Firefox 3.6 has removed support for XPCOM plugins!
Most who are deep in the plugin world already know this, but I will repeat it quickly for those who only dabble:
Firefox 3.6 has removed support for XPCOM plugins.
This means that if you use XPCOM for your javascript interface (i.e. you have an IDL file on your npapi plugin, you us nsScriptablePeer, etc) your plugin will no longer be able to communicate with javascript in Firefox 3.6.
Thus I repeat advice that I have given in the past: Never, never, *never*, *ever* use XPCOM for your javascript interface in your plugin.
There might conceivably be reasons to use other aspects of XPCOM in a plugin, that might even work in other browsers. At present, I don’t know of them. Please enlighten me if there are (cookies?).
Oh, yeah, and FireBreath now has linux and mac support (experimental) as well as windows support (stable). Come join the fun. http://firebreath.googlecode.com
Thank you. :-P
What is your source for this information (i.e. “Firefox 3.6 has removed support for XPCOM plugins.”)?
The following link says otherwise.
https://forums.addons.mozilla.org/viewtopic.php...
“XPCOM is how the whole Mozilla platform works, so it can't be removed from Firefox without some major changes”
“XPCOM is available for add-ons on 3.6, and will be available for a long time to come.”
What is your source for this information (i.e. “Firefox 3.6 has removed support for XPCOM plugins.”)?
The following link says otherwise.
https://forums.addons.mozilla.org/viewtopic.php...
“XPCOM is how the whole Mozilla platform works, so it can't be removed from Firefox without some major changes”
“XPCOM is available for add-ons on 3.6, and will be available for a long time to come.”
I have a plugin that was written a long time ago and it's not working in Firefox 3.6 (worked fine till 3.5). I know they have changed some things big time, but not sure if they have removed support completely for plugins.
I have a plugin that was written a long time ago and it's not working in Firefox 3.6 (worked fine till 3.5). I know they have changed some things big time, but not sure if they have removed support completely for plugins.
Let's look at what you quoted:
“XPCOM is available for add-ons on 3.6, and will be available for a long time to come.”
XPCOM is, indeed, available for *add-ons*. Not plugins, add-ons; there is a big difference. It may also be possible to access XPCOM from within an NPAPI plugin to get access to browser settings and such, however it is no longer possible to make your NPAPI plugin scriptable using XPCOM (e.g. provide a .xpt file with a compiled IDL, etc).
Do a search on mozilla.dev.tech.plugins and you'll find a lot of the devs mentioning this, but my primary source is simply personal experience; they have removed support, and plugins that were written using .xpt files no longer are scriptable.
Let's look at what you quoted:
“XPCOM is available for add-ons on 3.6, and will be available for a long time to come.”
XPCOM is, indeed, available for *add-ons*. Not plugins, add-ons; there is a big difference. It may also be possible to access XPCOM from within an NPAPI plugin to get access to browser settings and such, however it is no longer possible to make your NPAPI plugin scriptable using XPCOM (e.g. provide a .xpt file with a compiled IDL, etc).
Do a search on mozilla.dev.tech.plugins and you'll find a lot of the devs mentioning this, but my primary source is simply personal experience; they have removed support, and plugins that were written using .xpt files no longer are scriptable.
Of course they haven't removed support entirely for plugins; they just removed support for scripting with XPCOM (xpt files). Change it to use npruntime and it will probably work fine.
Check out Firebreath (http://firebreath.googlecode.com) for another option; it's not hard to port an existing plugin to, and it works on IE as well with the same scripting code.
Of course they haven't removed support entirely for plugins; they just removed support for scripting with XPCOM (xpt files). Change it to use npruntime and it will probably work fine.
Check out Firebreath (http://firebreath.googlecode.com) for another option; it's not hard to port an existing plugin to, and it works on IE as well with the same scripting code.
Having read your 3 part article on creating plugins, I feel better equipped to appreciate what you are saying. It appears that I will need to rewrite the scriptable class which was previously an XPCOM class to one based on NPObject.
Having read your 3 part article on creating plugins, I feel better equipped to appreciate what you are saying. It appears that I will need to rewrite the scriptable class which was previously an XPCOM class to one based on NPObject.
Consider using FireBreath when you do the rewrite; it would take a little more rewriting, but I've rewritten a couple of plugins into it so far and it has actually been pretty easy, and then it works in IE and NPAPI, and it's easier than doing just an NPAPI plugin.
Whatever you do, good luck!
Consider using FireBreath when you do the rewrite; it would take a little more rewriting, but I've rewritten a couple of plugins into it so far and it has actually been pretty easy, and then it works in IE and NPAPI, and it's easier than doing just an NPAPI plugin.
Whatever you do, good luck!
I'm currently reading the Gecko documentation on streams, and i'm wondering if FireBreath supports streams. So far, FireBreath's documentation seems to focus on writing scriptable plugins.
I'm currently reading the Gecko documentation on streams, and i'm wondering if FireBreath supports streams. So far, FireBreath's documentation seems to focus on writing scriptable plugins.
As of yet, it does not; I simply haven't needed them. there is an individual who is working on a model to add them, however, and you'd be a welcome addition to his efforts, should you care to join us. It is definitely on the list of features that need to be added. Inquire on the firebreath-dev list for more info
As of yet, it does not; I simply haven't needed them. there is an individual who is working on a model to add them, however, and you'd be a welcome addition to his efforts, should you care to join us. It is definitely on the list of features that need to be added. Inquire on the firebreath-dev list for more info
Bug 488042 – disable XPCOM plugin loading
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48...
Bug 488042 – disable XPCOM plugin loading
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=48...
Thanks for posting that! Good to see the specifics of the change.
Thanks for posting that! Good to see the specifics of the change.
Hi, Couldn't find a better spot to post this but I've been experimenting with firebreath, with the end goal of an NPAPI Scriptable plugin for FF. I've got the environment setup and building properly I believe, can register the produced dll, but when I try to use it via javascript, the methods/properties don't work. The only call that does seem to work is “.valid”. I added some trace statements in the control so I can see it is instantiated, but none of the methods seem to be registered properly. This is on Windows, VS2008, and IE 7/FF3.5. Can you point me in any directions that I could look at to figure out the source of my problem? Thanks!
Rather than answer this here, let me point you to a better spot to post this: please try the firebreath-dev mailing list here: http://groups.google.com/group/firebreath-dev/
(I will give you the spoiler that you're probably not registering the methods/properties in the constructor, though)