Firebird 0.8 InstallTrigger API - get your icons ready!

[bengoodger]

For Firebird 0.8 I'm enhancing the InstallTrigger.install method:

Currently you install an extension from script by doing this:

Code: Select all

InstallTrigger.install({ "My Extension": "http://url.to/my.extension.xpi" });

From Firebird 0.8, in addition to this you will be able to do this:

Code: Select all

var params = {
  URL: "http://www.site.com/foo.xpi",
  IconURL: "http://www.site.com/foo.gif",
  toString: function() { return this.URL; }
};
InstallerTrigger.install({ "My Extension": params);

(thanks to Benjamin Smedberg for this example). This function is NOT supported in Mozilla 1.6 or older versions of Firebird, and thus the toString() method is necessary if you want your extensions to be installable into Mozilla 1.6 or Firebird 0.7 or earlier.

Basically you will be able to pass an object with two fields to the install function - one is the URL to install to, one is the URL to a 32x32 icon (it must be 32x32, if it isn't it'll be shrunken or expanded to fit that dimension, and in any image format Mozilla supports) which will appear in the UI as your extension is installed:

<img src="http://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/xpinstall/softwareUpdateSingleWithIcon.png">

If you don't provide an IconURL field, or you use the old style API (which will continue to work for compatibility reasons), you will get a generic icon:

<img src="http://www.bengoodger.com/software/mb/xpinstall/softwareUpdateMultiple.png">

This code is now available on the 0.8 branch, get testing builds from the latest-0.8 nightly directory on the ftp site.

[TychoQuad]

Looks great! just like the download manager

[frease]

Not bad

[mai9]

Can we use the red fire icon?

[Torisugari]

According to bengoodger's opinion in this thread. install.js does not have important information any more. Then it's reasonable that new install trigger method handles JAR file url(or contents.rdf file) instead of XPI file url.

[Pike]

And here was me worrying my page was going to be broken by this, makes me wish I could draw so I could make some nice icons.

One problem I have had was that under the current system it takes a while for the box to popup (hence the "Downloading, please wait" alert, to let people know something is happening) would it be possible to have the box appear as soon as InstallTrigger.install is called, even if you don't know the linked extensions exist yet?

p.s. And does anyone know how to "sign" extensions (now there's a big scary red label)?

[Chris Cook]

p.s. And does anyone know how to "sign" extensions (now there's a big scary red label)?

Does it matter? The only signed active-x component I ever saw in IE was from MS

[TheOneKEA]

Wow, cool!

Any ideas on when it will appear in the Linux trunk?

[alanjstr]

Just because MS Signs a component doesn't make it safe. They've proven that.

[Jeff_pony]

Does this apply to the way in which themes are installed?

[jedbro]

This sounds great

[wget]

This looks very nice except for one detail; the truncating of the download url. Wouldn't it look better if it reported the path, let's call it http://url.to/longdir/evenlongerdir/my.extension.xpi, as being http://url.to/longdir/.../my.extension.xpi?

The full untruncated path, the filesize, the date and a description of the extension could also be accessible by simply mousing over the extension in question.

[bengoodger]

This looks very nice except for one detail; the truncating of the download url. Wouldn't it look better if it reported the path, let's call it http://url.to/longdir/evenlongerdir/my.extension.xpi, as being http://url.to/longdir/.../my.extension.xpi?

The full untruncated path, the filesize, the date and a description of the extension could also be accessible by simply mousing over the extension in question.

It doesn't really truncate the file path.. it's a selectable field so you can see the whole thing. I don't know, maybe cropping in the middle would be better. I don't know.

[alanjstr]

It is something to ponder. Not a critical issue.

[wget]

It is something to ponder. Not a critical issue.

Of course not, polish seldom is.