1402256 - WebExtension API to 'warm up' a tab

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(WebExtensions :: Frontend, enhancement, P5)

Description

[Paul Stone]

Bug 1385453 allows 'warming up' the tabs that are hovered, giving a perceived performance improvement when the user clicks a tab. It would be nice for WebExtensions that implement alternative tab switchers (e.g. Tree Style Tabs) to be able to benefit from this improvement.

This could be done by adding an extra property to updateProperties of browser.tabs.update, e.g. 'hovered', 'warmed', or 'about-to-be-active' that would trigger the same behaviour as hovering a built-in tab.

Comment 1

[Paul Stone]

tabbrowser.xml also calls SessionStore.speculativeConnectOnTabHover when a tab is hovered (for restored tabs). So the API call should probably call that as well as warmupTab and any other non-UI stuff that happens when a tab is hovered.

Comment 2

[Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]]

Hi Paul, this has been added to the agenda for the February 27 WebExtensions APIs triage. Would you be able to join us? 

Here’s a quick overview of what to expect at the triage: 

* We normally spend 5 minutes per bug
* The more information in the bug, the better
* The goal of the triage is to give a general thumbs up or thumbs down on a proposal; we won't be going deep into implementation details

Relevant Links: 

* Wiki for the meeting: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/Triage#Next_Meeting
* Meeting agenda: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Jd50z5FMuS6tA6BMiCkpemAMeE5CtR_NboA-EdYI7jE/edit#
* Vision doc for WebExtensions: https://wiki.mozilla.org/WebExtensions/Vision

Comment 3

[Caitlin Neiman [:caitmuenster]]

We're approving tab 'warm ups,' and Kris will comment with some implementation suggestions.

Comment 4

[Kris Maglione [:kmag]]

We approved this, but with the caveat that there should be a warmup function rather than a flag.

Comment 5

[ariasuni]

Hi, any news on this?

Comment 6

[ariasuni]

Attachment: Bug 1402256 - Add WebExtensions API to “warm up” a tab

Comment 7

[ariasuni]

Hi, I wrote a patch but I’d like guidance on what type of test I can write and how to check that the tab has been effectively warmed up, since we can’t know that with the WebExtensions API.

Comment 8

[Shane Caraveo (:mixedpuppy)]

I'm a touch tight on time this week, lets see if someone familiar with tab warmup has a quick answer on how to test for it.

Comment 9

[Alex Thayer [:alexical] (she/her)]

I can't really comment on where the test should live and whatnot - I'm not familiar with general policies on web extension API testing. But you can tell if a tab is warm or being warmed or not by checking the renderLayers property on the browser object. For example, in the browser toolbox: gBrowser.tabs[0].linkedBrowser.renderLayers will tell you if your first tab is warming up / warmed up / displayed.

However, looking at your patch, I don't think that should work...? It should be gBrowser.warmupTab, not gBrowser.warmUp.

Comment 10

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/9b32011328f0
Add WebExtensions API to “warm up” a tab r=mixedpuppy

Comment 11

[Razvan Maries]

Backed out for perma failures.

Push with failure: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=autoland&resultStatus=testfailed%2Cbusted%2Cexception&revision=9b32011328f04f1a01c5dc9f60b9b036a3fd054e&selectedTaskRun=cpcs9WNKRNGB-mAiBD7gJA-0

Failure logs:
https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer.html#/jobs?job_id=302649386&repo=autoland&lineNumber=14032

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer.html#/jobs?job_id=302649363&repo=autoland&lineNumber=1362

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer.html#/jobs?job_id=302650153&repo=autoland&lineNumber=1568

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer.html#/jobs?job_id=302651140&repo=autoland&lineNumber=8780

https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer.html#/jobs?job_id=302651484&repo=autoland&lineNumber=30200

Backout: https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/1e2b59d2306afe37d3bce4b129b8479aa1635fdb

Comment 12

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/9855eb03a9f1
Add WebExtensions API to “warm up” a tab r=mixedpuppy

Comment 13

[Natalia Csoregi [:nataliaCs]]

Backed out for failures on test_ext_all_apis.html

backout: https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/98fd4fe746ea5f38a26de5bc5b15cd467b6e883f

push: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/#/jobs?repo=autoland&selectedTaskRun=S3eWLtQpTlGMurMDVlhcQA-0&revision=9855eb03a9f17c6fd915a4e72efa9e26552b589a&group_state=expanded

failure log: https://treeherder.mozilla.org/logviewer.html#/jobs?job_id=303720052&repo=autoland&lineNumber=1604

[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - TEST-PASS | browser/components/extensions/test/mochitest/test_ext_all_apis.html | content script APIs
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - Buffered messages logged at 03:18:36
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - add_task | Leaving test test_enumerate_content_script_apis
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - add_task | Entering test test_enumerate_background_script_apis
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - Extension loaded
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - Buffered messages finished
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - TEST-UNEXPECTED-FAIL | browser/components/extensions/test/mochitest/test_ext_all_apis.html | background script APIs - Structures begin differing at:
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - got[99] = "browser.tabs.warmup"
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - expected[99] = "browser.test.assertEq"
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO -
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - SimpleTest.isDeeply@SimpleTest/SimpleTest.js:1879:16
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - test_enumerate_background_script_apis@browser/components/extensions/test/mochitest/test_ext_all_apis.js:178:11
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - asyncnextTick/<@SimpleTest/SimpleTest.js:2080:34
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - asyncnextTick@SimpleTest/SimpleTest.js:2105:11
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - setTimeout handler*SimpleTest_setTimeoutShim@SimpleTest/SimpleTest.js:788:41
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - add_task@SimpleTest/SimpleTest.js:2035:17
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.235Z] 03:18:37 INFO - @browser/components/extensions/test/mochitest/test_ext_all_apis.js:143:9
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.236Z] 03:18:37 INFO - add_task | Leaving test test_enumerate_background_script_apis
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.236Z] 03:18:37 INFO - GECKO(1258) | MEMORY STAT vsizeMaxContiguous not supported in this build configuration.
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.236Z] 03:18:37 INFO - GECKO(1258) | MEMORY STAT heapAllocated not supported in this build configuration.
[task 2020-05-26T03:18:37.236Z] 03:18:37 INFO - GECKO(1258) | MEMORY STAT | vsize 130550484MB | residentFast 398MB

There are also other browser-chrome failures such as:

• toolkit/components/extensions/test/browser/browser_ext_themes_dynamic_getCurrent.js | Test timed out -
• browser/components/extensions/test/browser/browser_ext_tabs_cookieStoreId_private.js | Test timed out -
• browser/extensions/report-site-issue/test/browser/browser_report_site_issue.js | Test timed out -

and many others.

Comment 14

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/18a94269c57c
Add WebExtensions API to “warm up” a tab r=mixedpuppy

Comment 15

[Cristian Brindusan [:cbrindusan]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/18a94269c57c

Comment 16

[Will Bamberg [:wbamberg]]

I've added a page for this API: https://wiki.developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/tabs/warmup .

Compat data is merged but not deployed until tomorrow.

Please let me know if this covers it.

Comment 17

[Tomislav Jovanovic :zombie]

Thanks Will, I replaced the use of "discard" on that page, to avoid confusion with the unrelated tabs.discard method, and added a clarifying sentence about this not being required, just a performance optimization. Please check if my edit fits the article and MDN.

Comment 18

[Will Bamberg [:wbamberg]]

Yes, this looks great, thank you Tom!