[Meta] Refactor to WebExtension add-on

[Croydon]

Till the end of 2017 (ca. 2017-11-14, release of FF v57) add-ons need to be rewritten as WebExtensions.

This affects which Firefox version VTR will be able to support, please read: #13 (comment) for more information. When the porting to WebExtensions is done I will declare this add-on for the first time as stable, since it's eliminating all kind of crazy behavior, which wouldn't be easy till impossible in the legacy add-on form.

Timeline:

• FFv53 (2017-04-19; 0.8.3): Make WebExt main settings manager, remove old settings
• FFv55 (2017-08-08, 0.8.4): Opt-in for the new tab sidebar
• FFv56 (2017-10-03, 0.8.5): Opt-in for the new tab sidebar
• FFv57 (2017-11-14, 0.9.0): Not possible to use the old tab sidebar anymore

Using the development version:
There is already an experimental, feature incomplete WebExtension-only version on the development channel on AMO (at the end of the page). Nightly users might want to use that in the meantime.

Roadmap:

• Embed a WebExtensions https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Embedded_WebExtensions (9913686, 0.8.0)
• Sync SDK add-on settings with WebExt add-on settings (9913686, v0.8.0)
• Manage add-on settings UI by WebExt (6f2abed, 0.8.1)
  • Give settings UI again a Firefox native look&feel (80b7a51, 0.8.1)
    • Re-apply when Firefox's invisible checkbox bug is fixed (and the rest works as well..)
  • Add hidden add-on settings in the UI since about:config won't be possible (e896df0, 0.8.3)
• Manage add-on settings by WebExt (6ad76c0, 0.8.3)
• Remove settings from SDK
  • VTR prefs (90d9dab, 0.8.3)
  • Firefox prefs manipulation (5961484, 0.9.0)
• Remove theme setting "None / Firefox default" which makes no sense anymore due to sandboxing (27bfb17, 0.8.5 + 627e93c, 0.9.0)
• CSS/theme/templates
  • Load templates/themes/any other css by WebExt
  • Move data/ to WebExt (8b2db1c, 0.8.3)
  • Remove legacy CSS like splitter (cf5c17f, 0.9.0)
• Manage hotkey by WebExt (329adea, 0.8.4)
• Manage Events by WebExt
  • Window Events (6dcf9e0, 0.8.4)
  • Mouse Events
• Manage windows by WebExt (904409b, 0.9.0)
• Introduce hidden experiment add-on flag (91cd1e5, 0.8.4)
  • Enforce debugging, hidden settings and experiment flag to true for Firefox Nightly (2a9a61d, 0.8.4)
  • Enforce debugging and hidden settings for Firefox Beta (80bcaea, 0.8.4)
• Install, uninstall, update management regarding user data migration
  • Create information page with changes in VTR and show to user once when updating to WE-only version (7bcf0ae, 0.9.0)
• Add toolbar button to toggle sidebar (8f72143, 0.8.4)
• Add tab browser sidebar
  • Implement all visible tab features
    • text label, icon, pinned tabs indication (548ec70, 6263090, 9cd36d8, 0.8.4)
    • close button (ffb7f0b, 0.8.5)
    • loading indication (#85, ad22ad2, 0.9.0)
    • sound indication with possibility to mute/unmute (9c0a439, 0.9.0)
  • Implement correct sorting of tabs - keep it dynamically up to date on tab moves (83d1e9e, 0.8.4)
    • Correct tab order when opening links in new tabs (ba974b4, 0.9.0)
  • Implement basic tab context menu features
    • Reload, Mute, Pin Tab (3b7d7c8, 0.8.5)
    • Close Tab (f3d8771, 0.8.5)
  • Implement drag&drop of tabs (9417e34, 0.9.0)
  • Implement tab toolbar with a new tab button (customization is a post-FFv57 issue) (0a75025, 0.8.4)
    • Make it possible to place it at top, bottom and hide it completely (#57, 5b97710, 0.8.4)
  • Creating new tab by clicking on free space within the tab browser (#17, 9cd36d8, 0.8.4)
  • Scroll selected tabs automatically into view (789c06f, 0.8.4)
    • Fix #53
  • Open sidebar automatically if experiment flag is set - not possible https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1343817#c12
  • Hide default tab browser https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1332447 -> #128
• Look into creating an optional WebExtension experiment for Unbranded Builds, Dev Edition and Nightly to counter combat some of the limitions of the WebExtensions APIs
  • Investigate if such an experiment can be installed in Beta, Nightly & Unbranded before FF57 release automatically

