227651 - [calendar] [mozilla 1.x] if native calendar app is available, and mozilla calendar is not there, show chrome to launch a native calendar, if specified by a pref

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(SeaMonkey :: UI Design, defect)

Description

[(not reading, please use [e-mail] instead)]

[calendar] if native calendar app is available, and mozilla calendar not
avaible, show chrome to launch calendar

Comment 1

[Scott MacGregor]

the current goal is to make it so people who use the Mozilla 1.x app suite, and
happen to have an existing calendar, like CS&T (that shipped with Netscape 4.x,
for example), or Outlook, or Mozilla Calendar (Sunbird), etc automatically get
the "Window | Calendar" menu item.

some notes:

application/v-calendar:
	ext: vcf

"text/calendar" mime type

.ics file extension

http://www.innerjoin.org/iCalendar/calendar-mime-type.html
HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\icsfile\shell\open\command

for CS&T:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Netscape\Calendar value is "4.73 (en)"
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Netscape\Calendar\4.73 (en)\Main\Install Directory
value is "C:\Program Files\Netscape\Communicator\Calendar"
the exe for cs&t cal is "C:\Program
Files\Netscape\Communicator\Calendar\nscal32.exe"

It doesn't look like CS&T calendar registers itsself as the default hander for
the calendar mime types or the .ics file.

one idea, for the first attempt at this bug fix, is to make it a pref to the
calendar .exe, that if set, we'll show the UI and launch.

this might be something we can generalize, if we wanted to show other apps (AIM,
for example, like IE does)

more info coming soon.

Comment 2

[Scott MacGregor]

note, cs&t can import .vcs files (among other files)

iCal (.ics) is an updated version of the vCal (.vcs) format. 

a related key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.vcs\OpenWithList
a = notepad.exe
b = nscal32.exe

I don't see that CS&T registering itsself as the default handler for .vcs or
.ics files, like Outlook does.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Clients\Calendar\Microsoft Outlook\Protocols\.ics

Comment 3

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: for mozilla\extensions\tasks

there are more changes (to mozilla top level), coming next

Comment 4

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: patch

Comment 5

[Scott MacGregor]

todo:

1)

the first line of haveInternalCalendar(), "return false;" is temporary, for my
own testing.

2)

an example of the pref, to launch CS&T:

user_pref("task.calendar.location", "C:\\Program
Files\\Netscape\\Communicator\\Calendar\\nscal32.exe");

3)

<!ENTITY other-cal-cmd.accesskey "l">
<!ENTITY other-cal-cmd.commandkey "8">

should be "r" and "7" to match the existing calendar UI

4)

I need to figure out a better solution than the setTimeout() one for collapsing
(or hiding) the UI when there is a native calendar, or no pref set.

JavaScript error:
chrome://tasks/content/tasksOverlay.js line 61: otherCalTaskBarIcon has no prope
rties

Comment 6

[timeless]

on windows we really should honor apppaths
which are keys that live in:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths
(HKCU is supposed to override, so check it first)

the easy case for me to describe atm is aim

I should be able to enter "aim.exe" and instead of mozilla storing the current 
path to some random aim.exe, it should just store "aim.exe"

then when it wants to run aim it would check:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\App Paths\aim.exe
which today has a default (@) value of:
"C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETSCAPE\COMMUNICATOR\PROGRAM\AIM\AIM.EXE"
and a path ("Path") of:
"C:\PROGRAM FILES\NETSCAPE\COMMUNICATOR\PROGRAM\AIM"

This matters for various reasons, you can share a profile across multiple 
computers where you might want to use the same program but the program might 
live in different places. It also means that if the user moves or upgrades the 
application we automatically find the correct version instead of either running 
a broken/old version or giving the user an error.

I believe nscal is listed in apppaths, if it isn't and we find it we could 
actually register nscal and then the os should track it for us. I can't check 
from the computer I'm currently borrowing, it isn't installed....

As for matching the existing ui, do we want the user to be able to launch both 
the internal calendar and an external calendar? if not then we should remove 
the ui from calendar and have this new code be able to launch the internal 
calendar.

Note that none of the cc'd people represent the XPFE module. I know that 
mozilla.org / mozilla foundation are changing the way we do business, but...

That said, I'm moving this bug to XPApps so that I can find it, as I see no 
reason for this bug to live in MailNews.

Comment 7

[[e-mail]]

Comment on attachment 136966 [details]
for mozilla\extensions\tasks

1. ("@mozilla.org/ical-container;1" in Components.classes) should be a good
enough test.

2. Menuitems don't like being collapsed, please use hidden="true" instead.

3. Use a non-capturing load event listener to do startup stuff.

Comment 8

[[e-mail]]

As to timeless' comments, we don't actually have an api to launch an app by name
yet (extension of nsIProcess perhaps?) but it would be nice to have; and
integrating with calendar might be tricky if calendar needs to be backward
compatible (like rginda tries to do with ChatZilla).

Comment 9

[(not reading, please use [e-mail] instead)]

oops, I meant to log this bug in Calendar, not mailnews.

XP Apps works as well, too.

Comment 10

[Scott MacGregor]

neil / timeless, thanks for the comments and suggestions.

