over the past few years, to speak about this issue.

TL;DR version: The "Forecastfox (fix version)" developer's (pag77) recent post shows what is to come, and the desired interface elements will eventually return. I agree that version 3.4 really sucks from the user-perspective and loss of lots of information at a mere glance. But I also understand this is driven by the limitations that WebExtensions imposes, and the complexity of creating a work-around requires more time to develop. Have patience, and soon this discomfort will be a distant memory.

As add-on developers, we're here to do what we can in this technological mess, to bring something useful to the users, for the love of learning, the joy of solving the problems that arise, and the sense of accomplishment as we strive to meet the challenge of ours and users' visions for enhanced features, often with no guarantee or even expectation of any compensation for our efforts. I think pag77's development work for v4.1 shows great promise. Have patience.

Firefox v57 will be the first version to officially remove XUL forever, scheduled for release sometime in November. There's a bit of a rush in the add-ons review queue with developers scrambling to submit updates, so review times are about 2 months, and will probably continue to rise. This means to have a reasonable chance to be ready with full WebExtensions conversion by November, developers likely need to finish and submit by June.

[Leif-AMO]

Regarding version 3.4 which I just updated. I don't like the Options page location selection. I click on a text field element and expect to enter text, maybe to have it do a search to return matching names in a list. I do not expect it to open a "heavy" window (which loads scripts and websites and tries to load a map or something), which doesn't load and just hangs on my slow net connection, and gets cropped at the bottom and can't scroll.

I'm not a fan of Google Maps API either for various reasons, particularly the heavy API and license restrictions which disallow local modifications or serving of cached content and minimal API. I prefer using a lightweight library like Leaflet, and a few tiles bundled with the app (probably in highly compressible and dynamic SVG format, or at least a PNG with solid colors, no gradients), to avoid any additional dependencies.

Additionally, I want to display a custom 640x480 radar image (prefix 'isar'), but it gets reverted to a 400x300 (prefix 'inmasir'), which seems to be all the popup allows. I don't know if WebExtensions allows the popup to be dynamically sized to allow for a 640x480 image, based on adequate screen size and browser size, but that would be better. This may become a non-issue in v4.1 with horizontal/vertical display in content script. Just please be sure to bring back support for whatever size custom URLs I supply, be it 640x480 or 800x600 or whatever.

Thanks for all your work!

[pag77]

version: 4.1
Queue Position: 212 of 215

[Leif-AMO]

My add-on, 26 days in queue, position 114/222. Curious to see how you implemented the add-on pseudo-bar. I had experimented with an iframe element, but any element is susceptible to potential DOM collisions or probes, possibly attacks (for example, impersonation or spoofing of the add-on by placing HTML elements at a higher z-index in top of the add-ons injected content, with links to tainted sites), unless ShadowDOM is used, which isn't fully implemented, or defined by W3C, and disabled by a browser config pref which can't be toggled from add-ons anymore. The technique I envisioned would be best implemented as a web-component, but Mozilla hasn't fully implemented the other technologies either, one of which (HTML Imports) they have refused/postponed indefinitely.

The symptoms of insecurely injecting an element onto each content page, "Forecast bar may not be displayed correctly on some sites. In this case, report the problem on the forum." ShadowDOM supposedly alleviates that, by allowing us to choose a "private scope" for DOM. But CSS may or may not be privately scoped, again presenting similar vulnerabilities. Even if a solution is reasonably implemented in one add-on, each other add-on has to re-implement similar code to mimic an add-on bar. This means code redundancy, inconsistent user interface appearance, and more development time. A shared WebComponent implemented as an add-on, with a white-list for other add-ons (required by WebExtensions), might be a way to develop a common add-on bar, to use on multiple projects by multiple authors, but requires a lot of maintenance. A manual update of whitelist and new release every time another add-on wants to use it. Maybe this could be pulled from network, but WebExtensions requires the whitelist to reside in packages.json, meaning a new signed XPI.

It was at that point that I stopped development on the WebExtensions version, to wait and see until last possible minute, if any of these techniques are better defined or implemented by end of May. Here we are, and no they aren't. So I'll go ahead with the crude one-button pop-up and a context menu and badged icon, maybe release an insecure (but still slightly more secure than XUL) HTML element content injection, and twiddle my thumbs until or unless WebExtensions and WebComponents mature.

All of this goofy FUD about XUL being insecure, and WebExtensions are hardly any better.