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Extension Developers - Firefox 3 is Coming!

  • Do you or someone you know write extensions for Firefox? Yeah, its pretty easy to do, adds cool enhancements to Firefox and a great way to get stinking rich.
  • Did you hear Firefox 3 is in beta release? There are a ton of new features and lots of work on the internals. Definitely worth trying out.
  • Have you tried to install your extension in Firefox 3 yet? What! Why not? Don’t you realize that other Firefox 3 beta users are trying to use your extension and are cursing you cause you haven’t taken the time to update it yet?

Ok, so the sky isn’t falling yet, but now is a great time for extension developers to get those extensions updated to Firefox 3. The crew at addons.mozilla.org have a bit of information concerning the update for extensions hosted there. The Mozilla Developer Center has a page dedicated to the new features and changes in Firefox 3.

Who knows, your extension might just need a simple bump in the old . On the other hand, it could require more involved overlay changes, JavaScript refactoring or binary component updating.

You might need to worry if your extension:

  • Uses nsIPasswordManager - this has been replaced by nsILoginManager.
  • Depends on History or Bookmarks - these systems were replaced by the Places framework. It’s much more convenient and easy to use, but it will break your old code.
  • Overlays or modifies the Bookmark Manager - this window was significantly updated to support the new bookmarks functionality.
  • Modifies the location bar or its autocomplete dropdown - the awesome bar changes will likely cause some code changes for you.
  • Hosted on a HTTP (non-secure) website - add-ons are now required to provide a secure method for obtaining updates before they can be installed. Add-ons hosted on AMO (addons.mozilla.org) don’t need to worry about this, AMO uses HTTPS.
  • Overlays or modifies the Download Manager - features new and improved APIs, including support for multiple progress listeners and a redesigned user interface.

Procrastination is the enemy! You can do this and #extdev and #addons on Mozilla IRC can help.