> As for matching the existing ui, do we want the user to be able to launch both 
> the internal calendar and an external calendar? if not then we should remove 
> the ui from calendar and have this new code be able to launch the internal 
> calendar.

no, we don't want that.  So the current logic of if we should show this calendar
UI in the Window menu or the taskbar is "if no internal calendar and the pref is
set, we'll show the UI"

the current patch needs some more build changes, since this should be built by
default.  (for example, I'm sure firebird doesn't want it)

> ("@mozilla.org/ical-container;1" in Components.classes) should be a good
> enough test.

good point.  I was doing:
  try
  {
    var iCalLibComponent =
Components.classes["@mozilla.org/ical-container;1"].getService(Components.interfaces.oeIICalContainer);
    return true;
  }
  catch (ex)
  {
    return false;
  }

but that is too heavy-weight.

I'll continue on the patch, hopefully have something today.

> As to timeless' comments, we don't actually have an api to launch an app by 
> name yet (extension of nsIProcess perhaps?) but it would be nice to have;

agreed.  for starters, I'm going to make this file path pref based.  it does
have the limitations that timeless points out.  fixing it to work with just the
exe name can come later.

Comment 11

[Scott MacGregor]

neil:

> ("@mozilla.org/ical-container;1" in Components.classes)

works great, thanks!

> 2. Menuitems don't like being collapsed, please use hidden="true" instead.

done.

> 3. Use a non-capturing load event listener to do startup stuff.

thanks, works great!

Comment 12

[Scott MacGregor]

on win32, if the "other" app is already running, and I launch it from the app
suite, it gets brought to the front.

I'm not sure what will happen on linux / mac.

Comment 13

[Scott MacGregor]

after making the changes neil suggested, I checked in mozilla/extensions/tasks,
as NOT PART OF THE BUILD.

I've got an updated patch for the top level, coming next...

Comment 14

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: patch

I need to see if this is what I want.

I'm hoping I can just do:

"--enable-extensions=default,tasks" or something to get what I want.

Comment 15

[Scott MacGregor]

Attachment: make tasks get built if you do "--enable-extensions=all"

Comment 16

[Scott MacGregor]

modern and classic look good, and if you do:

--enable-extensions=default,tasks

it does what we want.

if you do:

--enable-extensions=all

you'll get tasks

if you build moz calendar, or install moz calendar later (as an xpi), and build
this tasks extension, moz calendar takes preference, even if the pref is set.

Comment 17

[[e-mail]]

One more question... does pressing the shortcut key work when you have both
pieces installed?

Comment 18

[Scott MacGregor]

> One more question... does pressing the shortcut key work when you have both
> pieces installed?

good question, let me double check that.

Comment 19

[Scott MacGregor]

>> One more question... does pressing the shortcut key work when you have both
>> pieces installed?
>
> good question, let me double check that.

yes, it works.

Comment 20

[chris hofmann]

lets get reviews done so we can get it in quickly for 1.6 if we think it is ready

Comment 21

[Daniel (Leaf) Nunes]

Comment on attachment 136995 [details] [diff] [review]
make tasks get built if you do "--enable-extensions=all"

r=leaf

Comment 22

[Scott MacGregor]

fixed.

Checking in configure.in;
/cvsroot/mozilla/configure.in,v  <--  configure.in
new revision: 1.1291; previous revision: 1.1290
done
Checking in allmakefiles.sh;
/cvsroot/mozilla/allmakefiles.sh,v  <--  allmakefiles.sh
new revision: 1.460; previous revision: 1.459
done

the follow up tasks:

1) log a bug on some of the enhancements that timeless suggested
2) write up a doc on how the "tasks" extension works and how to use it, and
extend it
3) turn it into a tbird extension?  (see bug #227652)

Comment 23

[(not reading, please use [e-mail] instead)]

Comment on attachment 136995 [details] [diff] [review]
make tasks get built if you do "--enable-extensions=all"

sr/a=sspitzer

Comment 24

[[e-mail]]

Error: otherCalTaskBarIcon has no properties
Source File: chrome://tasks/content/tasksOverlay.js
Line: 51

Some windows have a window but no component bar...

Comment 25

[[e-mail]]

Attachment: bulletproofing

Comment 26

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

Comment on attachment 137333 [details] [diff] [review]
bulletproofing

a=asa (on behalf of drivers) for checkin to Mozilla 1.6

Comment 27

[[e-mail]]

Fix checked in.

Comment 28

[Scott MacGregor]

> Some windows have a window but no component bar...

good catch, thanks neil.

Comment 29

[Scott MacGregor]

cc'ing eric, as he's involved with the calendar xpis.

Comment 30

[Scott MacGregor]

from http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=227651#c22

> 2) write up a doc on how the "tasks" extension works and how to use it, and
extend it

see http://www.mozilla.org/docs/extensions/tasks/index.html

Comment 31

[[e-mail]]

Attachment: Don't use capturing handler

timeless noticed that the tasks stuff gets called for every page load :-(

Comment 32

[timeless]

Comment on attachment 140801 [details] [diff] [review]
Don't use capturing handler

well, that's a start...

Comment 33

[[e-mail]]

Checked in an attachment (id=140801)