162742 - Helper Applications doesn't prepopulate based on mailcap

Status: NEW

(Firefox :: File Handling, defect)

Description

[Gaby Turek]

The browser apparently knows about helper apps, but the list does not appear
in the Preferences: Navigator: Helper Applications dialog. More over if I try to
enter a pre-existing one, it will ask me whether I want to over ride it, but
if I say yes it does not do it. I can only Cancel out of the transaction.
When downloading a file requiring a helper application I always get the
dialog, regardless if I the helper app is set or not. If I set it, it does not
remember, or worse, from then on it just goes directly into save to disk mode.
If it's any consolation, this (mis)behavior is also present in Netscape 6.*
Platform: Solaris 2.8
Version: Mozilla Build 2002061103
(newer builds do not address this problem)

Comment 1

[Jim Crumley]

Which helper applications are you referring to?  Are they plugins?  Do they show
up under Help|About plugins? 

Comment 2

[Gaby Turek]

Not necessarily, I am talking about anything in  .mailcap/mime.types

Comment 3

[timeless]

yes we do have some support for mailcap.

Comment 4

[Gaby Turek]

The point is, it's buggy! I can't go to Preferences>Helper Applications
and see the entries and therefore modify them. Nor can I enter new ones.
Additionally, any download which requires a helper application not supported
by a plugin ALWAYS triggers the helper application window to appear, regardless
how many times the same helper application was used before (typical example,
acrobat reader, or staroffice)

Comment 5

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

Oh, boy.  There are a few issues here:

1)  Our support for .mailcap/.mime.types is readonly, not read/write like NS4's
    was.  We do not plan to change that.
2)  "Nor can I enter new ones." -- sure you can.  That's what the "New Type"
     button is for.
3)  "ALWAYS triggers the helper application window to appear" -- do you check the
    "do not ask me again" checkbox?

Comment 6

[Gaby Turek]

If support  for .mailcap/.mime.types is readonly, than where do the new types
get stored? What about conflicts between what's in .mailcap and Mozilla's database?
The problem is two-fold:
a) existing types are NOT VISIBLE in the Preferences/Helper Applications window,
so one has NO IDEA what is there already, and can't modify any entries.
and
b) new types entered using the New Type button are not being saved.

The "do not ask me again" does not work, nor does the "advanced" button which
supposedly shows the settings for that mime type in an editable window.

Comment 7

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

New types get stored in mimeTypes.rdf in the user's profile.

Part (a) of the problem is a system-level issue.  mailcap/mime.types is the
system MIME registry, and the system's tools should be used to edit it; Mozilla
should not be editing it.  We _could_ reflect those settings in the helper app
panel, and there is a bug on that already.

Part (b) (and the "do not ask again" checkbox not working) indicate to me that
something is wrong with the way your profile is being saved...

Comment 8

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

see also bug 54940, which i think this would block... (or, dup perhaps?)

Comment 9

[xtian simon]

>The problem is two-fold:
>a) existing types are NOT VISIBLE in the Preferences/Helper Applications window,
>so one has NO IDEA what is there already, and can't modify any entries.
This is a reoccuring problem for me, too. see below for sys specs.

>and
>b) new types entered using the New Type button are not being saved.
Half of this probelm. I can ADD a new MIME type, but the list disappears. Is it
there is it gone...? 

The problem occured when I tried to add a new Helper App. I added the MIME, but
the file was not being forwarded to the helper app. I reopen preferences and the
list of MIME types has disappeared. Restart the application and the list returned. 

I tried to trash the mimeTypes.rdf file. Seems I had five user profiles from
various installations. This lead to a goose chase for Mozilla preferences/user
profiles. Fixed the profile duplicates and restarted. Now the MIME type do not
reapper under any circumstances.

THis is Mozilla Build 1.5a
on MAC TiG4 667 30g/512mb
OS X 10.2.6

Comment 10

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

>but the list disappears. 

This is an unfortunate bug, which has been fixed in the meantime - try a nightly
build (or wait for 1.5b). The entry was actually stored, just does not get
displayed. If you want I can try to find the bug#.

Comment 11

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

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