203269 - CookieDialog() prompt forces user to click checkbox for remember decision

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Core :: Networking: Cookies, defect)

Description

[Mike Pinkerton (not reading bugmail)]

When the cookie embedding api puts up a dialog to prompt for each cookie, the
user can choose to remember the decision for the site via a checkbox. The
default should be to have the checkbox set (remember), or failing that, should
itself remember what the user had last chosen.

However, line 104 of nsCookiePermissions always sets the checkbox to false
before calling the embedding api:

104       PRBool rememberDecision = PR_FALSE;

We are overriding this in camino, but the default should be changed in mozilla
code. The current setup requires two clicks for the more common behavior of
accepting or denying for entire sites and is a very annoying usability quirk.

Comment 1

[Michiel van Leeuwen (email: mvl+moz@)]

The current default is that the checkbox is off when the dialog shows up the
first time, and remembers the value the users choose the next time, by using the
persits attribute in the xul file.
The initialization for false is only to make sure it at least contains
something. It is not that usefull anymore... The cookiepromptservice doesn't use
it, other than as an outparam.

Comment 2

[Mike Pinkerton (not reading bugmail)]

mvl, i'm talking about embedding, where we have no xul persistance of
attributes. the code in the embedding layer hardwires it to false.

Comment 3

[Michiel van Leeuwen (email: mvl+moz@)]

I meant to say that for mozilla proper, it doesn't really matter what
aRememberDecision is before calling the cookiepromtservice. It is not used
there. It is just an outparam that says if we need to add the decision to the
permissions list. (see nsICookiePromptService.idl, it is defined as |out boolean
rememberDecision|)

It used to be an inoutparam, but that was changed. I thought it made more sense
to let xul handle it, as it was perfectly capable of it. Do you mean you want
that back to nsCookiePermissions?

That said, I don't mind if you change the default to false.

Comment 4

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

y'know, we could kill the persist and just save "checked" as a pref, don't think
there's any significant perf hit if we do it that way, and its more
embedding-friendly.  I'm sure the embeddors not using XUL could save on code as
a result.

Thoughts?  If we don't do it as a pref, we might as well just WONTFIX this and
be done with it.

Comment 5

[Michiel van Leeuwen (email: mvl+moz@)]

You can have two opinions on the purpose of nsICookiePromptService:
1. It's purpose is to provide a dialog just like the one in seamonkey. With a
checkbox that remembers state and all.
2. It should just ask about the cookie, in a way the implementation sees fit.
For seamonkey, that happens to be with a checkbox thet remembers state.

for option 1, we could /should provide the state of the checkbox as a in param.
Maybe stored internally as a pref
for option 2, it is the problem of the implementation. seamonkey handles
remebering state with the perstist attribute.

I personally see option 2 as the best option. Yes, it mean moving the problem to
the implementation.

Comment 6

[Darin Fisher]

-> default owner

Comment 7

[[e-mail]]

-> wontfix, if this is still relevant (who doesn't use xul!?) please reopen