XUL : In-Depth Learning

- tutorial reference
- Element reference
- There are several ways that XUL applications are created:
* Firefox extension - an extension adds functionality to the browser itself, often in the form of extra toolbars, context menus, or UI to customize the browser UI. This is done using a feature of XUL called an overlay, which allows the UI provided from one source, in this case, the Firefox browser, to be merged together with the UI from the extension. Extensions may also be applied to other Mozilla based products such as Thunderbird.
* Standalone XULRunner application - XULRunner is a packaged version of the Mozilla platform which allows you to create standalone XUL applications. A browser isn't required to run these applications, as they have their own executable file.
* XUL package - in between the other two are applications which are created in the same way as an extension, but they act like a separate application in a separate window. This is used when you don't want to have the larger size of a complete XULRunner application, but don't mind requiring a Mozilla browser to be installed to be able to run the application.
* Remote XUL application - you can also just place XUL code on a web server and open it in a browser, as you would any other web page. This method is limited however, as there will be security concerns that will limit the kinds of things you will be able to do, such as opening other windows.
- When the user downloads it, it will be installed onto the user's machine. It will hook into the browser using a XUL specific feature called an overlay which allows the XUL from the extension and the XUL in the browser to combine together. To the user, it may seem like the extension has modified the browser, but in reality, the code is all separate, and the extension may be uninstalled easily. Registered packages are not required to use overlays, of course. If they don't, you won't be able to access them via the main browser interface, but you can still access them via the chrome URL, if you know what it is.
- Functions/node used for xmpp4moz and Frefox extensions:
- DOMNodeInserted : This event is sent when a node is added as a child of a element. If you capture this element at the document level, you can be notified of document changes (eg: Triggerred when incoming xmpp packet arrived).
- xmpp4moz:: sample code/API
- caught when a DOMNodeInserted event is triggered.