Page 1 of 3

FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions [FIXED]

Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:54 pm
by ericjung2
Hello Dave,

I sent a similar message to you in May 2017, but got a robot reply that I should post here. So, here goes...

As you might have heard, WebExtensions are going to be the only supported way of developing Firefox add-ons by the end of this year. I am helping developers with migrating add-ons so that these continue to work.

I'd like to know if there's anything we can do to help port your current Firefox version of FlagFox to a Firefox WebExtension.

It appears as though most or all of the FlagFox GUI could be implemented with an option page and a page action (although since the icon displays on every page, a browser action might be a better choice) .

Do you have any plans or have you been working on porting FlagFox to WebExtensions? We'd love to hear from you.

Kind regards,
Eric Jung
Mozilla

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2017 11:44 pm
by DaveG
Not abandoned, just not checked enough these days. Sorry, this is a hobby project and I've been unusually crap at keeping up with my email notifications this month.

As to actual plans, yes, I've looked into it. I've just been dreading having to rewrite everything... yet again. Mozilla comes up with new addon APIs every couple years and they're always "the new permanent way to do things", until suddenly they're not. (Flagfox is 10 years old now) Last time I had to do this, I literally had to be the one to write the book on it. (I posted a long blog post on the process, which became the base for the MDN page on converting to a restartless extension.) It looks like the APIs are there, I just have to rewrite the GUI completely as XUL has been murdered. This stopped being fun and became stressful, at some point; I'll hopefully get it done in time, but don't expect it tomorrow. Additionally, I was intentionally waiting at least until summer to start work, so I didn't have to deal with shifting APIs as much, again. After that, it's just been delay and procrastination.

If someone other than me has written up some detail on porting XUL to HTML (or whatever else is usable here), then a link would be appreciated, if available. Otherwise, I'll just have to force myself to make the time to sit down and wade into the deep end.

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Mon Sep 25, 2017 4:03 pm
by Tomaso
DaveG wrote:
Sun Sep 24, 2017 11:44 pm
I just have to rewrite the GUI completely as XUL has been murdered.
Have you considered to continue maintaining the XUL version, and hosting it at palemoon.org?:
https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/
As you can see, Flagfox is already listed there, but at the moment it only links to the listing at mozilla.org.

In case you're wondering, Pale Moon is currently the only browser where XUL has got realistic prospects for the future.
The main reason being Pale Moon's actively developed Goanna engine:
http://www.moonchildproductions.info/goanna.shtml

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:20 am
by DaveG
Well, I was under the impression that I could do a multiple installer XPI to include legacy support in a new installer for both... but it looks like they also murdered that feature in Firefox 53. Sigh. I've complained to Mozilla AMO a few times about the lack of the ability to post updates for multiple major versions (e.g. post both 5.1.x & 6.0.x updates, as needed), however their response has always been a clear "no" (mostly because they have no staff and no desire to bother).

If the Pale Moon fork has enough users, I might consider posting some updates to the current major version there, after the big update on the main branch. For now, mark me down as a definite "maybe". ;)

One question though: How does Pale Moon handle addon signing? Once AMO stops accepting "legacy" addons in any form, I won't be able to get it signed anymore, so I'd have to upload an unsigned XPI for Pale Moon. This is probably fine, but mildly annoying to regress on.

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2017 3:13 pm
by Tomaso
DaveG wrote:
Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:20 am
If the Pale Moon fork has enough users, I might consider posting some updates to the current major version there
Pale Moon has gained a lot of new users lately, mostly from migrating Firefox users who doesn't like the new path that Mozilla has choosen.
No doubt, PM's user share will grow even more, once FF v57 gets released on November 14th.

--
DaveG wrote:
Tue Sep 26, 2017 6:20 am
How does Pale Moon handle addon signing?
This question has been brought up many times in Pale Moon's forum.
This post by Moonchild (Pale Moon's lead developer) just about summons it up I think:
https://forum.palemoon.org/viewtopic.ph ... 570#p73714
Moonchild wrote:We don't do this distribution-platform-signing nonsense, which isn't really a guarantee for anything to begin with and just makes extensions a walled garden.
Pale Moon will check the signatures if present but definitely doesn't enforce any of that.
:)

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:03 am
by HamidZaeri
A very similar addon to Flagfox,

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... -ip-whois/

You can get some idea to start porting to web extension.

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2017 7:47 am
by Fritz
Hi Dave G.
Like other users in this forum I've been using Flagfox for years and find it a nice accessory to my browsing. Unfortunately there's nothing quite as good for FF57+ so please port Flagfox over to Web Extensions at your earliest convenience :-)

Thanks mate...

Fritz

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2017 7:06 am
by methuzla
I've been trying Nightly, and I really miss Flagfox (and nearly all the other extensions I rely upon). I really hope you'll be able to to overcome obstructions & update it.

Curious to see if anyone had bothered to write a conversion helper, I found these links but I've no idea if they are any use:
http://file.downloadatoz.com/xul-file- ... erter.html

someone suggested using
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XSLT

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/240 ... to-web-app
Adrián Arroyo Calle answered Jul 31 '14 at 14:33
You can use XUL Runner if you like to keep it like a desktop app or use the Ample SDK which supports XUL in HTML pages and it does a rendering using HTML and JavaScript.
and https://medium.com/@arshdkhn1/first-st ... 692d2bab0b

Years ago I used to write conversion tools, but I don't really have the time now. It's something I really would have thought mozilla could have put a little more effort into, but I'm forming a lower & lower opinion of them.

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 5:11 pm
by MaruMaru
I don't think it's that easy, otherwise Mozilla would have written a conversion tool aswell.

I also really hope an update is coming soon, as it is one of the add ons that I really miss losing.

Re: FlagFox and Firefox WebExtensions

Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2017 9:18 am
by jenka1980
Firefox 57 is here and there is no Flagfox
Image