517498 - search, browse, and install add-ons from AMO through a tab

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

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

Description

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

This is another use case along side bug 346220 though perhaps this should be the primary use case as it would be good to see this pushed into the core product in time for 3.0 (not sure if that's possible) where the calendar tab is a likely extension.

From inside Thunderbird we don't have the ability to open a search for add-ons.  bug 464621 is not getting any traction nor is bug 465251.  However with our new content tabs we do have the ability to open the AMO site to searches, categories, and specific add-ons.

There are a number of places in the Thunderbird user interface where it would make the most sense to offer add-ons that go further than what the core product does.  Many of the preferences tabs and account tabs have areas which add-ons have gone further than the existing code.  During upgrade from TB2 to TB3 the upgrade UI (bug 516884) would benefit from being able to take people directly to searches.

AMO provides very good browsing links so I'm wondering if we can avoid trying to implement back, forward, and other history options.  Perhaps we will at least need some kind of back.

A simple use case would be the AMO tab opened to a search on header ui from the upgrade UI where it offers a result list of header extensions.  The user browsing into each of of the options and goes back to the list.  Then the user browses into their add-on choice, clicks the download link which opens the add-ons manager inside Thunderbird for installation.

Comment 1

[Phil Ringnalda (:philor)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> least need some kind of back.

Pretty sure there aren't any half-measures to it, and you just have to enable Places if you want any session history. What happens if you add MOZ_PLACES=1 to mail/confvars.sh? Can we manage to at least compile it? (Not that I think that makes it an acceptable thing to do between the last beta and the first RC, it's not, I'm just curious.)

Comment 2

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

(In reply to comment #1) 
> Pretty sure there aren't any half-measures to it, and you just have to enable
> Places if you want any session history.

I see.  I'd be comfortable getting just the browsing in and ignoring navigation for a 3.0 release just so we had something decent and assuming we tried to figure something out before 3.next.

Comment 3

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

Assuming the underneath bits get pushed through we should look into this as an add-on during the 3.0 - 3.1 time frame.

Comment 4

[Andrea Monni]

In Songbird they implemented it and it works/looks really well.

Comment 5

[Bryan Clark (DevTools PM) [:clarkbw]]

I wonder if we can use any of the songbird code here

Comment 6

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

We should be able to do this pretty much in an extension for 3.0 (the extension should be able to handle the missing notification mentioned in bug 517498).

Comment 8

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Attachment: Part 1 - the basics

This gets the basics working. It probably needs a few tweaks to the site regexps and a few notification handling updates, but at least it'll bring trunk's add-on manager into the partially usable range.

Main things in this patch are to: swap to opening add-on manager in a tab, enable history on the content tabs - required for add-ons manager (I've done this in the deferred way like Firefox for start-up times) and to update the prefs to match the new ones required.

Comment 9

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Comment on attachment 475847 [details] [diff] [review]
Part 1 - the basics

Just realised this was meant to be on bug 571759.

Comment 11

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Andrea Monni from comment #4)
> In Songbird they implemented it and it works/looks really well.

STM we should do this in core, no?

Comment 12

[Kent James (:rkent)]

I don't really understand what this is about.

"From inside Thunderbird we don't have the ability to open a search for add-ons." - what about the search at the top of the Addons/Extensions page? I use that all of the time.

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to Kent James (:rkent) from comment #12)
> I don't really understand what this is about.

Matt, we have your bug 1482780.  But beyond that, what is your assessment of this and bug 295462?   Are we past this?

Comment 14

[Matt]

There are still issues from a support perspective.  Mostly due to the idiosyncratic nature of the user interface.

When a person first drops into the add-ons tab they go to Get add-ons.  Missing entirely from this panel is an sort of search.  I assume Kent like myself just click extensions without thinking.  We want to search.  New users however are simply lost.  
WE drop them in the only panel in the add-on manager without a search option. Then we "feature" three complete themes, a mail redirect add-on most misunderstand and email encryption. They are looking for mail merge and a smiley add-on like their phone has.

There is also user interface change needed to make the navigation more visible and consistent. Go into add-ons manager and search for spade.  No result opens a tab where I can search again, but why a tab?

As for bug 295462,  if we can fix the user interface in the addon manager to work and be intuitive then add-on installing will be from ATN in the vast majority of cases.  I still have concerns about hiding the install from file behind an odd looking cog.  But with the fullness of time Google have taught most that the icon is something to click.  Personally I would expect the get add-on tab to have front and centre a search for add-ons dialog and an install an add-on you already downloaded button.

We need to register XPI file types somewhere in the O/S so the user gets something other than a "can not find application" error when they double click them. (A perennial in support forums. Ideally double clicking an XPI should get a prompt from Firefox or Thunderbird about installing it.  Given XPI Firefox and XPI Thunderbird are really not the same things any more we should perhaps change the extension used in Thunderbird.  Then XPI could be old style and XPS could be the new hybrid web extension say.

Finally.  Are they Add-ons? Extensions? Themes?  Plugins? Dictionaries?  WE really do not tell the user when they click the add to Thunderbird button.  We expect them to know which of the other tabs they might need to go to to review or remove their install.

So I do not think we are past the awkward user interface design.  Neither is Firefox,  but just because Firefox has a poor user interface does not mean Thunderbird should be.

Comment 15

[John Bieling (:TbSync)]

Matt, at least in TB78+ we have a search bar in the add-on manager. It opens a tab for ATN and lets the user search and install. For me this looks like what this bug is about. Objections to closing this?

Comment 16

[Matt]

Not only close this one John, Bug 295462 probably needs to be closed as well, although the underlying issue of registering a handler for addons files is still relevant. We should not be sharing a web extensions file type or handler, simply because we are not the browser and links to extensions by default attempt to install in the browser.

Comment 17

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

No patch -> WFM