Tracking:

• File read/write https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1246236

Post-57-jobs:

• Hide default tab browser #128
• Toggling of sidebar doesn't always work due to Firefox API limitations #134
• Complete context menu options #120
• Discover opportunities to support Firefox for Android, Chrome, Opera and Edge #117
• Provide API #74
• Rewrite some parts to use newer JavaScript (classes, modules (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=568953)

Original:

In order to make the code pain free and more reliable I plan to remove all XBL/XUL/XPCOM stuff and migrate it fully to SDK.
XBL/XUL/XPCOM will become deprecated anyway as soon as WebExtensions are more stable.
I am not sure yet, if the SDKs will provide all necessary functions to make something equal to the current functionality, but Mozilla will enforce to go this way in the long run anyway.

[Croydon]

Gradual transition to a WebExtenion will be possible and that is my current plan for VTR.

[Croydon]

Gradual transition to a WebExtenion will be possible and that is my current plan for VTR.

[Croydon]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Embedded_WebExtensions

[Croydon]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Embedded_WebExtensions

[Croydon]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/storage

[Croydon]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/storage

[Croydon]

Updated issue description.

[Croydon]

Updated issue description.

[Croydon]

Because of the embededded WebExtension the latest Firefox ESR (45) can't be supported anymore.

[Croydon]

Because of the embededded WebExtension the latest Firefox ESR (45) can't be supported anymore.

[Croydon]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/windows/getAll

[Croydon]

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/windows/getAll

[Croydon]

Release date of Firefox 51 and VTR 0.8.0 including the sync of settings between SDK/WebExt will be around 2017-01-24.

This VTR release is critical to make sure no users will lose their settings when the full switch to WebExt will happening.

[Croydon]

Release date of Firefox 51 and VTR 0.8.0 including the sync of settings between SDK/WebExt will be around 2017-01-24.

This VTR release is critical to make sure no users will lose their settings when the full switch to WebExt will happening.

[Croydon]

Many APIs the full rewrite will require will only land in Firefox 53 or even later.

The next Firefox ESR version will be v52.

With other words I will break compatibility with this version very, very quickly, maybe even before the release date of v52.

I understand that this is critical, since Firefox ESR v52 will be the last ESR version with full support of legacy add-ons, NPAPI plugins support and Windows XP and Vista support.

Due to a lack of time I can't do it otherwhise. And I'm trying to give my best to release a stable enough version for Firefox v52 users (the version after VTR v0.8.0) so that users of Firefox ESR v52 will be able to stay with it for the period of a year. As soon as I have pushed a version using newer APIs I also won't be able to push bug fixes for FF v52 users without downgrading all other users. So it will be really set in stone when it's not incredible critical (meaning: breaking Firefox, security issues).

Thanks for your understanding.

[Croydon]

Many APIs the full rewrite will require will only land in Firefox 53 or even later.

The next Firefox ESR version will be v52.

With other words I will break compatibility with this version very, very quickly, maybe even before the release date of v52.

I understand that this is critical, since Firefox ESR v52 will be the last ESR version with full support of legacy add-ons, NPAPI plugins support and Windows XP and Vista support.

