Add feature to insert html snippets within Composer

[RealRaven2000]

To add rich + useful content SmartTemplates should offer a menu to insert external html templates so we can insert paragraphs or buttons. One interesting use case I experience daily is the need to insert a simulacrum of the New Issue button for directing my users to the github issue tracker. Currently I achieve this by going to Insert / Html... and entering the following code:

New Issue

I am including the necessary layout rules to make it look correctly within an external CSS file which I include into my support templates, but it is still significant effort to type out the html above. If we could have a button (just like the change template button) on the composer toolbar that gives a one click selection to insert the html from an external file.

This should have a tree / menu hierarchy so that different snippets can be categorized rather than having a long list to choose from.

[RealRaven2000]

See also issue #28 (this is a duplicate and I never had the time to implement it. Good ideas over there!

[RealRaven2000]

First Prototype. The hard thing is getting at message headers as for some reason, gMsgCompose.originalMsgURI is not set for replied / forwarded mails anymore! We need to find out how else we can get at the headers, I guess we need to use the API instead. Which means rewriting all processing as an API / background method.

smartTemplate-fx-3.8pre49.zip

to add snippets:

• add the new [insert Snippets] button to the composer toolbar
• Click configure menu item...
  
• Activate the Smart Snippets tab
  
• add HTML files to it
• to insert a HTML snippet, select it from the [insert Snippets] button in composer

[RealRaven2000]

Added the implementation for the ad-hoc command to "Open SmartTemplates template file..." directly and insert it:

smartTemplate-fx-3.8pre55.zip

As usual - to install, download the zip file and drag it into Thunderbird Add-ons Manager.

[RealRaven2000]

Added localization. This works now very similarly to the other templates (except it's on its own tab "Smart Snippets").

To do:

• automatically select the Smart Snippets tab when the "configure menu items" menu item is clicked.
• create an icon for the button and the tab in settings
• create a placeholder variable for %selected% text so it can be incorporated into the snippet (e.g. if you want to create a button from a label). At the moment, you can use %cursor% and paste or type the contents after insertion of the fragment.

smartTemplate-fx-3.8pre58.zip

To install, download the zip file and drag it into Thunderbird Add-ons Manager.

[RealRaven2000]

• Added Icons.
• Fixed the style to use the more compatible attribute is="toolbarbutton-menu-button" to make it look like the other dropdown buttons. A also rewrote the algorithm in charge of accelerators so that folders (categories) get their own alphabetic accelerator and the templates in submenus start counting at 1.
  
• Automatically select the "Smart Snippets" tab when "configure menu items..." is selected from the Snippets button:
  

smartTemplate-fx-3.8pre86.zip

To install, download the zip file and drag it into Thunderbird Add-ons Manager.

[RealRaven2000]

• Fixed a bug when opening a Snippet file directly in Composer
• Localized (Thunderbird 78 version only)
• ported to Thunderbird 68
• Added description to what's new screen (Tb78)

Tb68 version: smartTemplate-fx-2.17pre29.zip
Tb78-91: smartTemplate-fx-3.8pre108.zip

[RealRaven2000]

Latest versions for legacy (68) and current Thunderbird versions (78 and 91.*).

• fixed some layout problems with the snippet icon in composer (tb68)
• added update of snippets menu items in composer after configuring new menu items (Tb68 only last Composer, in Tb78 and later for all composer windows)
• added localization
• added restrictions / explanations for users with Standard license and users without licenses
• added a feature comparison chart to the support site
• fixed display of trial date on license tab in settings
• improvements for templates with tables that do not contain %cursor% (see issue If no %cursor% is entered, HTML template may be truncated / reformatted at the end #149)

Thunderbird 68: smartTemplate-fx-2.17pre71.zip
Thunderbird 78 - 91.*: smartTemplate-fx-3.8pre139.zip

To install these prereleases, as usual, download the zip file that matches your Thunderbird version and then drag the file into Thunderbird ADd-ons Manager

[RealRaven2000]

Implemented in version 3.8 - please note that for Thunderbird 68 you have to install new versions from the github releases page.

Unfortunately thunderbird.net does not accept updates for legacy versions anymore - they only support the new "Mail extension" format and our "mail extension with experimental APIs" which is a workaround for missing advanced features.