Firefox Add-ons Development

MozCoffee indore| 3rd Dec 2017

 Mozilla Reps

Mozillian

@MikeMozmicky

https://mikebhopal.wordpress.com

mukeshpathak345@gmail.com

• Browser Add-ons
• WebExtensions
• Anatomy of WebExtensions
• Building your first Add-on

Agenda

Browser Add-ons extend and modify the functionality of the browser.

Browser Add-ons?

Firefox is the most customizable browser!

1 Million+ addons downloaded everyday

70+ Add-ons published everyday

250 million+ Add-ons used everyday

2000+ users signup everyday

WebExtensions

A cross-browser system for developing browser add-ons

• Uses standard HTML, CSS and JS
• e10s compatible (multiprocess)
• Few changes and you can run it on Chrome, Edge and Opera
• Documentations from multiple resources.

Why WebExtensions?

http://arewewebextensionsyet.com

Few WebExtension API's

• alarms
• bookmarks
• tabs
• storage
• sidebarAction
• contextMenus
• webRequest
• notifications

Anatomy/Architecture of WebExtensions

manifest.json

Background scripts

• Loaded as soon as the extension is loaded

• Stay loaded until the extension is disabled or uninstalled

• You can use any of the WebExtension APIs in the script

"background": {
  "scripts": ["background-script.js"]
}

Content Scripts

• Similar to loading normal scripts in the page

• Can access DOM structure and use a small subset of the WebExtension APIs

• Make cross-domain XHR requests

• Exchange messages with their background scripts and can in this way indirectly access all the WebExtension APIs

"content_scripts": [
  {
    "matches": ["*://*.mozilla.org/*"],
    "js": ["jquery.js", "content-script.js"]
  }
]

Browser action

• Used to add button to browser toolbar
• Use this when your add-on's features are applicable to all websites else use Page action instead.

"browser_action": {
  "default_icon": {
    "19": "button/geo-19.png",
    "38": "button/geo-38.png"
  },
  "default_title": "Whereami?",
  "default_popup": "popup/choose_beast.html"
}

browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(handleClick);

Page action

• Used to add button to address toolbar
• Use this when your add-on's features are specific to a particular website.

"page_action": {
  "default_icon": {
    "19": "button/geo-19.png",
    "38": "button/geo-38.png"
  },
  "default_title": "Whereami?",
  "default_popup": "popup/choose_beast.html"
}

browser.pageAction.onClicked.addListener(handleClick);

Web-accessible resources

Resources such as images, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that you include in the extension.

Developing your first browser add-on

• Adding a browser action
• Adding a page action
• Accessing DOM from content scripts
• Using a couple of WebExtension API's
• Debugging your add-on

Debugging your add-on

Links:

• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions
• https://developer.chrome.com/extensions
• https://github.com/mdn/webextensions-examples
• https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions

Give us your feedback?

mzl.la/howwasit

Need help?

IRC Channels: #webextensions, #extdev, #addons

Mailing List: https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-addons

Telegram: @addonschat

Questions?

Kushagra Varade | @Kush19 | kush.varade.19@gmail.com

Mukesh Pathak Mike | @MikeMozmicky | mukeshpathak345@gmail.com

Slides: https://slides.com/mukeshpathak/firefox-addons-development