Identifying migration issues between Firefox 3.0 and 3.1

43

Hello,

In order to help add-on authors migrate to Firefox 3.1, the Mozilla evangelism team is working on documenting changes between Firefox 3.0 and Firefox 3.1 which could affect extensions.

Some of you have already updated your extensions to Firefox 3.1 beta, or are in the process of doing so, and we’re asking for your help by providing some useful feedback about the migration.

We are interested in any issues you’ve encountered including interface changes, unanticipated behaviour or any API updates. You can provide feedback as a comment to this post and any information will help, even something as simple as:

“I ran into problems with interface XYZ”

Your assistance will be invaluable in helping us identify migration issues and ensuring that Firefox 3.1 has high rate of add-on compatibility upon release.

Thanks a lot.

Tags: ,

Categories: compatibility, developers

43 responses

  1. Oliver

    With my extension I found that a function, canonizeURL, had moved from browser.js to urlbarBindings.xml and now returned a value. I assume this means that various other functions have been shifted from browser.js also.

  2. Josep del Rio

    I was trying to retrieve the site icon through the “nsIFaviconService”, “getFaviconImageForPage” method, and the code that worked for 3.0 will show always the default document icon for 3.1. I thought that it’s probably due to work in progress on the “places” component, but just in case, I thought it would be a good idea to list it here.

  3. another_sam

    I found this:
    https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Firefox_3.1_for_developers#Changes_to_interfaces

    I think it can be a helpful reference.

  4. Matthew

    We had no difficulty with any of the interfaces we used with Firefox 3.1 beta 1. Tests left things performing as they were before.

  5. Starks

    Firefox 3.0 sporadically breaks some functionality in my extension.

    Firefox 3.1 totally breaks some functionality in my extension.

    See here for a discussion about this:
    http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=565885&topic=46023039

  6. Starks

    btw, the problem is inherent in the behavior changes regarding sizeToContent.

  7. Pav

    JSON is now a property of the window object; no need to import JSON.jsm. ‘fromString’ method changed to ‘parse’ and ‘toString’ to ‘stringify’.

    I use the following to ensure compatibility with both 3.0 and 3.1:

    if (typeof(JSON) == “undefined”)
    {
    Components.utils.import(“resource://gre/modules/JSON.jsm”);
    JSON.parse = JSON.fromString;
    JSON.stringify = JSON.toString;
    }

  8. Wladimir Palant

    “-moz-opacity” CSS property is apparently no longer supported, you have to use “opacity”. I simply forgot that I had that before I saw a warning about unrecognized CSS selector in the console.

  9. samuel.li

    I have a doubt about firefox 3.1

    the below code work on firefox 3.0:
    ————-code firefox3.0 segment start—–
    toggleSidebar(); // <— notice here
    if(data.indexOf(“You have logged in successfully”) != -1)
    {
    this.loginFlag = true;
    prefs.setBoolPref(“firetalk.loginstatus”,true);
    var ftStatusBarIcon = document.getElementById(“ftStatusIcon”);
    ftStatusBarIcon.src=”chrome://firetalk/content/icons/login.png”;
    ftStatusBarIcon.setAttribute(“tooltiptext”,”GTalk login (Shift+T)”);
    }
    ————code segment end———–

    but in firefox 3.1 it dosen’t work
    after “toggleSidebar();” the “prefs.setBoolPref(…)” was not executed.

    so I change the code:

    ————-code segment start—–

    if(data.indexOf(“You have logged in successfully”) != -1)
    {
    this.loginFlag = true;
    prefs.setBoolPref(“firetalk.loginstatus”,true);
    var ftStatusBarIcon = document.getElementById(“ftStatusIcon”);
    ftStatusBarIcon.src=”chrome://firetalk/content/icons/login.png”;
    ftStatusBarIcon.setAttribute(“tooltiptext”,”GTalk login (Shift+T)”);
    }
    toggleSidebar(); // <— notice here
    ————code segment end———–
    Now it’s working. I think it ‘s diffrent between firefox 3.0 and firefox3.1. Do you think so?

