Hi -
We've ported or built a couple of plugins for mozilla over the last
couple of months. Thus far we have not had to use the XPConnect /
XPCOM functionality. We plan to start using this as soon as we can
find straightforward examples that work.
Here are some problems that need to be addressed to help plugin
developers make the transition:
- simple example plugin that works (see below)
- simplify process to generate CIDs
- documentation
Simple Examples That Work
-------------------------
This is the most important, IMO. I and others have noted before here
that there isn't a reasonable sample plugin in the mozilla
distribution. Certainly if one is to look at the examples in this
document: http://www.mozilla.org/docs/plugin.html#example. Moreover,
as far as I know there isn't yet an isolated dev environment. One must
develop in the Mozilla env (I'm ok with this but others may not be).
As for the examples, MRJ is hardly a trivial plugin and SimpleTest
looks clean but doesn't work in any recent nightly build or milestone.
The first part of the problem is that the SimpleTest.html code is
incorrect, using non-DOM compliant attributes (ie NAME="simple1"
instead of ID="simple1"). Having fixed this, that the plugin's
functions are still not visible in javascript is very worrying.
Simple Process to Get CIDs
-------------------------
A month or two ago we were looking to create an XPCOM interface but
couldn't find documentation anywhere as to how to get the unique class
ids. Someone posted that one can get them on IRC. It's been over 8
years since I last used IRC and am still unclear as to where one gets
them. I assume there is a bot running which provides these?
There should be a registry and a simple perl or better yet web based
query page to get CIDs.
Documentation
-------------
Need to get tight and thorough docs much like we had for netscape 4.x.
Look at the old plugin guides. Of course XPCOM is a much more complex
beast - and is used for many other purposes. Probably a plugin-
oriented take on the subject would be useful.
Summary
-------
I think getting the simple plugin working again or something similar
should be super-high priority for the plugin design group.
Documentation and other issues are secondary. We cannot move forward
without a stable basis. It is hard to know whether the problem is in
the plugin code, the main "engine", the javascript <-> XPCOM interface,
or what.
Thanks
---
Jonathan Shore
CTO
E-Publishing Group Inc (Japan)
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