168730 - JavaScript function for invoking the DOM inspector

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(Other Applications :: DOM Inspector, enhancement)

Description

[Nicolás Lichtmaier]

It would be nice to have a "inspect(object)" function which would invoke the DOM
inspector. This can be very nice for debugging. Examples:

function eventHandler(event)
{
        inspect(event)
}

.. or calling it from the URL bar...

javascript:inspect(document.forms.something)

.. or invoking it from the JS debugger console.

Comment 1

[Alex Vincent [:WeirdAl]]

This might be better handled as a pseudo-protocol, such as chrome:// or 
javascript:// .  Binding it to JavaScript only is not necessarily good policy.

RFE is deprecated in favor of severity: enhancement.

Comment 2

[Christopher Aillon (sabbatical, not receiving bugmail)]

.

Comment 3

[Christopher Aillon (sabbatical, not receiving bugmail)]

The global namespace in JavaScript is already overpopulated.  The last thing we
need is another identifier there.  I realize your intent of having a convenient
way to load inspector right up to a node, and I do think that would be cool.  If
you come up with a better suggestion (I'm not sure that a new protocol is the
correct solution either), I would be glad to hear it.  I have heard from someone
on IRC that Phoenix has reinstated a contextmenu item which does something like
"Inspect this Node" from the browser.  Mozilla used to have that but it was
removed for one reason or another.

Anyway, we should be trying to _not_ add things to the global namespace.  And
especially not for an optional extension.  Thus, wontfix.

Comment 4

[Nicolás Lichtmaier]

Why not create a global object to hold all non-standard Mozilla extensions?

then...

Mozilla.inspect(event)

... and the namespace could be cleaned so that every non-standard thing is
there. Like the way it's done in CSS with the -moz- prefix.

(uhm.. it would only work with global things... perhaps it could be a prefix
like: event.mozExtInspect(). But it's a little uglier. )

Just some ideas, thanks for reading =).

Comment 5

[Christopher Aillon (sabbatical, not receiving bugmail)]

The scope of those ideas are not within inspector's scope.  File bugs in DOM
Extensions if you like, but be prepared for it to be marked with a similar fate
as this one.

Comment 6

[Alex Vincent [:WeirdAl]]

v.