Add-on Compatibility for Firefox 18

Fixed Point wrote on January 12, 2013 at 8:31 pm:

Was there a change to how web workers behave or perhaps how they work with data urls? My add on broke with the following previously working code:

var data = require(“self”).data;
// …
var webWorker = new Worker(data.url(“worker.js”));
webWorker.addEventListener(“message”, function (e) { /* … */ });

// TypeError: webWorker.addEventListener is not a function

1. Jorge Villalobos wrote on January 14, 2013 at 9:59 am:

   Is this happening on 18 or some other version? Have you updated recently?

   1. Fixed Point wrote on January 14, 2013 at 10:22 am:

      It is happening on 18.

      I verified it worked on 16 then immediately after updating to 18 it didn’t work.

      So it seems that something in either 17 or 18 is causing problems.

   2. Fixed Point wrote on January 14, 2013 at 11:18 am:

      I did some more digging this morning and I forgot to include some rather important points that I think are at the root of this:

      var data = require(“self”).data;

      var {Cu} = require(“chrome”); // <—
      var {Worker} = Cu.import(data.url("import.jsm")); // <—
      Cu.unload(data.url("import.jsm")); // <—

      var webWorker = new Worker(data.url(“worker.js”));
      webWorker.addEventListener(“message”, function (e) { /* … */ });

      Where import.jsm is:

      var EXPORTED_SYMBOLS=["Worker"];

      Also of note:

      Using web worker with the same worker.js file works fine outside of the extension. Both worker.js and import.jsm data resources are in fact there.

      I'll keep digging and post back if I find anything else.

      1. Jorge Villalobos wrote on January 14, 2013 at 11:45 am:

         This sounds very similar to this bug, except it’s happening for Workers instead of WebSockets. Can you please test on Firefox 17 and let me know if it works?

         1. Fixed Point wrote on January 14, 2013 at 12:04 pm:

            Test on Firefox 17…it works fine.

            So the issue arose in Firefox 18 apparently.

      2. Fixed Point wrote on January 14, 2013 at 11:56 am:

         It turns out that the line which unloads “import.jsm” does something different now than it used to. Removing that line allows the extension to work although it does bring up two questions:

         1. Why does unloading “import.jsm” not work anymore?
         2. Does it matter if I omit the line?

         For (2), it was originally suggested on Stackoverflow to import and then unload the module.

         http://stackoverflow.com/a/9224122/967974

         I found this documentation on unload which seems to suggest that perhaps the only problem is if the definition of Worker changes during a restartless add-on’s install:

         https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Components.utils.unload

         Comments or ideas?

         1. Jorge Villalobos wrote on January 14, 2013 at 12:27 pm:

            (2) seems unnecessary in that context. It’s actually unnecessary in general to unload JSMs.

            It’d be interesting to see if there’s an error in the console related to this, but my best guess is that it is failing because you’re holding a reference to something from the module and something breaks when you try to unload it.

bikerdon wrote on March 8, 2013 at 1:10 pm:

WHY are all the technogeeks trying to fix something that worked just fine ??? HOW ABOUT A BUTTON for those that dont know how to protect themselves “”PROTECT ME”” LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE,,, have tried allllll the ” do not update” settings includeing in the config files ,,, but it seems you all think you have to update us anyway… THEN HAVE to go back and reset everything the way “I” want it… also several add on programs now do not work (from 17 to 18)…if I wish to continue using an older version IT SHOULD BE MY DECISION !!!! WHY DO U THINK YOU NEED TO PLAY DADDY ???? I DONT NEED OR WANT ALL THE “”BLACKLIST”” or “”WHITELIST”” cr@p… have all that turned off (for 5 or more years) and have never had any kind of virus or malware !!!
have been using computers since BEFORE the internet,,(probably before you were born) so i dont NEED for you to keep changing what “YOU think” i want or need (and i surf the world) i do appreciate some of the improvements you make,,, but how about letting US decide what we want to implement ????
not all of us are spacebook, facebook,, or social networking FREEKS and dont wish to be !!!!
AND NOW ALL THE “DEVELOPERS” WANT TO PUT EVERYTHING IN THE “CLOUDS” IF IT AINT ON MY PC WHERE I CAN CONTROL WHAT IT IS DOING “” I DONT WANT IT”” ON MY PC
THANKS FOR LETTING ME POST MY RANT ,,, but things really are getting out of hand !!!