No more binary XPCOM components in Firefox

From Firefox 40 will be dropped support for binary XPCOM components - so another piece of history on which I started "real" programming will be gone. Some of you maybe remember XPCOMViewer :)

You can see more details here: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/05/04/dropping-support-for-binary-components/ and here https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.extensions/B3H3j6FRVms

DOM Insertion Test

While I worked on some task that includes inserting of many HTML elements into the document I was wandering what the fastest method is. I tried (basically) three methods:

• simple one by one element inserting using document.createElement followed by element.appendChild
• using document.createDocumentFragment – all created elements are appended to the document fragment and than inserted into the HTML document at once
• using element.innerHTML – create all new elements as a string and than insert it into the document at once

The fastest method is the last and the slowest is the first method. But sometimes is better use safe DOM approach so in this cases is the best using of the second method.

Some advices

1. Make HTML you are inserting as simple as is possible - each attribute counts!
2. If you create many elements and want event handlers attached to them don`t do it for each one element but attach one event handler to the parent element and then inside the handler self determine what the target element is.
3. Insert large amount of new elements in portions not in once. The advantage is that user always see that something is happening, the disadvantage is that it is little slower than do it at once.

Below is jsFiddle with the testing document (http://jsfiddle.net/ondrejd/kLw52/):

IDE hidden in Firefox nightly

Today I read interesting article on the Mozilla Hacks blog about new WebIDE and I have to say that on my low-cost netbook is this the first IDE targeted on mobile system that actually works and is usable on slower machines (including emulator of course).
Below is a screencast which I borrowed from the original article:



I must say that while Firefox maybe have not market-share as some time ago but still it is the perfect solution for the professionals.

TagsSidebar - new UI proposals

Currently I'm working on next version of TagsSidebar - besides I'm trying Mozilla Add-on SDK I also created new layout for the main view - here are the screenshots:

Default view

No details and no favicons

No details but with favicons

Full details but no favicons

Hopefully, you will like them :)

PS: While now I'm dealing with Add-on SDK I want to create blog post where I will compare add-on development using SDK and the old-school way - so stay tuned.

TagsSidebar 1.0

I just finished (and published on AMO) my new add-on TagsSidebar. It extends Mozilla Firefox with sidebar that allows easy and quick browsing your bookmarks by selecting tags that have attached.

Here are some important links:

• project's page
• download page on AMO
• source codes

And here goes few screenshots:

Creating sidebar add-on for the Firefox with Australis UI

I'm creating simple add-on for Mozilla Firefox and even I did such add-ons before I run into the troubles. It's because of new Firefox UI called Australis and because I want this add-on to be bootstrapped (so it doesn't require browser restart to complete the installation).
After a short googling I found CustomizableUI.jsm and I finally got the working solution.
So here is my bootstrap.js which adds the sidebar:

/* This Source Code Form is subject to the terms of the Mozilla Public
 * License, v. 2.0. If a copy of the MPL was not distributed with this
 * file, You can obtain one at http://mozilla.org/MPL/2.0/. */

const XUL_NS = "http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul";
const { classes: CC, interfaces: CI, utils: CU } = Components;
const self = {
    id: "tagssidebar@ondrejd.info",
    name: "TagsSidebar",
    path: {
        chrome: "chrome://tagssidebar/"
    }
};
const prefPrefix = "extensions." + self.id + ".";

CU.import("resource://gre/modules/Services.jsm");
CU.import("resource:///modules/CustomizableUI.jsm");

var gStylesSrv;
var gStylesURI;

// Bootstrap API: install(aData, aReason)
function install(aData, aReason) {
    if (aReason == ADDON_INSTALL) {
        // Set default preferences
        let prefs = Services.prefs.getBranch(prefPrefix);
        prefs.setBoolPref("showInSidebar", true);
        prefs.setBoolPref("showTagCloud", false);
        prefs.setBoolPref("showFavicons", false);
    }
} // end install(aData, aReason)

// Bootstrap API: uninstall(aData, aReason)
function uninstall(aData, aReason) {
    if (aReason == ADDON_UNINSTALL) {
        // Remove default preferences
        Services.prefs.deleteBranch(prefPrefix);
    }
} // end uninstall(aData, aReason)

