371010 - add a note how to install an add-on in non-browser apps

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(addons.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Public Pages, defect)

Description

[Steffen Wilberg]

I miss the "How to Install in Thunderbird" note in Remora:
It should read:

How to Install in Thunderbird:
1. Right-click the link above and choose "Save Link As..." to download and save the file to your hard disk.
2. In Mozilla Thunderbird, open Add-ons from the Tools menu.
3. Click the Install button, and locate/select the file you downloaded and click "OK".

Comment 2

[Mike Shaver (:shaver emeritus)]

Yeah, I think we'll just link to FAQ content here.  Need to think about it _just_ a touch.

Comment 3

[Simon Bünzli]

Note that due to bug 371610 you'll also have to explain that the downloaded extension might have an unexpected name such as 327.html.

Comment 4

[Fred Wenzel [:wenzel]]

Actually, no. The download name issue should be fixed rather than explained.

Comment 6

[Fred Wenzel [:wenzel]]

(See https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=376768#c0 for alternative wording of the installation instructions)

Comment 7

[Majken Connor [:Kensie]]

I would say the severity to this is higher than normal.  This is preventing people from using add-ons.  I've rarely had people come to #thunderbird just to ask me how to install extensions before (and it's possible all the people who have were installing something like the webmail extension that is hosted off amo), it's happened several times since the site change.

Comment 8

[Steffen Wilberg]

Also see bug 365550 (Make install links for Thunderbird add-ons download the xpi instead of installing in Firefox).

Comment 9

[klint]

I also think that the severity is far higher than normal : especially in the context of the launch of TB2, where the new "home page" when opening TB will now take people to the AMO page for dictionaries, where people will be lost as there is absolutely no instructions !
And for new comers on TB, this will likely be their first contacts with Thunderbird ! What a bad impression they will have.

Comment 10

[klint]

And it is getting urgent, as TB2 is expected to be released this week !!

Comment 11

[Emil Hesslow]

I have only one Thunderbird extension on AMO and I already have got more mails about why they get an error when trying to install it then the 2 years before the update. I can only guess how many mails people that have popular Thunderbird extensions gets.

This is a very easy fix for making it easier for people that will install extensions and it will mean that extension developers don't get a lot of mails about something they can't control.

I know that the right solution but it will help so much and it is very very easy to do.

Comment 12

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

r3350 is a quick fix for this.

Basically, if you're browsing thunderbird add-ons (/thunderbird/ is in the url), then there will be a box above the install button that says how to install it.

This isn't perfect because if, for example, you're looking at a firefox only add-on with /thunderbird/ in the URL, it's going to show the "How to install..." box anyway.  I'm not too worried about it, because I think the final solution is more along the lines of bug 365550 anyway.

As an example of the box, look here:

http://remora.stage.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/addon/9

(note, MicroHunter isn't actually a thunderbird add-on, so this example falls into the situation I mentioned above)

Comment 13

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Attachment: screenshot of instructions

Looks like remora.stage isn't getting restarted when it updates so the strings aren't translated.  If you can't wait for it to be restarted, this is what it looks like.

Comment 14

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

If I remember correctly, the box was below the install button in v2. I think it should be moved back there, as it will get annoying to scroll past once people have read it the first time.

Comment 15

[Nick Thomas [:nthomas] (UTC+12)]

Wil, that looks great for the individual add-ons page. Do you have any plans for the dictionary page ? 
  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/browse/type:3

I've heard quite a few complaints from end users that they end up installing the dictionaries in Firefox.

Comment 16

[randoms]

Thunderbird extensions should have their own 'extension', e.g. .xpt, and firefox extensions should have another, .xpi. If there are other apps that need their own extension 'extensions, then so be it.

Comment 17

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

(In reply to comment #15)
> Wil, that looks great for the individual add-ons page. Do you have any plans
> for the dictionary page ? 
>   https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/browse/type:3
> 
> I've heard quite a few complaints from end users that they end up installing
> the dictionaries in Firefox.
> 

Jesper fixed this in bug 380305. Is this resolved now?

Comment 18

[Nick Thomas [:nthomas] (UTC+12)]

(In reply to comment #17)
> Jesper fixed this in bug 380305. Is this resolved now?

Is that change in produciton yet ? I don't see any explanation at
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/browse/type:3

Comment 19

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

It's not in production yet; it will be next time we push.

https://remora.stage.mozilla.com/en-US/thunderbird/browse/type:3

Comment 20

[Nick Thomas [:nthomas] (UTC+12)]

Thunderbird looks good to me - extensions, themes and dictionaries are all covered. But what about Sunbird ? The same issues apply I think.

