Firefox 3

[vlitim]

Is there a version of the firefox plugin that works for FF3 yet?

thanks

Tim

[Albert Wiersch]

Unfortunately, no. I have not had time to work on this except to ask the author of a similar extension to support CSE HTML Validator, but it seems they are too busy. So I don't know what the future is of the Firefox extension. My top priority right now is getting CSE HTML Validator v9.0 completed.

You may want to ask the author of the HTML Validator extension, Marc Guery (mgueury at skynet dot be), to support CSE HTML Validator. Perhaps if he gets enough requests then he will want to do it.

Hopefully at some point in the future there will be a Firefox 3 extension that supports CSE HTML Validator.

[Enigma]

What about Giorgio Maone, the author of the version for Firefox 2? Did he refuse to update the extension?

Cheers,
Jan

[Albert Wiersch]

What about Giorgio Maone, the author of the version for Firefox 2? Did he refuse to update the extension?

Cheers,
Jan

It's hard to get a reply back from him. I've tried contacting him several times. I don't think he will be able to update it. I may try to find some time myself and see if I can do it myself, though I'm not experienced with Firefox extension development so it will take some extra time (but it would be nice to learn about developing Firefox extensions).

[CHeitkamp]

For me, this extension seems to work with FF3. Only the compatibility information in the .xpi need some editing.


If you want to try it:

Open .xpi-file in WinRAR, 7-zip ... (it's a zip file) and extract the file install.rdf.
Open this file and edit the following block:

Code: Select all

<!-- Firefox -->
<em:targetApplication>
  <Description>
  <em:id>{ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}</em:id>
  <em:minVersion>1.0</em:minVersion>
  <em:maxVersion>2.0.0.*</em:maxVersion>
</Description>
</em:targetApplication>


Update this line: <em:maxVersion>3.0+</em:maxVersion>

Replace the install.rdf in the .xpi-file with the new one.

I uploaded a prepatched version to my webspace: Download


PS:
If you discover problems with FF3 - maybe i'll find a solution

[Albert Wiersch]

For me, this extension seems to work with FF3. Only the compatibility information in the .xpi need some editing.

Interesting. I could not get it to work right with Firefox 3 when I tried updating the version information in the install.rdf file, but that was with Firefox 3.0.0. I wonder if something has been changed/fixed in Firefox 3.0.1 that would make it work. I'll have to try it again sometime this week.

[MikeGale]

Is this fully operational (with that change) or are there still some issues?

[vlitim]

I tried this change, and it loads up in FF3, but when you view source I don't get any of the errors show, and there is no way of seeing them. So close!

[Albert Wiersch]

I think I may drop support for the Firefox extension if I can't get it to work in Firefox 3. I just can't develop it and can't justify the cost (not enough users) of paying someone else to get it to work unless I can find an inexpensive developer or a volunteer who wants to do this.

I would suspect though, that there is some Firefox extension that can take the source of the page being viewed, save it to a file, and call an EXE with the filename of the browser source. If that's the case, then this may work well because the source could be loaded in CSE HTML Validator's editor and checked there. The interface would be better. I plan on looking for such an extension. If anyone knows of such an extension already, then please let me know.

[anionic]

You are right about "pass source to EXE" extensions, I found a couple:

"Handy Xtra Stuff 3.0.0" which seems to intercept the View / Page Source menu item and pass it to a nominated .exe (e.g. yours!)

"Web Developer", which lets you add several .exe targets to its own "View Source" menu

In each case you have to hit F6 after Validator opens, but if there isn't already a command line option to request this, I'm sure you could oblige if we ask nicely

As I write only JSPs I have no HTML to validate except what comes out of the web server, so desktop Validator is no use to me without a browser extension. Perhaps Jeremy Morton (Handy Xtra Stuff author) could be bribed to develop and maintain a minimal source-to-Validator extn ?

Could we optionally reuse an existing Validator window to speed startup?

[Albert Wiersch]

You are right about "pass source to EXE" extensions, I found a couple:

"Handy Xtra Stuff 3.0.0" which seems to intercept the View / Page Source menu item and pass it to a nominated .exe (e.g. yours!)

"Web Developer", which lets you add several .exe targets to its own "View Source" menu

Great! I'd be surprised if there weren't any out there.

In each case you have to hit F6 after Validator opens, but if there isn't already a command line option to request this, I'm sure you could oblige if we ask nicely

Have you tried checking the "Automatically validate documents when opened" option in the Editor Options, General 1 tab?

As I write only JSPs I have no HTML to validate except what comes out of the web server, so desktop Validator is no use to me without a browser extension. Perhaps Jeremy Morton (Handy Xtra Stuff author) could be bribed to develop and maintain a minimal source-to-Validator extn ?

Have you tried the integrated web browser? It may do what you want.

Could we optionally reuse an existing Validator window to speed startup?

I would suggest using cmdlineprocessor.exe and the "-o" option to open the file in the editor. Just call that EXE with "-o" and the filename.

Please let me know how these things work. Thanks!

[anionic]

The "Handy Xtra Stuff" gadget (according to its author) uses a standard Firefox preference for the path to the external viewer: FF3 has no facility for passing command line args to this (other than the filename).

I tried nominating a batch file which contains

"C:\Program Files\HTMLValidator80\cmdlineprocessor.exe" -o "%1"

but Validator fails after being passed

"-o" "C:\DOCUME~1\paul\LOCALS~1\Temp\My" "Application" "-" "D1.htm"

i.e. the space-containing temp filename is split into multiple actual parameters. Am I being naive about quoting? Can't say I'm a BAT expert

[Albert Wiersch]

The "Handy Xtra Stuff" gadget (according to its author) uses a standard Firefox preference for the path to the external viewer: FF3 has no facility for passing command line args to this (other than the filename).

Thanks. I tried installing that plug-in and using your batch file method and it seems to work. Well, Firefox did crash on me once (extension bug?).

I configured the "Handy Xtra Stuff" Firefox extension to use a batch file with:
"C:\Program Files\HTMLValidator80\cmdlineprocessor.exe" -o %1

It seems I needed to remove the double quotes around "%1" to make it work reliably. Have you tried this?

Then I can press Ctrl+U in Firefox and it opens the editor and validates the file (I checked the option to validate when opening in CSE HTML Validator).

[amir]

I want to upgrade to Validator 9.0, but the Firefox extension is a must have for me. Will the current extension for FF2 keep working on the new Validator version?

I realize it sounds a little picky. I'm doing web development and the pages to validate are dynamically generated. I just need to check them quickly as I go through the application. Manually opening the source and pasting it is a bit too slow.

[Albert Wiersch]

I want to upgrade to Validator 9.0, but the Firefox extension is a must have for me. Will the current extension for FF2 keep working on the new Validator version?

Yes, v9.0 should work fine with the extension. If you have any issues, then just let me know.

Also, have you tried the integrated web browser in CSE HTML Validator? It will let you browse the web while checking the dynamically generated pages. No manually opening the source and cutting and pasting needed.