  10. Stu

    Direct access to the places.sqlite file is no longer possible because it is now locked by Firefox at all times.

    Admittedly I probably shouldn’t have been directly accessing it anyway, but I was, and it was a bit of a surprise to find it had stopped working in 3.1. :)

  11. Alfred Kayser

    For themers, the following forum has all the known changes to themes (including the opacity change remarked by Wladimir Palant):
    http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=665138&start=15&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=e14f919078790ed024419a8bf99b5ed5

    Being a minor release, there are still a great number of large and smaller changes in the UI that themers need to take care off. Not all of theme are easy to accomodiate whilst keeping compatability with older versions of FF.

    In terms of release management it would be VERY nice if the new version number is accepted on AMO before the actual product launch, so that extensions/themes can be updated before the actual upgrade, so that end-users won’t get an ‘incompatible’ message for all its addons when the upgrade to 3.1 is performed.

  12. Wladimir Palant

    Oh, and there is another warning in the console now as well: “Timed textboxes are deprecated. Consider using type=”search” instead.” But of course type=”search” isn’t supported in Firefox 3.0, so extension developers have to wait something like a year before switching to it. Only solution seems to be setting the type parameter dynamically – not exactly a great solution especially given that there is no good way to test whether type=”search” is available. So I will either just accept the warning or reimplement the functionality of type=”timed” with a regular textbox.

  13. Werner

    Im not sure about this qualifying for a bug, but here it goes anyway: When i try to load a mail from mi Windows Live Hotmail inbox (the newest version) it says loading, but it never does, just keeps the same banner and never show me the message i wish to see

  14. Thom Scott

    Here is the list of add-ons that show on 3.1 beta that are not compatible:

    Amazing Media Brower 0.27
    Bible Refalizer 0.1.3
    CountdownClork 1.4.4.1
    Download Embedded 0.5
    DownTemAll! 2.0.3
    Evernote Web Clipper 3.0.0.125
    External Application Buttons mod 0.7.3.4
    Forecastfox 0.9.7.7
    FoxClock 2.4.97
    FoxLingo 2.3.1
    Foxmarks Bookmark Synchronizer 2.5.3
    Google Toolbar for Firefox 3.1.20080730W
    GUtil! 2.3.3
    Hakia ScoopBar 1.0.3a
    HP Smark Web Printing 4.0 (doesn’t work with 3.0 period)
    Media Pirate – The video downloader 2.3.1
    mid 0.9.0.2
    pdf-google-finder 1.0
    RealPlayer Browser Record Plugin 1.0 (doesn’t work with 3.0 either)
    Toolbar Buttons 0.6.0.4
    Undo Closed Tabs Button 3.0.3
    WebMail Notifier 1.1.5
    Wizz RSS News Reader 3.0.0.2

  15. Vampiro

    Hola…queria avisar q el complemento DownloadHelper 3.4 no funciona asi como VideoDownloader y el Diccionario de Español/España 1.1

  16. derma

    These are the extensions installed…

    - 2 Pane Bookmarks (0.7.5.5)
    - Adblock Plus (0.7.5.5)
    - Adblock Plus: Element Hiding Helper (1.0.5)
    - Dictionnaire Hunspell en Français (réforme 1990) (2.0)
    - Dizionario Italiano (3.1)
    - Flashblock (1.5.7)
    - Locationbar^2 (1.0.3)
    - NoScript (1.8.4.1)
    - OpenBook (2.0.1.1)
    - Stylish (0.5.7) (with many looking and functioning tweaking “Styles”)
    - Ubuntu Forums Menu (0.59)
    - Ubuntu-it Menu (1.0.6.2)
    - United States English Dictionary (3.0.3)
    - Wörterbuch “Deutsch (de_DE)” für die Rechtschreibprüfung in Mozilla-Produkten (20081023)

    …for some of them I edited the “.rdf”… ev’rything works good.

