Creating Applications with Mozilla

Table of Contents

1. Mozilla Background
2. The State of Mozilla
3. Who Should Read This Book
4. Platform and Applications
5. Structure of the Book
6. How This Book Was Written
7. Mozilla Licensing Information
8. Conventions
9. Comments and Questions
10. Acknowledgments

1. Mozilla as Platform

1.1. Visualizing Mozilla's Front End

1.1.1. XPFE Framework
1.1.2. Comparing XPFE and DHTML
1.1.3. Components of a Mozilla Application

1.2. Setting Up Your System

1.3. Mozilla Applications

1.3.1. Applications as Web Pages

2. Getting Started

2.1. Simple XUL Example

2.2. Basic XUL Concepts

2.2.1. The XUL File Format
2.2.2. Conventions
2.2.3. The XUL Namespace
2.2.4. Basic XUL Layout
2.2.5. Using XUL Windows

2.3. Making Mozilla Work for You

2.3.1. Importing Resources from Mozilla

2.4. Displaying XUL Files as Chrome

2.5. Creating a Package

2.5.1. Architecture of a Chrome Package
2.5.2. Package Components
2.5.3. Directory Structure
2.5.4. Package Manifests
2.5.5. Separating the Files
2.5.6. Registering a Package

2.6. Launching the Application

2.6.1. Windows launch

3. XUL Elements and Features

3.1. The XUL Document Object

3.1.1. XUL Parsing and the Document Object Model

3.2. Application Windows

3.2.1. Dialogs
3.2.2. Pages
3.2.3. Wizards

3.3. Application Widgets

3.3.1. The Toolbox
3.3.2. Selection Lists

3.4. Tabular and Hierarchical Information

3.4.1. List Boxes
3.4.2. High Performance Trees
3.4.3. Grid

3.5. Words and Pictures

3.5.1. Text Input
3.5.2. Text Display
3.5.3. Images

3.6. Form Controls

3.6.1. Radio
3.6.2. Checkbox
3.6.3. Buttons

3.7. Widget Interaction

3.7.1. Broadcaster and Observers
3.7.2. Commands

3.8. Content Panels

3.8.1. Browser and IFrame
3.8.2. Editor

3.9. The Box Model

3.9.1. Box Attributes
3.9.2. Box-Like Containers
3.9.3. Additional Box Features
3.9.4. Stacks and Decks

3.10. XUL Attributes

3.10.1. Stretchiness
3.10.2. Style
3.10.3. Persistence
3.10.4. The debug Attribute

3.11. Overlays

3.11.1. How to Use Overlays
3.11.2. Content Positioning

3.12. The Extras

3.12.1. Tooltips
3.12.2. Progress Meter
3.12.3. Links

3.13. Building the Application Shell

4. CSS in Mozilla Applications

4.1. Interface Basics

4.1.1. Skins Versus Themes
4.1.2. Limitations of a Skin
4.1.3. Theme Abstraction (or Building Good Skins)
4.1.4. Cross-Platform Interface Considerations

4.2. Introduction to CSS in Mozilla

4.2.1. Basic XUL + CSS Interaction
4.2.2. Stylesheet Syntax
4.2.3. Special Mozilla Extensions
4.2.4. Referencing Images in CSS
4.2.5. Menu Skinning

4.3. Mozilla Skins

4.3.1. CSS and Skin Hierarchies
4.3.2. Basic Skin Structure
4.3.3. The Modern and Classic Themes
4.3.4. Skin Files

4.4. Creating New Skins

4.4.1. Importing the Global Skin
4.4.2. Getting Started with Custom Styles
4.4.3. Creating Styles for the xFly Buttons
4.4.4. Describing the Skin in RDF

4.5. What Is Possible in a Skin?

4.5.1. Binding New Widgets to the Interface Using XBL
4.5.2. User Stylesheets
4.5.3. Theme Security Restrictions

5. Scripting Mozilla

5.1. Faces of JavaScript in Mozilla

5.2. JavaScript and the DOM

5.2.1. What Is the DOM?
5.2.2. The DOM Standards and Mozilla
5.2.3. DOM Methods and Properties

5.3. Adding Scripts to the UI

5.3.1. Handling Events from a XUL Element
5.3.2. Events and the Mozilla Event Model
5.3.3. Changing an Element's CSS Style Using JavaScript
5.3.4. Creating Elements Dynamically
5.3.5. Sharing Data Between Documents

