I've embedded spidermonkey in C++ application using the jsapi, and while
it works it is a lot of work to write and maintain wrappers and error
prone too. Phil McLachlan (quoted below) has posted questions here about
using XPCOM, which I think sound like an interesting option, except it
is not clear to me whether XPConnect is deprecated and should not be used?
I'd like you seasoned spidermonkeys to help me answer this simple question.
In a C++ application I wish to make a document scriptable. It is not
exactly a HTML DOM-document, but something similar, ie. it is a
tree-like structured document with typed nodes that have attributes. The
document is implemented as a set of C++ classes, which will need to be
exposed to the script. What would you recommend
* Using XPCOM/XPConnect
* Write the wrappers by hand using js-api
* Something else, ie roll-your-own swig-like wrapper generator
Best regards,
Thomas Sondergaard
Phil McLachlan wrote:
"Phil McLachlan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
We are investigating using XPCOM as a framework for our project. Our
application will run as a stand-alone executable, and it will be used as a
plug-in within browsers: Mozilla, Safari, and IE. We require JS scripting
of our application, so packaging Spidermonkey with our application seems
appealing. In this case, we could use XPConnect to perform the
integration.
I've noticed that XPCOM's plug-in API (XPConnect?) has been replaced by
npruntime. Is this because plug-in writers are moving towards using
ActiveX integration in IE with npruntime wrappers for the other browsers?
I reckon this would eliminate having to package a JS engine with a
plug-in, which is currently the approach used by Macromedia Flash and
Adobe Acrobat Reader. On the other hand, writing the npruntime wrappers
could become labour intensive. Is there a npruntime to ActiveX bridge?
What is the recommended approach for developing rich environment browser
plug-ins? It would be nice, if we could also use a JS engine with our
stand-alone executable.
I guess using XPCOM, XPConnect, and embedded Spidermonkey is a better
option for us, because it allows us to reuse the JS in our stand-alone
executable. However, XPConnect being depricated in favour of npruntime
scares me a bit. Is anyone using npruntime to script their application with
embedded Spidermonkey, or is that not the intent?
Also, in this context, which is better to use: standalone XPCOM or XPCOM
with the entire Mozilla source tree? If possible, I imagine the
standalone implementation would be more desirable. Is XPCOM packaged as a
separate product that you can get frozen stable interfaces and
implementations for? Is there documentation for the various Mozilla XPCOM
libraries? I read the standalone is not compatible with the one in the
Mozilla tree. Why is this, and should this be a concern?
Assuming standalone XPCOM is the way to go, can someone point me to
directions on how to download it and use it with XPConnect/Spidermonkey?
Okay, I've found the Gecko SDK, which comes compiled and packaged for the
various Mozilla releases. This seems to work well, as opposed to standalone
XPCOM, which seems to have become broken in the Mozilla build in the past
due to neglect.
Thanks for any advice.
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