Extension Developers - Breaking News, Part 2

March 18, 2008

If you have an extension that uses mozIJSSubScriptLoader (a mouthful, I know) then you should be aware of a recent change (bug 418356). The mozIJSSubScriptLoader interface can be used from JS to load and run JavaScript code from the given URL at run-time. Previously, the URL could be chrome:, file:, data: or resource:, but due to a security fix, the URL is now limited to chrome: only.

Therefore, this will no longer work:

var obj = {};
var loader = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/moz/jssubscript-loader;1"]
                       .getService(Components.interfaces.mozIJSSubScriptLoader);
loader.loadSubScript("file:///blah.js", obj)

Instead, try moving the JS file into a chrome area and use chrome: or you can try to refactor your code to use Components.utils.import and a resource: URL. Firefox 3 has new ways for extensions to define resource: aliases in chrome manifests, which will make the refactor easier.

Components.utils.import("resource://myext/modules/blah.jsm");

Let me know if there is a reason this change or workaround is completely unacceptable to you.