// Bootstrap API: startup(aData, aReason)
function startup(aData, aReason) {
    // Create new toolbar button
    CustomizableUI.createWidget({
        id: "tagssidebar-toolbarbutton",
        defaultArea: CustomizableUI.AREA_NAVBAR,
        label: "TagsSidebar",
        tooltiptext: "Toggle visibility of TagsSidebar.",
        type: "button", 
        onBeforeCreated: function(aDocument) {
            // We need to add more UI than the toolbarbutton (broadcaster, key and menuitem):
            // Broadcaster
            let bcset = aDocument.getElementById("mainBroadcasterSet");
            if (bcset) {
                let bc = aDocument.createElementNS(XUL_NS, "broadcaster");
                bc.setAttribute("autoCheck", "false");
                bc.setAttribute("group", "sidebar");
                bc.setAttribute("id", "viewSidebar_tagssidebar");
                bc.setAttribute("oncommand", "toggleSidebar('viewSidebar_tagssidebar');");
                bc.setAttribute("sidebarurl", "chrome://tagssidebar/content/sidebar.xul");
                bc.setAttribute("sidebartitle", "TagsSidebar");
                bc.setAttribute("type", "checkbox");
                bcset.appendChild(bc);
            }
            // Key
            let keyset = aDocument.getElementById("mainKeyset");
            if (keyset) {
                let key = aDocument.createElementNS(XUL_NS, "key");
                key.setAttribute("command", "viewSidebar_tagssidebar");
                key.setAttribute("id", "key_openSidebar_tagssidebar");
                key.setAttribute("key", "t");
                key.setAttribute("modifiers", "accel,shift");
                keyset.appendChild(key);
            }
            // Menuitem
            let mp = aDocument.getElementById("viewSidebarMenu");
            if (mp) {
                let mi = aDocument.createElementNS(XUL_NS, "menuitem");
                mi.setAttribute("key", "key_openSidebar_tagssidebar");
                mi.setAttribute("label", "TagsSidebar");
                mi.setAttribute("observes", "viewSidebar_tagssidebar");
                mi.setAttribute("tooltiptext", "Toggle visibility of TagsSidebar!");
                mp.appendChild(mi);
            }
        },
        onCreated: function(aNode) {
            // Add ID of broadcaster we created before as a command:
            aNode.setAttribute("command", "viewSidebar_tagssidebar");
            return aNode;
        }
    });

    // Load stylesheet
    gStylesSrv = CC["@mozilla.org/content/style-sheet-service;1"].getService(CI.nsIStyleSheetService);
    gStylesURI = Services.io.newURI(self.path.chrome + "skin/overlay.css", null, null);
    gStylesSrv.loadAndRegisterSheet(gStylesURI, gStylesSrv.USER_SHEET); 
} // end startup(aData, aReason)

// Bootstrap API: shutdown(aData, aReason)
function shutdown(aData, aReason) {
    if (aReason == APP_SHUTDOWN) return;

    // Destroy our widget
    CustomizableUI.destroyWidget("tagssidebar-toolbarbutton");

    // Unload stylesheet
    if (gStylesSrv.sheetRegistered(gStylesURI, gStylesSrv.USER_SHEET)) {
        gStylesSrv.unregisterSheet(gStylesURI, gStylesSrv.USER_SHEET);
    }
} // end shutdown(aData, aReason)

24 Free programming books

Today I found interesting post on LinuxLinks.com - you can find here links to twenty four free books each for different programming languages:

Nice Bash find-and-replace script

It's some time when I read the post Scripting a 'Find-and-Replace' for big text files by Bob Mesibov. Yesterday I finally got some time to look at it and use it as a learning material. I must frankly admit that I would have real troubles to write something like this in Bash - usually I'm using PHP in such cases.
Because in the original post is only the image not the source of script self I saved it into one my repository so you can easily use it - fandr.sh.

WordPress: Anonymous PHP functions

Recently I wrote about my problem with WordPress editor and now I realize that I wanted to write also about something different - using anonymous functions in WordPress development - it's amazing how using of them can simplify your code (if you forget older PHP versions).

Compare these examples:

<?php
// Sets WordPress admin bar hidden.
// Old:
add_filter('show_admin_bar', '__return_false');
// New:
add_filter('show_admin_bar', function() { return false; });

// Activate widgets
// Old:
add_action('widgets_init',
     create_function('', 'return register_widget("Your_Widget_Class");')
);
// New:
add_action('widgets_init', function() {
    register_widget('Your_Widget_Class');
});

And of course that this can be used everywhere you're using function such add_action, add_filter etc.

WordPress: Custom font family in TinyMCE editor

I tried to add custom font family to the WordPress editor but it turns to the little battle - firstly I just do what is described in the WordPress Codex:

your-theme/functions.php:

<?php
function your_theme_editor_styles() {
    add_editor_style('assets/css/editor-style.css');
}
add_action('init', 'your_theme_editor_styles');
?>

your-theme/assets/css/editor-style.css:

@font-face {
    font-family: CharisSILBold;
    src: url(../fonts/CharisSIL-Bold.woff);
}

body#tinymce.wp-editor { 
    font-family: CharisSILBold; 
    font-size: 14pt;
}

But it doesn't work (of course). Then I look into the default theme and found the solution (code in functions.php is the same as before so here only editor-style.css):

your-theme/assets/css/editor-style.css:

@font-face {
    font-family: CharisSILBold;
    src: url(../fonts/CharisSIL-Bold.woff);
}

html .mceContentBody { 
    font-family: CharisSILBold;
    font-size: 14pt;
}

It sucks that small things take so much time (but of course it's my fault).

Tested on WP 3.8.*.