This is an addon that allows for integration between Firefox and the Mozilla Add-ons Builder (formerly known as FlightDeck).

Usage

1. If necessary, either edit the file data/addon-config.json so that it contains the URL(s) for origins that host the Mozilla Add-ons Builder or set the extensions.addonBuilderHelper.trustedOrigins preference in about:config to a comma-delimited list of origins. The scheme, host, and port of each URL make up its “origin”, meaning that the rest of the URL will be ignored when making trust decisions.

2. All pages under a trusted origin will automatically have a mozFlightDeck object added to their window object. See below for its API.

3. As soon as the addon is activated, an event of type addonbuilderhelperstart will be dispatched to the document.body element of every open tab.

API

var promise = window.mozFlightDeck.send(command, …) promise.then(function (response) { … })

Sends a command request to the addon, with first argument being the command name, then optional arguments specific to each command. These arguments need to be JSON-able objects. This send method returns a response object through a promise pattern.

response has at least one boolean property, response.success, indicating whether the command executed successfully. If it is false, then response.msg is a string explaining why.

Valid command strings are:

• version - Queries addon builder helper addon version, placing the integer result in response.msg.

• toggleConsole - Toggle visiblity of the XUL JS Console.

• isInstalled - Queries if an addon is currently installed, placing the boolean result in response.isInstalled.

• uninstall - If an addon is currently installed, uninstalls it. If no addon is currently installed, this command does nothing.

• install - Installs an addon, uninstalling any predecessor. obj.contents must be a string representing binary XPI data; due to bug 541828, corrupt values can actually crash some versions of Firefox, so be careful!

Limitations

Haven’t yet made Bugzilla bugs for these.

• The Addon Builder Helper doesn’t currently deal well with the case where addons raise exceptions while being installed or uninstalled in development mode.

• If the user has an addon installed via the Firefox Addon Manager and then tries installing the same addon in development mode using the Addon Builder Helper, an explosion occurs.