1087469 - Add support for a "start_url" property in app manifests

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core Graveyard :: DOM: Apps, defect)

Description

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

The proposed W3C spec for web app manifests specifies a "start_url" property [1] which is very similar to our existing "launch_path" property. A "start_url" can be an absolute URL, but is resolved against the manifest URL so in the end is the same thing.

Fabrice has suggested [2] that in the short term we might just internally translate start_url into launch_path, but in the long term we want to move towards the W3C spec.

1. http://w3c.github.io/manifest/#start_url-member
2. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1075704#c4

Comment 1

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

I chatted with Alive and it turns out that Gaia gets the current launch_path URL from the event.detail.url property inside the webapps-launch event from Gecko. It seems the simplest way to add support for the start_url property for installed apps in Firefox OS would be to parse it in Gecko and pass it along with this event.

Comment 3

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Hi Fabrice, what needs modifying in Gecko to support start_url as well as launch_path as a URL to register in the app registry at install time and pass along to Gaia via the webapps-launch event?

Comment 4

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

I think adding support to https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/dom/apps/AppsUtils.jsm#901 should do the trick.

Comment 5

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Attachment: WIP Patch

Fabrice, is this what you meant?

Can you advise on what tests would be required?

Comment 6

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

Comment on attachment 8566811 [details] [diff] [review]
WIP Patch

Review of attachment 8566811 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

For the testing part, an xpchsell like https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/dom/apps/tests/unit/test_manifestSanitizer.js will be good for this purpose.

Comment 7

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Attachment: Patch

How does this look?

Comment 8

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

Comment on attachment 8577219 [details] [diff] [review]
Patch

Review of attachment 8577219 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

::: dom/apps/tests/unit/test_manifestHelper.js
@@ +5,5 @@
> +  let manifest = {
> +    start_url: "start.html",
> +    launch_path: "other.html"
> +  };
> +  

nit: trailing whitespace

@@ +9,5 @@
> +  
> +  var helper = new ManifestHelper(manifest, "http://foo.com",
> +    "http://foo.com/manifest.json");
> +  var path = helper.fullLaunchPath();
> +  do_check_true(path == "http://foo.com/start.html");

We need to test that without start_url we still resolve properly launch_path against the manifest url. So I would start with only launch_path in the manifest, and then add start_url.

Comment 9

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Attachment: Patch

Thanks for the review Fabrice, is this better?

Comment 10

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

Thanks :)

Comment 11

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Try link? :)

Comment 12

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

 https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=try&revision=021296c7b708

Comment 13

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

Note: I have a local version with the right commit info, I'll push it if try is green.

Comment 14

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/b2g-inbound/rev/bfd72dfe5d83

Comment 15

[Wes Kocher (:KWierso) (Not reading bugmail; email directly if needed)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/bfd72dfe5d83

Comment 16

[Liz Henry (:lizzard) (relman/hg->git project)]

Ben, can you suggest a release note? Do you think this warrants one? Thanks.

Comment 17

[Ben Francis [:benfrancis]]

start_url is currently just a synonym of launch_path and isn't interesting in its own right, only as part of broader support for the W3C manifest format as a whole, which didn't make 2.2 and as far as I know may never be released. So no, I don't think it warrants a release note :)