1706388 - History navigation requests don't show up in network tab

Status: NEW

(DevTools :: Netmonitor, defect, P3)

Description

[Niklas]

History navigation requests dont show up in the network tab of the devtools. (history.back/forward(), Clicking the back/forward button in the browser)

Example:

1. Goto https://example.com
2. Open devtools and click on the network tab
3. On the same tab go to some other page e.g.: https://example.org
4. Click the back button

The request that should be issued for going back to https://example.com is not recorded in the network tab. The request also doesn't show up if the "Disable cache" check box is checked. (The same can be seen when navigating using the forward button)

I would have expected to see these requests show up as normal requests (cached or not-cached).

As a side note: Requests issued via the reload button do show up.

Comment 1

[Neha Kochar [:neha]]

Niklas, can you check if fission.autostart is enabled for you in about:config?

Comment 2

[Julian Descottes [:jdescottes]]

Note: if it's fission only, then this is most likely the same as Bug 1705380. The only difference is that it's triggered by bfcache instead of being triggered by server side target switching. We might rename 1705380 to make the bug clearer.

Comment 3

[Niklas]

I am seeing this behavior with fission disabled or enabled in the 87 release and in my local nightly build (currently at this revision).
In the 88 release it appears to be fixed, so this might be a regression.

Comment 4

[Jan Honza Odvarko [:Honza] (always need-info? me)]

I've tested this on my machine:

• Win10
• Firefox 88
• Fission disabled (fission.autostart = false)
• Cache disabled

1. Load http://odvarko.com/tests/fission/case2/odvarko.com.html
2. Open DevTools and select the Network panel
3. Reload the page, you should see 3 requests (html, js, fav-icon)
4. Load http://janodvarko.cz/tests/bugzilla/1638259/
5. You should see 2 requests (html, fav-icon)
6. Click the back button: I am seeing just 1 request (fav-icon)
7. Click the forward button: I am still seeing just 1 request (fav-icon)

I am seeing the same in Nightly, Fission disabled.

Is anyone seeing what I am seeing?

Comment 5

[Hubert Boma Manilla (:bomsy)]

Hi Honza,
I see the same issue as you do.
i also see the same behavior with the first STR.

Comment 6

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

Navigating back and forth between example.org/com, we only get platform events related to the favicon:

[netmonitor] 17940078395405 - http-on-examine-cached-response 404  (http://example.org/favicon.ico)
[netmonitor] 17940078395405 - http-on-stop-request   (http://example.org/favicon.ico)
[netmonitor] 17940078395406 - http-on-examine-cached-response 404  (http://example.com/favicon.ico)
[netmonitor] 17940078395406 - http-on-stop-request   (http://example.com/favicon.ico)

So the issues comes from the server.

Comment 7

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

Oh, that's because the page are saved and restored from the bfcache... we should probably indicate that in the netmonitor somehow.

Comment 8

[Alexandre Poirot [:ochameau]]

From the server we get a pagehide and pageshow events when navigating from/to a bfcached page.
That, instead of having a DOMWindowCreated event or JSWindowActor.didDestroy call.

You can easily observe BFCache from this method:
https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/devtools/server/connectors/js-window-actor/DevToolsFrameChild.jsm#530-548

Comment 9

[Jan Honza Odvarko [:Honza] (always need-info? me)]

There could be a notification bar displayed at the top of the Network panel content (above the list of requests) explaining that some requests might be missing since the page was restored from BFCache and not really loaded over the network (no HTTP traffic).

The notification bar could be similar to the one we want to show in the Headers panel
See screenshot here:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1671147#c1

Comment 10

[Neha Kochar [:neha]]

Honza, is there a Fission devtools milestone that this is tracked for?

Comment 11

[Jan Honza Odvarko [:Honza] (always need-info? me)]

I've been retesting this, my results:

Fission Disabled

1. Fission disabled (fission.autostart = false), Cache disabled (in the Net panel UI)
2. Load http://odvarko.com/tests/fission/case2/odvarko.com.html
3. Open DevTools and select the Network panel
4. Reload the page, you should see 3 requests (html, js, fav-icon)
5. Load http://janodvarko.cz/tests/bugzilla/1638259/
6. You should see 4 requests (html, fav-icon and two CSP blocked requests: css, script)
7. Click the back button: I am seeing just 1 request (fav-icon)
8. Click the forward button: I am still seeing just 1 request (fav-icon)

Fission Enabled

1. Fission enabled (fission.autostart = true), Cache disabled (in the Net panel UI)
2. Load http://odvarko.com/tests/fission/case2/odvarko.com.html
3. Open DevTools and select the Network panel
4. Reload the page, you should see 3 requests (html, js, fav-icon)
5. Load http://janodvarko.cz/tests/bugzilla/1638259/
6. You should see 4 requests (html, fav-icon and two CSP blocked requests: css, script)
7. Click the back button: I am seeing all 4 requests (html, 2 script, favicon)
8. Click the forward button: I am still seeing just 3 requests (html, 2x fav-icon)

So, there are some duplicated requests when Fission is enabled.

It would be fine to not show requests coming from the BFCache at all and mimic the previous behavior.
Also, we shouldn't show any duplicates.

In a follow up (of if it's straightforward now), we could show "bfcached" in the Transferred columns (this column shows "cached" for requests coming from regular browser cache) and text color of the request should be gray (the same gray we use for standard cached requests)

Honza

Comment 12

[Jan Honza Odvarko [:Honza] (always need-info? me)]

Retesting this again, looking if bug 1713607 has any positive impact on this scenario too

Fission Disabled

Still the same just like before (I am seeing only the request for favicon)

Fission Enabled + BFCache in parent disabled

I am seeing all the proper requests even if the page is loaded from BFCache (navigating back and forward)
Those requests should be marked as coming from a cache (ideally there should be 'from bfcache' label

Fission Enabled + BFCache in parent enabled

The panel isn't updated at all when going back and forward in history. So, I am seeing requests of the last page that was not loaded from BFCache and every time I go back/forward a request for favicon is added to the list.

Honza