Due to a lack of time I can't do it otherwhise. And I'm trying to give my best to release a stable enough version for Firefox v52 users (the version after VTR v0.8.0) so that users of Firefox ESR v52 will be able to stay with it for the period of a year. As soon as I have pushed a version using newer APIs I also won't be able to push bug fixes for FF v52 users without downgrading all other users. So it will be really set in stone when it's not incredible critical (meaning: breaking Firefox, security issues).

Thanks for your understanding.

[Croydon]

VTR v0.8.0 for Firefox v51+ is now published. It contains the sync of VTR settings betweens SDK and WebExtension, preventing lose of add-on settings for Firefox ESR users, when they update from v52 to the next ESR version in 2018.

[Croydon]

VTR v0.8.0 for Firefox v51+ is now published. It contains the sync of VTR settings betweens SDK and WebExtension, preventing lose of add-on settings for Firefox ESR users, when they update from v52 to the next ESR version in 2018.

[Croydon]

Also thanks for exactly 15.000 downloads so far and 50 stars 😄

[Croydon]

Also thanks for exactly 15.000 downloads so far and 50 stars 😄

[Croydon]

I feel forced to remove the compact mode, which hides the text label and enabled so far an favicon-only tab sidebar.
The WebExtension sidebars have a too broad min-width, making the feature in it's current form useless.

Anybody with a creative idea to keep a similar, space saving feature?

[Croydon]

I feel forced to remove the compact mode, which hides the text label and enabled so far an favicon-only tab sidebar.
The WebExtension sidebars have a too broad min-width, making the feature in it's current form useless.

Anybody with a creative idea to keep a similar, space saving feature?

[bwinton]

What about keeping the favicon-only tabs, but wrapping them, like
?

[bwinton]

What about keeping the favicon-only tabs, but wrapping them, like
?

[grahamperrin]

… wrapping them, like …

Personally, I'm not a fan of arrays. Maybe because …

(A possibility of extensive discussion. @Croydon would you like to spin this into a separate issue so that #13 can remain reasonably terse/focused?)

[grahamperrin]

… wrapping them, like …

Personally, I'm not a fan of arrays. Maybe because …

(A possibility of extensive discussion. @Croydon would you like to spin this into a separate issue so that #13 can remain reasonably terse/focused?)

[InfernoZeus]

Implement correct sorting of tabs - keep it dynamically up to date on tab moves (83d1e9e, 0.8.4)

I'm not sure this is always working. If I open a link from a pinned tab, the tab opens at the start of the built-in tab bar, but is placed at the end of VTR's bar.

In fact, any time I open a tab by clicking a link, the tab is added at the end of VTR, regardless of where the tab appeared.

I'm using v0.8.6a1 on Firefox 57.0b8.

[InfernoZeus]

Implement correct sorting of tabs - keep it dynamically up to date on tab moves (83d1e9e, 0.8.4)

I'm not sure this is always working. If I open a link from a pinned tab, the tab opens at the start of the built-in tab bar, but is placed at the end of VTR's bar.

In fact, any time I open a tab by clicking a link, the tab is added at the end of VTR, regardless of where the tab appeared.

I'm using v0.8.6a1 on Firefox 57.0b8.

[grahamperrin]

@Croydon I made Vertical Tabs Reloaded a primary feature of the screen recording that's embedded at https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/-/15451/12?u=grahamperrin. Enjoy. I'm hugely grateful for your work on this extension.

[grahamperrin]

@Croydon I made Vertical Tabs Reloaded a primary feature of the screen recording that's embedded at https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/-/15451/12?u=grahamperrin. Enjoy. I'm hugely grateful for your work on this extension.

[Croydon]

@InfernoZeus:

In fact, any time I open a tab by clicking a link, the tab is added at the end of VTR, regardless of where the tab appeared.

Thanks for reporting! I actually only tested for the tab order at startup, when existing tabs are getting reordered and when blank tabs are getting created. I didn't test for opening links in new tabs.
Should be fixed with v0.8.6a3.

