window.getSelection().modify doesn't seem to work

[jyn514]

I tried the following config:

glide.keymaps.set(["normal", "insert"], "<C-Right>", async() => {
	const selection = window.getSelection();
	console.log(selection.type);
	selection.modify("move", "forward", "word");
});

When I press C-Right, nothing obvious happens in the browser, and I see this logged:

console.log: "None"

... I'm not sure what's happening here? Based on https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Selection/type I would expect it to be set to Caret. Maybe this is related to glide using custom motions somehow?

I also tried binding this to motion w, which at least moves the cursor, but it's off-by-one, I guess because it's only meant to be used in normal mode, not insert mode.

[RobertCraigie]

hmm something weird is happening here for me, I'm on macOS and Glide never even receives the <C-Right> key event... looks like the keymapping itself was working for you? assuming you're on Linux?

... I'm not sure what's happening here? Based on developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Selection/type I would expect it to be set to Caret. Maybe this is related to glide using custom motions somehow?

The reason this isn't working as you expect is because your keymapping callback is executed in the main browser process where there will never be an active selection. Instead you should execute it in the content process (i.e. the process rendering the current web page), which you can do like this:

glide.keymaps.set(
  ["normal", "insert"],
  "<C-j>",
  glide.content.fn(() => {
    const selection = window.getSelection()!;
    console.log(selection.type);
    selection.modify("move", "forward", "word");
  }),
);

or like this

glide.keymaps.set(["normal", "insert"], "<C-j>", async ({ tab_id }) => {
  await glide.content.execute(() => {
    const selection = window.getSelection()!;
    console.log(selection.type);
    selection.modify("move", "forward", "word");
  }, { tab_id });
});

That said, I just tried this and while it did log Caret, nothing seemed to happen which is odd.

---

You may find these docs helpful for building a mental model of the process architecture https://firefox-source-docs.mozilla.org/ipc/processes.html

I think the Glide docs don't do a good job explaining this right now...

[jyn514]

I'm on macOS and Glide never even receives the key event.

By default macOS binds this to "move to right Space". You can unbind it in Settings -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> Mission Control -> Move right a space (it's hidden behind a dropdown, it's very annoying).

I'm on macOS and once I did that, Glide does receive the key event.

The reason this isn't working as you expect is because your keymapping callback is executed in the main browser process where there will never be an active selection. Instead you should execute it in the content process (i.e. the process rendering the current web page)

oh, hm. I tried the snippet you pasted and got this error:

Glide: Error: Missing host permission for the tab
    normalizeError resource://gre/modules/ExtensionCommon.sys.mjs:822
    wrapPromise resource://gre/modules/ExtensionCommon.sys.mjs:972
    JSActor query*_doSend resource://gre/modules/ConduitsChild.sys.mjs:64
    _send resource://gre/modules/ConduitsParent.sys.mjs:303
    reply resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.sys.mjs:1212
    recvAPICall resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.sys.mjs:1260
    promise callback*recvAPICall resource://gre/modules/ExtensionParent.sys.mjs:1246
    _recv resource://gre/modules/ConduitsChild.sys.mjs:90
    receiveMessage resource://gre/modules/ConduitsParent.sys.mjs:474
[browser-excmds.mjs line 17 > importedModule:112:25](chrome://glide/content/browser-excmds.mjs%20line%2017%20%3E%20importedModule)

I'm not sure what "host permission" means ... I'll read through those mozilla docs.

[jyn514]

The "host permission" error is from glide.content.fn. If I use glide.content.execute instead, the callback simply never runs; the keybind runs, I can see its log output, but the function inside execute does not.

[jyn514]

Oh! It does run, but it logs to the current tab's devtools console instead of the parent's. I guess I should have expected that.

[RobertCraigie]

Ah the "host permission" error is the same issue as #6, I need to find a way around it...

[RobertCraigie]

Fixed in #125 :)

[jyn514]

this is awesome, thank you!

[jyn514]

That said, I just tried this and while it did log Caret, nothing seemed to happen which is odd.

I found that this does work if I have a word highlighted on the page! It just doesn't work in text input boxes ... https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLInputElement doesn't have an equivalent of modify, so this seems quite hard :/

Looking at forward_word in src/glide/browser/base/content/motions.mts, it looks like this is manually implemented rather than using Selection.modify. I think I might just use motion w and then motion l if I'm currently in insert mode.

[jyn514]

oh, that doesn't work either because there's no motion l :/

[RobertCraigie]

ahhh the l keymap is currently implemented as caret_move right, but yeah for consistency sake I think it'd make sense to provide motion l as well