  17. johh

    lplayerI ran into problems with interface Realplayer browser record plugin

  18. pdeck

    as a real geek, i didn’t get maybe exactly the question, just, in my 31b1 version i have pklenty of old add ons not working at all:
    allinone sidebar 0 76,
    alot toolbar 1.24
    cleo 4.0
    colorzilla 2.0
    conviva streaming control 1.8…
    crawler toolbar 1.3
    downthemall 1.0.3
    EROnline 1.1
    evernote web clipper 3.0.0.125
    fast dial 2.11
    febe 6.0.3
    firefox showcase 0.9.4.9
    IE8 activities for FF 1.3.3
    kwout on ff 0.1.4….
    pc sync 2 sych extension 1.0..0.658
    PDF download 2.0.0.0
    Realplayer Browser record plugin ( neither in 3.0 ! )1.0
    russian spell dictionary with IO support 0.2.1
    Sage 1.4.2
    Shazou 2.1
    Tiny Tiny Rss notifier 2.0.4
    Wisestamp 1.1

    and now ask me why i didn’t pass to Chrome :P

  19. Ron Moses

    Download Squad is telling folks to post their broken extensions here, hopefully they’re not directing people to the wrong place. So I just installed 3.1, and here’s my list of non-working extensions:

    Basics
    CookieCuller
    Extended Copy Menu
    FireFTP
    ForecastFox
    Googlebar Lite
    Microsoft .NET Framework Assistant
    Research Word
    Stealther
    StumbleUpon
    TinyUrl Creator

    Unfortunately some of those are deal-breakers so I’m going to have to roll back to 3.0.4, but I thought I’d post that info before I do.

  20. Pietro

    adblock filterset. G updater,
    All in one sidebar,
    Down them all,
    Firebug
    These are my exyensions that don’t work

  21. Dorian Kernytsky

    Better Gmail
    ” gReader
    ” youtube
    bugMeNot
    ColorZilia
    Delicious Bookmarks 2
    DownThemAll
    Firebug
    Google Gears
    Greasemonkey
    html validator
    look up in dictionary 0.2
    NewTabUrl
    Pmog
    Safari View
    Style
    Web Developer
    YSlow

  22. Elleby

    Hi found problems in this Extension:
    AdBlock Filterset G.Updater 0.3.1.3
    Better Gmail 2.0.7
    Better Privacy 1.22
    DownThemAll! 1.0.3
    Elementary Theme 1.3
    Fast Dial 2.11
    GCal Popup 1.0
    GreaseMonkey 0.8.2008609.0
    iFox Metal 3.0.3
    Neptune 3.0
    User-Agent Switcher 0.6.11

  23. kami68k

    not compatible:

    FireFTP 1.0.2
    Hide Unvisited 3
    Moji 0.9.4
    Moji-En 0.6.20080306
    Moji-Kanji-En 0.5.20071013
    Web Developer 1.1.6

  24. marco

    here’s a list of my addons installed on 3.1Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; it; rv:1.9.1b1) Gecko/20081007 Firefox/3.1b1 ID:20081007144708

    some forced with nightly tester tools

    Adblock 0.5.3.043 forced ok
    Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.1.3 forced ok
    All-in-One Gestures 0.19.1 forced ok
    All-in-One Sidebar 0.7.6 forced ok
    ColorfulTabs 3.7 works without force
    Download Embedded 0.5 [DISABLED]
    Download Statusbar 0.9.6.3 works without force
    DownThemAll! 1.0.3 forced ok
    Fast Dial 2.11 forced ok
    FEBE 6.0.3 [DISABLED]
    Fire.fm 1.1.3 works without force
    Flashblock 1.5.7 works without force
    Forecastfox 0.9.7.7 forced ok
    Gmail Manager 0.5.5 forced ok
    GooglePreview 3.15 works without force
    IE Tab 1.5.20080823 forced ok
    Nightly Tester Tools 2.0.2
    NoScript 1.8.4.1 works without force
    PDF Download 2.0.0.0 forced ok
    Sage 1.4.2 forced ok
    Split Browser 0.5.2008101801 forced ok
    Tabs Open Relative 0.3.3 forced ok

  25. Jen

    Wow. That’s really too many things. Don’t you find your browser runs slow?

