155540 - space after the path to the file causes "File doesn't exist"

Status: NEW

(SeaMonkey :: UI Design, defect)

Description

[Igor Furlan]

Can I reproduce this bug ?  Yes at any time.

Steps to reproduce this bug (or it is, perhaps, a feature to confuse users):

A) install fresh mozilla (or go to Preferences --> Navigator --> Helper
Applications, 
remove entry for PDF, close mozilla and start mozilla again)
B) click on this URL (or any other URL on the net with PDF file)
http://www.bma.bund.de/download/broschueren/a987engl.pdf
C) a dialog window will pop up ( so far so good ). Please see first GIF attachment
D) select "Open using an application" and then click on button "Choose"
E) a file picker will pop up. ( so far so good ) Please see second GIF attachment
F) enter MANUALLY ( aka by typing and NOT with mouse ) application which
   can open PDF file. In my case the application is Adobe's "acroread". Please,
   DO NOT FORGET to type a "space" after "acroread "
G) click on button "Open"

ACTUAL RESULT: error message "File /usr/local/acroread doesn't exist"
               (Please see third GIF attachment)

WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN: mozilla should accept my manual entry 

I think this is a PARSER error.

When I delete a space (which is of course, invisible) after 'acroread",
mozilla accepts the entry and everything is nice and shiny.

This "feature' (bug ???) could be VERY VERY VERY annoying for a user, because,
"space" is invisible and the user knows for sure that he/she has "acroread"
in his/her system. Please see fourth GIF attachment.

my system:
Mozilla 1.1a
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.1a) Gecko/20020610

Comment 1

[Igor Furlan]

Attachment: initial dialog window

This is initial dialog window which asks the user what to do with the UNKNOWN
file.  The same "bug" (feature) can be observed always when the user
enters manually path and file into any selection dialog (file picker)

Comment 2

[Igor Furlan]

Attachment: file picker dialog window

Comment 3

[Igor Furlan]

Attachment: error message

Comment 4

[Igor Furlan]

Attachment: correct behavior

Comment 5

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

1) This has nothing to do with the parser, which only parses HTML.  This is a
   filepicker bug.

2) If I have a file named "acroread " (with the space), how do I access it from
   the filepicker?  And no, "acroread\ " is not acceptable; there should be no
   reason to make the user escape here, since this is not a shell command and the
   space is not used in tokenization

I agree that the error message should make it clearer that there is a space
involved, so taking bug... if you can convince me that we really should strip
off whitespace before looking for the file, that would not be that hard to do.

Comment 6

[Igor Furlan]

Boris:
1) This has nothing to do with the parser, which only parses HTML.  This is a
   filepicker bug.

Igor:
  ok  ..  I do agree with you...   but I could not find a component called
  "filepicker" from the available list...  so, what should I select ?

Boris:
2) If I have a file named "acroread " (with the space), how do I access it from
   the filepicker?  

Igor:  good question...  I have no answer...

Boris:
   And no, "acroread\ " is not acceptable; there should be no
   reason to make the user escape here, since this is not a shell command 
   and the space is not used in tokenization

I agree that the error message should make it clearer that there is a space
involved, so taking bug... if you can convince me that we really should strip
off whitespace before looking for the file, that would not be that hard to do.

Igor:
hmmm... you have a point... there could be a real file name "acroread " with
a space or, for example, "My acroread " (with two spaces).  No, I do not have
any convincing argument, how to solve this problem.

Comment 7

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

No plans to work on this any time in the foreseeable future, so to default owner.

Comment 8

[Christian :Biesinger (don't email me, ping me on IRC)]

"I agree that the error message should make it clearer that there is a space
involved"

so is that the only part that's left of this bug?

Can we maybe just enclose the filename in quotes, to show that an additional
space is there?

Comment 9

[Serge Gautherie (:sgautherie)]

Filter "spam" on "guifeatures-nobody-20080610".