Comment 21

[Jesper Kristensen]

Attachment: Also display note for Sunbird

Wly is the contents of the applications table duplicated in PHP code? It seems like a lot of effort to avoid one simple query, that could easily be cached.

Comment 22

[Jesper Kristensen]

Attachment: Also display note for Sunbird v2

Comment 23

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

Comment on attachment 266464 [details] [diff] [review]
 Also display note for Sunbird v2

What are the SQL changes for?

Comment 24

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Before we display the note on the main page, we need to check if there is a policy or not.  For add-ons like this https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/5030 we tell them to "right-click -> save as" the link to the policy. :-/

Comment 25

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

aka bug 378782

Comment 26

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

Comment on attachment 266464 [details] [diff] [review]
 Also display note for Sunbird v2

Jesper, would you mind updating the patch against the 3.2 branch (svn.mozilla.org/addons/branches/3.2) and re-requesting review?

I'll be happy to review it for 3.2.

Comment 27

[Steffen Wilberg]

Also change "1. Right-click the link below and choose 'Save Link As...' to download and save the file to your hard disk" to:
"1. Click the link below and choose "Save File" to download and save the file
to your hard disk."
See bug 401272.

Comment 28

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

You already filed bug 418061 for that issue - it should be taken care of there.

Comment 29

[Jesper Kristensen]

(In reply to comment #26)
> (From update of attachment 266464 [details] [diff] [review])
> Jesper, would you mind updating the patch against the 3.2 branch
> (svn.mozilla.org/addons/branches/3.2) and re-requesting review?
> 
> I'll be happy to review it for 3.2.
> 

I can do that.

But 3.2 fails to install for me. The SQL schema file for 3.2 seems to have an error. When I try to run it on an empty db, I get this error:
#1364 - Field 'count_current' doesn't have a default value
In this query:
INSERT INTO `facebook_data` (trait) VALUES ....

(In reply to comment #23)
> (From update of attachment 266464 [details] [diff] [review])
> What are the SQL changes for?
> 

I think that was for adding a Sunbird addon to the test db, so that I could test if it worked.

Comment 30

[Justin Scott [:fligtar]]

(In reply to comment #29)
> But 3.2 fails to install for me. The SQL schema file for 3.2 seems to have an
> error. When I try to run it on an empty db, I get this error:
> #1364 - Field 'count_current' doesn't have a default value
> In this query:
> INSERT INTO `facebook_data` (trait) VALUES ....
> 

Hmm, it works fine for me, and count_current does have a default value:
`count_current` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',

You can try removing the facebook tables if you want - they aren't needed.

Also, we moved 3.2 branch to trunk, so you should use trunk again now.

Comment 31

[Jesper Kristensen]

(In reply to comment #30)
> Hmm, it works fine for me, and count_current does have a default value:
> `count_current` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
> 
> You can try removing the facebook tables if you want - they aren't needed.
> 
> Also, we moved 3.2 branch to trunk, so you should use trunk again now.
> 

I am not sure if I will succeed in installing AMO on my local machine. I get another SQL error now, and if I fix that, I get AMO running with lots of other small errors. So I probably cannot update my Sunbird patch to current trunk.

Comment 32

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Attachment: add sunbird

I think all this needs is to add the message to sunbird and then we can close this?  If so, here's a patch.

Comment 33

[Fred Wenzel [:wenzel]]

Comment on attachment 344718 [details] [diff] [review]
add sunbird

I agree, we just need a message for Sunbird. However, it should not say "right click". Since about a decade (uhm...) we serve the XPIs for non-browser apps off the cluster, so we can set the headers correctly.

Long story short, a single click will work.

Comment 34

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

Attachment: new instructions

Comment 35

[Fred Wenzel [:wenzel]]

Comment on attachment 344933 [details] [diff] [review]
new instructions

Yup, that's better, so r+.

But, while you're at it, do you want to make this an awesome switch() statement and fix bug 439125 too?

Comment 36

[Wil Clouser [:clouserw]]

(In reply to comment #35)
> (From update of attachment 344933 [details] [diff] [review])
> Yup, that's better, so r+.
> 
> But, while you're at it, do you want to make this an awesome switch() statement
> and fix bug 439125 too?

Nope.  I don't see how a switch would fix that, it looks like an L10n change only.  Anyway, this is in r19369; not merged to other .po's yet because other changes are coming too.

Comment 37

[Fred Wenzel [:wenzel]]

(In reply to comment #36)
> Nope.  I don't see how a switch would fix that, (...)

Well, yeah. Not only a switch. Anyhow, thanks for fixing this one.

Comment 38

[Stephen Donner [:stephend] Not actively reading bugmail]

Verified FIXED on https://preview.addons.mozilla.org/en-US/sunbird/addon/4631