[Croydon]

@InfernoZeus:

In fact, any time I open a tab by clicking a link, the tab is added at the end of VTR, regardless of where the tab appeared.

Thanks for reporting! I actually only tested for the tab order at startup, when existing tabs are getting reordered and when blank tabs are getting created. I didn't test for opening links in new tabs.
Should be fixed with v0.8.6a3.

[Croydon]

In the current alpha version pinned tabs cause that not-pinned tabs, which already exists at startup, don't show up. I'm on it...

[Croydon]

In the current alpha version pinned tabs cause that not-pinned tabs, which already exists at startup, don't show up. I'm on it...

[InfernoZeus]

@Croydon Thanks for the fix, will test it out 😄

Hmm, I just went to check which version I had installed, and it already shows v0.8.6a3. I think Firefox must have just updated it for me. Just around that time, the sidebar glitched out on me. It's now only showing a couple of my previously pinned tabs (2 of 7), and a couple of new tabs I've opened since it glitched. Looking at the browser console, I see a bunch of errors in sidebar.js:

this.document.getElementById(...) is null          sidebar.js:416
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471t
his.document.getElementById(...) is null           sidebar.js:416
TypeError: insertBeforeTab is null[Learn More]     sidebar.js:471:13
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471
Error: Invalid tab ID: 631                         ext-browser.js
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471
Content Security Policy: The page’s settings blocked the loading of a resource at self (“script-src https://assets-cdn.github.com”). Source: ;!function(){var t=0,e=function(t,e){ret....   vertical-tabs-reloaded:1

I don't know enough about how Firefox auto updates addons. Does it do a live reload of them?

[InfernoZeus]

@Croydon Thanks for the fix, will test it out 😄

Hmm, I just went to check which version I had installed, and it already shows v0.8.6a3. I think Firefox must have just updated it for me. Just around that time, the sidebar glitched out on me. It's now only showing a couple of my previously pinned tabs (2 of 7), and a couple of new tabs I've opened since it glitched. Looking at the browser console, I see a bunch of errors in sidebar.js:

this.document.getElementById(...) is null          sidebar.js:416
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471t
his.document.getElementById(...) is null           sidebar.js:416
TypeError: insertBeforeTab is null[Learn More]     sidebar.js:471:13
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471
Error: Invalid tab ID: 631                         ext-browser.js
insertBeforeTab is null                            sidebar.js:471
Content Security Policy: The page’s settings blocked the loading of a resource at self (“script-src https://assets-cdn.github.com”). Source: ;!function(){var t=0,e=function(t,e){ret....   vertical-tabs-reloaded:1

I don't know enough about how Firefox auto updates addons. Does it do a live reload of them?

[InfernoZeus]

I tried to restart the browser, but the same behaviour persists. Only 2 out of my 7 pinned tabs show, and no others. Only newly opened tabs get added.

I tried enabling debug logging, but it just prints

57.0            index.js:288:13
20171013042429  index.js:288:13
Firefox         index.js:288:13

over and over and over again, multiple times a second.

[InfernoZeus]

I tried to restart the browser, but the same behaviour persists. Only 2 out of my 7 pinned tabs show, and no others. Only newly opened tabs get added.

I tried enabling debug logging, but it just prints

57.0            index.js:288:13
20171013042429  index.js:288:13
Firefox         index.js:288:13

over and over and over again, multiple times a second.

[Croydon]

@InfernoZeus

It's now only showing a couple of my previously pinned tabs (2 of 7), and a couple of new tabs I've opened since it glitched.

That is exactly the bug I mentioned in the comment above yours 😄

I tried enabling debug logging, but it just prints over and over and over again, multiple times a second.

Leftover. Removed now.

[Croydon]

@InfernoZeus

It's now only showing a couple of my previously pinned tabs (2 of 7), and a couple of new tabs I've opened since it glitched.