5.4. XPConnect and Scriptable Components

5.4.1. What Is XPConnect?

5.5. JavaScript Application Code

5.5.1. JavaScript Libraries

6. Packaging and Installing Applications

6.1. Packaging and Installing Overview

6.2. Packaging Mozilla Applications

6.2.1. Package Manifests
6.2.2. Registering Packages
6.2.3. Creating a Package
6.2.4. The Chrome Registry

6.3. Installing Mozilla Applications

6.3.1. The XPI File Format
6.3.2. Installation Scripts
6.3.3. XPInstall
6.3.4. Uninstalling Applications

6.4. Finishing Things Up

6.4.1. Creating the xFly XPI
6.4.2. Adding the Installation Script
6.4.3. Web Page Installer

6.5. Extra Tricks for Customizing an Application

6.5.1. Icons
6.5.2. Splash Screen

7. Extending the UI with XBL

7.1. What Is XBL?

7.1.1. XBL Terminology
7.1.2. An XBL Document
7.1.3. Namespaces and XBL
7.1.4. XBL and HTML

7.2. Anatomy of a Binding

7.2.1. CSS Attachment
7.2.2. The XBL Content Element
7.2.3. The Implementation Element
7.2.4. Handlers
7.2.5. Style

7.3. Adding Behavior to Bindings

7.3.1. Binding Methods
7.3.2. Binding Properties

7.4. XBL and the DOM

7.4.1. The XBL DOM Interfaces
7.4.2. Binding Parents
7.4.3. Accessing Anonymous Nodes
7.4.4. Extra Binding Content and Insertion Points

7.5. Inheritance

7.5.1. Binding Inheritance
7.5.2. Attribute Inheritance
7.5.3. Implementation Inheritance

7.6. Event Handling

7.6.1. The Time and Venue

7.7. Resources for Bindings

7.7.1. Stylesheets in XBL

8.1. What Is XPCOM?

8.1.1. What Is a Component?
8.1.2. XPConnect and the Component Object
8.1.3. XPCOM Interfaces and the IDL
8.1.4. XPCOM Type Libraries
8.1.5. XPCOM Identifiers
8.1.6. Component Manager
8.1.7. Getting and Using XPCOM

8.2. Creating XPCOM Components

8.2.1. Creating a JavaScript XPCOM Component
8.2.2. Compiling the Component
8.2.3. Testing the Component
8.2.4. Useful C++ Macros and Types
8.2.5. C++ Implementation of nsISimple
8.2.6. The nsSimple module code
8.2.7. Other Languages for XPCOM
8.2.8. XPCOM as an Open Cross-Platform Solution

9. XUL Templates

9.1. Understanding XUL Templates

9.1.1. Basic template structure

9.2. Enhancing XUL Templates

9.2.1. Nested Content Sample
9.2.2. Using Data for Style
9.2.3. Tree Template
9.2.4. Multiple Rules Tree
9.2.5. Multiple Rules Menubar

9.3. Using Other XUL Tags for Templates

10. RDF, RDF Tools, and the Content Model

10.1. RDF Basics

10.1.1. RDF Data Model
10.1.2. RDF Syntax
10.1.3. Building an RDF File from Scratch

10.2. The Mozilla Content Model

10.2.1. Datasources

10.3. RDF Components and Interfaces

10.3.1. What Is an RDF Component?
10.3.2. What Are RDF Interfaces?
10.3.3. nsIRDFService
10.3.4. nsIRDFCompositeDataSource
10.3.5. nsIRDFDataSource
10.3.6. nsIRDFRemoteDataSource
10.3.7. nsIRDFPurgeableDataSource
10.3.8. nsIRDFNode, nsIRDFResource, and nsIRDFLiteral
10.3.9. nsIRDFContainerUtils
10.3.10. nsIRDFContainer
10.3.11. nsIRDFXML Interfaces

10.4. Template Dynamics

10.4.1. Template Dynamics in XBL

10.5. JSLib RDF Files

10.6. Manifests

10.6.1. RDF and Dynamic Overlays

11. Localization

11.1. Localization Basics

11.1.1. For the Developer
11.1.2. Files and File Formats
11.1.3. UI Aesthetics and Principles

11.2. DTD Entities

11.2.1. Inserting Entities
11.2.2. External and Inline Entities

11.3. String Bundles

11.3.1. Inside a Bundle
11.3.2. String Bundle Methods and Properties
11.3.3. Creating Your Own Bundle

11.4. Programming and Localization

11.4.1. Naming Conventions
11.4.2. Breaking Up the Text
11.4.3. Anonymous Content and Locale
11.4.4. Localizable Resources in HTML
11.4.5. Localizable Resources in RDF

