Hello, if you are maintaining an add-on or a Mozilla product that interacts with downloads, you should look into updating your code to use the new Downloads.jsm module instead of nsIDownloadManager as soon as possible.
While other Mozilla products may migrate at different times, Firefox for Desktop will do so starting from version 26, meaning that add-ons that use methods of nsIDownloadManager will no longer be compatible unless updated. Firefox 26 will reach the Beta channel on October 29th, and will go to release on December 10th, 2013. *Overview* We have been working on this new module over the past few months, with the goal of eliminating any temporary unresponsiveness that could be observed when downloads are started, as well as making the browser more responsive in general while there are downloads in progress. To make this possible, we removed all access to the "downloads.sqlite" database, replacing it with an in-memory representation of the state of current downloads. In Firefox for Desktop, the history of past downloads is handled separately, using the "places.sqlite" database. *Changes* The new API is fully asynchronous and works somewhat differently from the old one. It has the advantage of being designed for JavaScript from the start, and is much simpler than the old XPCOM API. In particular, listing and handling current downloads may be done using JavaScript objects, without any special code for database access. The complete documentation of the module can be found here: https://developer.mozilla.org/Mozilla/JavaScript_code_modules/Downloads.jsm We may still update existing methods to address specific needs or new requirements, but the general mechanisms will remain the same. *Testing* A new about:config preference named "browser.download.useJSTransfer" enables the browser and the Downloads Panel to use the Downloads.jsm module instead of nsIDownloadManager as the back-end. The browser must be restarted for the preference to take effect. Support for this preference will be available in Nightly today or tomorrow. This means that it will be ready for testing in the Aurora channel starting from version 25, on August 8th. In the Firefox 26 release train, nsIDownloadManager will not be used anymore. The preference will be removed and there will be no way to revert to the old system that caused potential performance issues. We will finally be able to remove a lot of front-end code that is complex to maintain and only needed for backwards compatibility. *Feedback* The version of the module in Firefox 25 is still in development, and while the interface is complete, some features like restoring downloads after a restart and the related prompts are not implemented yet. The remaining work is tracked with dependencies of bug 847863: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/showdependencytree.cgi?id=847863&hide_resolved=1 If you notice any unexpected behavior with the new preference that is not already listed there, feel free to file a new bug and mark it as blocking bug 847863. For any other question or need, feel free to reply to this thread in the relevant list (extensions or platform), or contact myself directly. Any relevant information emerging from the discussion will be summarized in a new project update. Cheers, Paolo _______________________________________________ dev-platform mailing list dev-platform@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-platform
