450748 - trying to install incompatible extension leaves Add-ons dialog in unclear state

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Thunderbird :: Add-Ons: General, defect)

Description

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

Attachment: Thunderbird add-ons dialog after installation failure

When you try to install an incompatible extension into Thunderbird, after telling you the extension is incompatible in an alert dialog, Thunderbird returns you to an Add-ons dialog whose state is unclear.  No pane is selected, there is nothing in the content area of the dialog, and there are no buttons across the bottom of the screen.

In Firefox, the Installation pane is selected at this point, although the content area is still blank, and there are no buttons across the bottom of the screen.

Thunderbird should make the current state of the Add-ons dialog clearer.  I'm not exactly sure what that would mean.  Perhaps it means merely adding an Installation pane and selecting it, as Firefox does, but more likely there are additional steps it could take to clarify what just happened and what the user can do next.

Maybe it's as simple as selecting the Get Add-ons pane by default.  Or the content area could describe what just happened and give the user some options.  And perhaps Firefox should do more here, too, and this is actually a Toolkit bug.

Comment 1

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

Attachment: Firefox add-ons dialog after installation failure

Comment 2

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Which versions of Thunderbird/Firefox did you generate these from? As far as I'm concerned, Thunderbird uses exactly the same code for its add-on manager as toolkit. Therefore I believe there should be no difference, although apparently there could be.

Comment 3

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Which versions of Thunderbird/Firefox did you generate these from?

Thunderbird: version 3.0a2 (2008072418)

(i.e. Shredder 3.0a2)

Firefox: version 3.0.2pre (Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.0.2pre) Gecko/2008080504 GranParadiso/3.0.2pre)

(i.e. a nightly build from the stable 3.0 branch)

Comment 4

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

Were you installing the same way (local file, or get addons pane) in both?

Comment 5

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

(In reply to comment #4)
> Were you installing the same way (local file, or get addons pane) in both?

Not exactly the same way.  On Firefox, I did Open File and selected the XPI file.  On Thunderbird I opened the Add-ons dialog, pressed the Install button, and selected the XPI file.

Comment 6

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

Toggle extensions.hideInstallButton to false in Fx, and you can use the same installation method in both (and, the one least tested in Fx and thus most likely to be a bit off).

Comment 7

[Myk Melez [:myk] [@mykmelez]]

(In reply to comment #6)
> Toggle extensions.hideInstallButton to false in Fx, and you can use the same
> installation method in both (and, the one least tested in Fx and thus most
> likely to be a bit off).

After doing that, Firefox's behavior remains the same.  It winds up looking the way it does in attachment 333941 [details].

Comment 8

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Joe or Axel, would you be able to test this?

Comment 9

[Axel Grude]

Wayne - I can't reproduce this - partly because there is no Add-ons Dialog, We now have a tab handling Add-ons, I am somehow doubtful this bug is still relevant, I would say close with WONTFIX.

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Indeed. 

Resolution is set according to what we see in the CURRENT version. Given the dialog doesn't exist in a current version, INVALID is more appropriate