That is exactly the bug I mentioned in the comment above yours 😄

I tried enabling debug logging, but it just prints over and over and over again, multiple times a second.

Leftover. Removed now.

[InfernoZeus]

That is exactly the bug I mentioned in the comment above yours 😄

Whoops! Although it's also hiding later pinned tabs in my case.

[InfernoZeus]

That is exactly the bug I mentioned in the comment above yours 😄

Whoops! Although it's also hiding later pinned tabs in my case.

[Croydon]

Tab placing and moving when pinned tabs exist should be fixed with v0.8.6a9.

@InfernoZeus Could you please test and provide feedback?

[Croydon]

Tab placing and moving when pinned tabs exist should be fixed with v0.8.6a9.

@InfernoZeus Could you please test and provide feedback?

[Croydon]

I have implemented a landing page with update information. It will be opened once after the update.

[Croydon]

I have implemented a landing page with update information. It will be opened once after the update.

[Croydon]

I just implemented drag&drop.
It's very basic right now, will be improved in post 0.9.0 releases (#140, #141, #142).

[Croydon]

I just implemented drag&drop.
It's very basic right now, will be improved in post 0.9.0 releases (#140, #141, #142).

[Croydon]

And just in time for the Firefox 57 release today, this is finally...

DONE! 🎉🕺🏼🎉

The first stable WebExtension version is now on AMO!

Obviously, there are still a few rough edges, but I'm expecting it to mature fast going forward, after all creating the basics was the hardest step.

A huuuuge thank you to everyone testing, reporting bugs, using VTR and to anyone being patient when VTR did break in non-stable Firefox releases in the last months. We made it.

[Croydon]

And just in time for the Firefox 57 release today, this is finally...

DONE! 🎉🕺🏼🎉

The first stable WebExtension version is now on AMO!

Obviously, there are still a few rough edges, but I'm expecting it to mature fast going forward, after all creating the basics was the hardest step.

A huuuuge thank you to everyone testing, reporting bugs, using VTR and to anyone being patient when VTR did break in non-stable Firefox releases in the last months. We made it.

[jonasflint]

Uggggh. Congrats on the release. Unfortunately I don't really have use for the addon for the following reasons:

1. Compact / Icon Only Mode is gone - this was the only reason I even used this addon. (I loved it for this)

2. The Horizontal tabs are still there! What's the point on having two sets of tabs taking up space??!!

[jonasflint]

Uggggh. Congrats on the release. Unfortunately I don't really have use for the addon for the following reasons:

1. Compact / Icon Only Mode is gone - this was the only reason I even used this addon. (I loved it for this)

2. The Horizontal tabs are still there! What's the point on having two sets of tabs taking up space??!!

[bwinton]

@jonasflint:

1. shouldn't be too hard to add… I did something similar in this pull request.
2. is possible with a userChrome.css change, as described here.

[bwinton]

@jonasflint:

1. shouldn't be too hard to add… I did something similar in this pull request.
2. is possible with a userChrome.css change, as described here.

[jonasflint]

So @bwinton will you be implementing this? It would be a life saver!

[jonasflint]

So @bwinton will you be implementing this? It would be a life saver!

[bwinton]

I wouldn't wait for me to implement it if anyone else was interested, but if I have some free time over Christmas, I might give it a stab…

[bwinton]

I wouldn't wait for me to implement it if anyone else was interested, but if I have some free time over Christmas, I might give it a stab…

[InfernoZeus]

@Croydon Sorry for the slow feedback re the issues I raised.

Can confirm that the issue with tabs always being placed at the end is gone.
I can also move tabs now, but the "faded" preview of the dragged tab gets stuck briefly after starting to drag - is that expected?

[InfernoZeus]

@Croydon Sorry for the slow feedback re the issues I raised.

Can confirm that the issue with tabs always being placed at the end is gone.
I can also move tabs now, but the "faded" preview of the dragged tab gets stuck briefly after starting to drag - is that expected?