Firefox - Add-on Cycler
This is a simple utility extension which makes life a little easier for those of us who are involved in Firefox extension development.
The Problem
It is quite painful installing a new extension into Firefox when the procedure needs to be done dozens of times in a short space of time: during a debugging cycle, for example.
The procedure typically looks something like:
- Drag extension file to Firefox.
- Wait for install dialog to appear.
- Wait for safety countdown on install dialog.
- Accept dialog; it then closes.
- Click "restart" when the final dialog appears.
The above can be streamlined a bit by altering a few settings, but still remains awkward if you're doing it a lot. Imagine installing several extensions at once!
The Solution
This extension aims to save a bit of time, in the above situation. The idea is simple: on demand, the extension will scan a set of directories (or individual files, if you prefer) for files which have been updated since the last check. If any are found, they are immediately installed, and Firefox is restarted. No dialogs are shown during the process.
Notes and Shortcomings
The extension was quickly put together to assist in my development process. There are a few minor issues which remain unresolved, as they don't affect my work-flow. But you should be aware of them:
- The files' modification times only are used for checking. If an old file suddenly appears in a directory without having been touched, it won't be seen.
- No attempt is made to look at an extension's install time, version, or anything else. If you installed something manually after the last check, it'll still be installed on the next check if the file was also modified.
- Activating the button to check for updates still seems like a burden. Originally, the plan was to monitor the directories and trigger an install/restart automatically. I am however, not entirely happy with the prospect of polling the filesystem frequently to achieve this. Also, if a file happened to get touched by some external process, it'd trigger a restart, possibly during normal browsing.
- No recursion is done on directories.
Installation and Set-Up
Once installed in Firefox, you'll need to grab the toolbar button from Firefox's toolbar configuration dialogs.
The settings dialog can be reached via the context menu on the button. Once you've added some directories to monitor, click the cycle button whenever you have dropped a new .xpi file into one of the configured directories.
Download
Version 0.1: addoncycler-0.1.xpi (signature)
