1370388 - Offer an API to intercept and modify the typed URL

Status: NEW

(WebExtensions :: General, enhancement, P5)

Description

[François Marier [:francois]]

The following add-on intercepts URLs typed into the URL bar and adds "https://" instead of "http://" if the user types an address without the scheme:

  https://github.com/Rob--W/https-by-default

Unlike HTTPS Everywhere, it does NOT touch URLs that aren't typed directly by the user (e.g. links).

It seems like the existing webRequest API is not sufficient to implement this add-on as a Web Extension. However, maybe a flag could be added in the details (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/webRequest/onBeforeRequest#details) so that add-ons can tell whether or not a URL was "typed"?

Comment 1

[Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]]

Hi François, this has been added to the agenda for the July 18 WebExtensions APIs triage meeting. Would you be able to join us? 

Wiki: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Add-ons/Contribute/Triage#Next_Meeting

Agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gWszBunGAyOJ_V8_HMECXJuZ4Gd_HTM_M7xjDSwSxeo/edit#

Comment 2

[Luca Greco [:rpl] [:luca] [:lgreco]]

I'm marking this issue `investigate` in the whiteboard (and add a needinfo assigned to me):

This should be already possible by combining the webNavigation and the webRequest APIs,
I'm going to take a look and update this bugzilla issue).

Comment 3

[Rob Wu [:robwu]]

(In reply to Luca Greco [:rpl] from comment #2)
> I'm marking this issue `investigate` in the whiteboard (and add a needinfo
> assigned to me):
> 
> This should be already possible by combining the webNavigation and the
> webRequest APIs,
> I'm going to take a look and update this bugzilla issue).

Unless the originally typed value is added to either API, neither the webNavigation nor the webRequest API provide enough information (i.e. the originally typed string).

For a different use case (custom search keywords, e.g. redirecting "XXX searchterms" to "google.com/search?q=site:XXX.example.com+escaped-searchterms"), I used the webRequest API and unpacked the generated search URL.
This only works because I developed that extension for personal use so I know that the configured search engine has a fixed format. And it does not work if the search term looks like a URL (and Firefox considers anything with a dot in it to be a URL...).

And FYI, the original report references an add-on of mine, so if you want to chat about the use cases, you know where to find me ;)

Comment 4

[YF (Yang)]

I think bug 1393349 comment 1 provide a program for this bug, i.e. provide the TransitionType to onBeforeNavigate, it has "typed".

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/webNavigation/transitionType

Comment 5

[Rob Wu [:robwu]]

(In reply to YF (Yang) from comment #4)
> I think bug 1393349 comment 1 provide a program for this bug, i.e. provide
> the TransitionType to onBeforeNavigate, it has "typed".
> 
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/webNavigation/
> transitionType

I looked at the value of transitionType at onCommitted.
The transitionType is "typed" when I press Enter after typing "example.com",
but "link" when I press Alt+Enter (to open in a new tab).

It seems that onBeforeNavigate fires before onBeforeRequest, so if the bug I described in this comment is fixed, and bug 1393349 is fixed, then this bug can be closed too (provided that this order of events is guaranteed).

Comment 7

[Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]]

This was approved at the February 27, 2018 WebExtensions APIs triage meeting.