  26. Hani G

    When I installed Firefox 3.1 beta 2, I found it to be the same speed as Firefox 3.05 but I had a more serious problem, when I uninstalled 3.1 beta 2, it asked me if I wanted to remove the bookmarks ( I assumed that it meant the bookmarks for 3.1 beta 2 ) so I proceeded to remove those, and then when I started 3.05(I did not uninstall it before installing 3.1 beta 2) MY BOOKMARKS WERE GONE!! You should really update this system of testing so that it does not interfere with any current installations and especially the bookmarks.

  27. Zisca

    I can’t open my mails in hotmail using Mozilla Firefox 3.1 Beta 2

  28. Stoyan

    @Hani G
    It’s up to you to take care of your profile.

  29. Seo company

    Hold on! the thing is that the ‘Firefox’ gets updated without any intimation and after the last update my firefox gives out crash report once on daily basis. I do have many plugins in that. So what is the best possible thing i need to do as i get stucked with such things.

    thanks for taking effort to post and ask the problems.

  30. personal trainer london

    I have the same problem Zisca with opening hotmail. I have found that if I create a bookmark with the URL assigned http://www.hotmail.com it works. Must be something to do with the forwarding address.

  31. Seo Company

    Firefox add on issues are solved in its new release 3.5. We are using firefox 3.5 and have not experienced any problem till the date. we ahve tried about 30% of all add on.

  32. InkManiac

    After every FF update, there are sometimes issues…especially if you are running a lot of plugins like I am…

    I still need to figure out What the heck “Chrome” is anyway- is that related to Google or is it just the same name?

    I’m so confused!

    :)

  33. sohbet

    hi Thanks for the tip Derek – it’s a great little tool. I was just preparing a post on blogging and casual learning and found your blog via Goggle. I’m not an educator (I’m an editor)so you’ve given me a great deal to absorb. I’ll definitely be back to look around properly. I suspect I have a great deal to learn myself!

  34. botox

    Hımm…..

    Yes:

    FireFTP 1.0.2
    Hide Unvisited 3
    Moji 0.9.4
    Moji-En 0.6.20080306
    Moji-Kanji-En 0.5.20071013
    Web Developer 1.1.6

  35. Torrents

    Thanks for the info i am shifting back to the older version it is fine.

  36. oes tsetnoc

    how about 3.5.x? still compatible?

  37. Digitalmalay

    Anyone already using 3.5.x?I’m also considering upgrading into it soon

  38. Patricia

    Hii Thanks for the tip it’s a great little tool. Direct access to the places.sqlite file is no longer possible because it is now locked by Firefox at all times.

  39. philippe bodart

    latest version 3.5.x is working fine.I find it faster than the older version.

  40. Dog Life Jacket

    Mozilla my favorite software and i have been searching for a new version but now i am success to click your site.

    Dog Life Jacket

  41. John

    Im not sure about this qualifying for a bug, but here it goes anyway: When i try to load a mail from mi Windows Live Hotmail inbox (the newest version) it says loading, but it never does, just keeps the same banner and never show me the message i wish to see

  42. VPS Hosting

    In these two versions I found that a function, canonizeURL, had moved from browser.js to urlbarBindings.xml and now returned a value. I assume this means that various other functions have been shifted from browser.js also. I want to say that for a littile bit of difference companies haven’t launch new versions. They have to make more changes and then they should launch the new versions. Because user feeling uncomfortable when browser says new version is available you should download it.

  43. Bamsgenx

    mozilla is my favorite browser, but i do not know much about this topic.
    firefox adds on really helps me to do more, if compare with another browser, still i recommend mozilla firefox