11.5. The Chrome Registry and Locale

11.5.1. The Directory Structure
11.5.2. Interaction with the Chrome Registry
11.5.3. Distribution

11.6. Localization Issues

11.6.1. XPFE and Unicode
11.6.2. Language Quirks

12. Remote Applications

12.1. Directions in Remote Application Development

12.2. Basic Remote Application Example

12.2.1. Case Study: Snake (a.k.a. Hiss-zilla)

12.3. Setting Up XPFE for Remote Applications

12.3.1. Server Configuration

12.4. Generated Content

12.4.1. Generating Content with Scripting Languages
12.4.2. Generating Content from a Database
12.4.3. Localizing Remote Applications

12.5. Certificate Authorities and Digital Signatures

12.5.1. Mozilla Network Security Services (NSS)
12.5.2. CA Certificates, Signing Certificates, and the Certificate Chain
12.5.3. Setting Up a Certificate Authority
12.5.4. Issuing Signing Certificates
12.5.5. Distributing Distribution Certificates

12.6. Creating Signed Remote Applications

12.6.1. certs.mozdev.org CA Certificate
12.6.2. Signing Certificates
12.6.3. Creating and Signing the Application
12.6.4. Receiving a Signed Application

12.7. Expanded Privileges in Mozilla

12.8. Signed Remote Snake Game

12.8.1. How to Expand Mozilla to Full Screen

12.9. Mozilla's XML Extras and SOAP

12.9.1. Mozilla, SOAP, and .NET
12.9.2. Setting Up a .NET Web Service
12.9.3. .NET WSDL
12.9.4. SOAP Call XML Formats
12.9.5. Adding SnakeService SOAP to Snake
12.9.6. Make SOAP Functions Work in XUL Documents
12.9.7. Examining SOAP Functions for Snake

12.10. Looking Forward

A. Getting and Building the Mozilla Source

A.1. Getting the Source Code

A.1.1. Downloading the Source with FTP
A.1.2. Downloading the Source with CVS
A.1.3. Working with Branching

A.2. Building the Source Code

A.2.1. Unix Environment
A.2.2. Windows Environment
A.2.3. Macintosh Environment

B. Development Tools

B.1. XULKit

B.1.1. new-from-template.pl Script
B.1.2. makexpi.pl Script
B.1.3. Using XULKit

B.2. Patch Maker 2.0

B.2.1. CVS Mode
B.2.2. Build Mode

B.3. The DOM Inspector

B.4. The Component Viewer

B.5. Venkman: The JavaScript Debugger

B.6. MozillaTranslator

B.7. Missing Parts

B.7.1. Visual XUL Editors
B.7.2. Toolkits and Libraries
B.7.3. Integrating the Pieces

C. Programmer's Reference

C.1. XUL Element Set

action -- Child element in a XUL template structure that draws content for matched data
arrowscrollbox -- Container box for scrolling contents
autorepeatbutton -- Provides arrows for a scrolling area
binding -- Child element in a XUL template that optionally matches in the data
bindings -- Substructure in a XUL template that collects the optional binding rules
box -- Generic container and layout element
broadcaster -- Notifies elements when a change occurs in the UI
broadcasterset -- Container for broadcaster elements
browser -- Web-content container
button -- A widget that activates some functionality when pressed
caption -- Provides heading for a groupbox element
checkbox -- Indicates a specified feature's on/off state
colorpicker -- Widget used to choose a color
column -- A column in a grid
columns -- Container for the number of columns in a grid
command -- Defines functionality that can be called from multiple sources
commands -- Container for a group of command sets
commandset -- A container for multiple command elements
conditions -- Defines the conditions within a template rule
content -- Binds variables in a template
deck -- Box container that displays one child element at a time
description -- Holder for block of text that can wrap to multiple lines
dialog -- Root element for secondary XUL window
dialogheader -- Styled text heading for UI panel
editor -- Content area for editable web content
grid -- Widget for laying out content in a structured tabular fashion
grippy -- Visible widget used on a grippy bar to expand or collapse a UI region
groupbox -- Box with frame surrounding it
hbox -- Box container whose children are laid out horizontally
iframe -- Web content area
image -- Display of a supported type image
key -- Definition for a keyboard shortcut
keybinding -- Container for a keyset or group of keysets
keyset -- Container for one or more key elements
label -- Simple text display element and label for a control element
listbox -- Used for display of a flat list of items
listcell -- Single cell of a listbox
listcol -- Listbox column definition
listcols -- Container for listbox col