370053 - Clicking a URL shortcut icon opens two instances of Firefox

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Firefox :: Shell Integration, defect)

Description

[Peter Cassidy]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2pre) Gecko/20070128 BonEcho/2.0.0.2pre
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2pre) Gecko/20070210 BonEcho/2.0.0.2pre

If you click on a URL shortcut icon eg Google, Firefox will open two instances. The first instance is the webpage of the URL, the second window which now has focus on top of the first window is whatever you have Firefox set to open to at startup (in my case homepage).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Click on a URL shortcut icon.
2.
3.
Actual Results:  
Two instances of Firefox open. The first instance is the URL destination webpage form the shortcut, eg www.google.com. Another instance of Firefox opens(set to whatever is in Options>Main>Startup eg my home page) on top of first window and steals focus from first window. 

Expected Results:  
Only one instance of Firefox set to the URL specified in the shortcut icon should open.

This bug can be produced in Vista and XP. When I did a format of Vista, there was an error message stating "Windows cannot find http://www.google.com/. Make sure you typed the name correctly and start again." AND an instance of Firefox also opened at whatever it was set to start at (I set it to my homepage).
I did not see this bug in the Feb 2 nightly build but see it in the Feb 10 build.

Comment 1

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2pre) Gecko/20070210 BonEcho/2.0.0.2pre
I can't reproduce this. Started from the command line with C:\........\...\........\branch\firefox\firefox.exe "www.google.com" and I see only Google. I also tried editing the shortcut in the Properties\Target field with the same result. 
Could you give additional steps?

Comment 2

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

OK, I see now what you mean:

- Drag a bookmark to your desktop
- Close the browser and double-click on the shortcut.

Comment 3

[Ria Klaassen (not reading all bugmail)]

Hm, I see similar (but not quite the same) behaviour in July 2004 builds and maybe earlier.

Comment 4

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Attachment: patch - needs testing

Comment 5

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

I can confirm this, this happens when you don`t use the profile manager. 

When you use the profile manager, the url from the shortcut is displayed on Firefox start, but you will crash when you use the profile manager. Filed Bug 370123 about this.

Comment 6

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Attachment: patch - revert to eseentially the old behavior

Comment 7

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Jay, if we respin I'd like to get this in 2.0.0.2... otherwise 2.0.0.3. Thanks

Comment 8

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Attachment: patch - revert to essentially the old behavior

Comment 9

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

Comment on attachment 254867 [details] [diff] [review]
patch - revert to essentially the old behavior

r=sspitzer, thanks robert

Comment 10

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Checked in to trunk

Comment 11

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

reminder to robert:  please log a spin off trunk bug about opening up multiple files (and shortcuts) from the desktop into multiple tabs, unless one exists already.

Comment 12

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

(In reply to comment #11)
> reminder to robert:  please log a spin off trunk bug about opening up multiple
> files (and shortcuts) from the desktop into multiple tabs, unless one exists
> already.
Filed bug 370227

Comment 13

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Requesting 1.8.1.3 though if we do a respin I'd like to get this for 1.8.1.2

Comment 14

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Which bug is this a regression from?

Comment 15

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

bug 353089 fixed a hack that was covering up this bug.

Comment 16

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Comment on attachment 254867 [details] [diff] [review]
patch - revert to essentially the old behavior

approved for 1.8 branch, a=dveditz

Comment 17

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

Checked in to MOZILLA_1_8_BRANCH

Comment 18

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

To verify launch an url shortcut with the browser closed . See comment #2 for info on how to create an url shortcut.

Comment 19

[Carsten Book [:Tomcat]]

verified fixed for 1.8.1.2 using Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.2; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2pre) Gecko/20070215 BonEcho/2.0.0.2pre Mnenhy/0.7.5.0 ID:2007021503 and using the steps to reproduce from comment #0  -> only one instance of Firefox is opened when i use a shortcut icon

Comment 20

[Marcia Knous [:marcia]]

verified fixed on the 1.8 branch using Build identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.1.2pre) Gecko/2007021503 BonEcho/2.0.0.2pre. Clicking a URL shortcut from the desktop with Firefox closed launches one instance of the page, not two.

Comment 21

[Tony Chung [:tchung]]

This bug still repro's on the 1.8.0 branch for vista.  

Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.8.0.11) Gecko/20070312 Firefox/1.5.0.11

I still see two instances of the URL spawning Firefox browsers through Desktop launch and Start>Run launch.

Are there any plans to fix this in the 1.8.0 branch?  

Comment 22

[Robert Strong (they/them - no direct email)]

(In reply to comment #21)
> Are there any plans to fix this in the 1.8.0 branch?  
No plans and 1.8.0.x will EOL in April.