722263 - New Tab Page: changing browser.newtab.url require restart.

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[tabmix.onemen]

Changing browser.newtab.url require restart.

In my opinion changing to browser.newtab.url need to be in effect immediately without restart.

Comment 2

[Mike Kaply [:mkaply]]

This will be a major issue for add-ons that want to override the new tab page.

Comment 3

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

Attachment: patch v1

Adding a pref observer to update the value when changed.

Comment 4

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Comment on attachment 595730 [details] [diff] [review]
patch v1

The observer needs to be removed when the window closes in order to not keep it alive.

Comment 5

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

Oops, right :/ How about using nsISupportsWeakReference for the observer instead of explicitly removing it?

Comment 6

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

I don't know, I think this may cause the observer to get lost when it shouldn't.

Comment 7

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

Attachment: patch v2

Comment 8

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Comment on attachment 604887 [details] [diff] [review]
patch v2

>+  let update = function () {
>+    let desc = {enumerable: true, value: getNewTabPageURL()};
>+    Object.defineProperty(this, "BROWSER_NEW_TAB_URL", desc);
>+  }.bind(this);

How exactly is this better than:

>+  function update() {
>+    BROWSER_NEW_TAB_URL = getNewTabPageURL();
>+  }

Comment 9

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

By defining a read-only getter we're not making anyone think BROWSER_NEW_TAB_URL is a setter that modifies the preference behind it. If you think we don't need to cover that case then of course just changing a property value is easier and has less overhead.

Comment 10

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

It won't be read-only at the time you're adding the observer. It would only be read-only once the pref changed once, which doesn't seem to make sense.

Comment 11

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

And yes, I don't think we need to worry about this and can just leave it writable.

Comment 12

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [:dao] from comment #10)
> It won't be read-only at the time you're adding the observer. It would only
> be read-only once the pref changed once, which doesn't seem to make sense.

Hmm, didn't know that defineLazyGetter() doesn't work that way.

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [:dao] from comment #11)
> And yes, I don't think we need to worry about this and can just leave it
> writable.

Ok, will change that part.

Comment 13

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

Attachment: patch v3

Removed the usage of Object.defineProperty().

Comment 14

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/bb271ef702c6

Comment 15

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/bb271ef702c6

Comment 16

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

Comment on attachment 604992 [details] [diff] [review]
patch v3

[Approval Request Comment]
User impact if declined: browser.newtab.url pref requires restart, addon-compat with the new pref affected
Testing completed (on m-c, etc.): no problems since its landing for fx13
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): backing out the new way to define the url used for new tabs which is imo a bigger risk
String changes made by this patch: none

This would solve the issues raised in bug 740340. We're providing the new preference to define the url used for new tabs but add-on authors can't use it right now because it requires a restart to take effect. This is of course nonsense for restartless add-ons and might also confuse users that manually change this pref.

Comment 17

[Alex Keybl [:akeybl]]

Comment on attachment 604992 [details] [diff] [review]
patch v3

[Triage Comment]
This patch should be fairly low risk, and will prevent add-on compatibility fallout after FF12's release. Approved for Beta 12.

I believe this also affects Aurora 13, so approving for that branch as well.

Comment 18

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

Comment on attachment 604992 [details] [diff] [review]
patch v3

This landed on mozilla-central in the Firefox 13 phase, which means that this is currently on aurora.

Comment 19

[:Gavin Sharp [email: [e-mail]]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/mozilla-beta/rev/f738e3a8091a

Comment 20

[Ben Bucksch (:BenB)]

Thanks

Comment 21

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:12.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/12.0
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; rv:12.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/12.0
Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 5.1; rv:12.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/12.0

Verified in Firefox 12 beta 4 on Ubuntu 11.10, Mac Os 10.6 and Windows XP. The new tab page is accessible without a restart after changing the pref.

Comment 22

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:13.0) Gecko/20120424 Firefox/13.0a2
Also verified on Aurora 13 with Windows 7, mac OS 10.6 and ubuntu 11.10. the pref can be toggled without restart.