578238 - notifications API for creating Growl-style notifications

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Add-on SDK Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

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

The experimental prototype included a notifications API for creating Growl-style notifications on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux, with Growl displaying the notifications on Mac OS X and toast-style notifications being used on Windows and Linux.

The API was based on an existing XPCOM API, if I remember correctly, and that underlying API may handle the case of Mac OS X systems on which Growl is not installed, although I don't remember what happens in that case.  Growl-style notifications are available in some Linux desktops as well these days (f.e. Ubuntu 9.10 and presumably 10.4, although I haven't tested the newer release).

Such notifications have proven pretty useful and become fairly popular.  A common use case for a Firefox addon (judging by the number of addons on AMO that do this) is to inform a user when a download has completed.

The SDK should include a notifications API as one of its core APIs.

Comment 1

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Attachment: patch

I had started on this patch awhile ago.  I was bored, and this is such low-hanging fruit, that I finished it off.  I hope you don't mind Irakli.  The interface is pretty simple, and it's described in the included doc.

Comment 2

[Irakli Gozalishvili [:irakli] [:gozala] [@gozala]]

Yeah I know it was very simple :)
Absolutely not I'm sure there will be enough stuff to do for everyone :)

Comment 3

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

(In reply to comment #2)
> Absolutely not I'm sure there will be enough stuff to do for everyone :)

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Jetpack/Projects

Comment 4

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

Comment on attachment 460819 [details] [diff] [review]
patch

>diff --git a/packages/jetpack-core/docs/notifications.md b/packages/jetpack-core/docs/notifications.md

>+The `notifications` module allows you display transient [toaster]()- or
>+[Growl]()-style messages to the user.

Nit: you display -> you to display


>+  @prop [imageURL] {string}
>+    The URL of an icon to display inside the message.  It may be a remote URL,
>+    a data URI, or a URL returned by the `self` module.

Nit: it seems like "iconURL" would be a bit more descriptive of the function of this property.


>+This one displays an icon that's stored in the add-on's `data` directory.  (See the `self` module documentation for more information.)

Nit: it'd be good for readability to wrap this line at 80 columns.


>diff --git a/packages/jetpack-core/tests/test-notifications.js b/packages/jetpack-core/tests/test-notifications.js

>+  loader.findSandboxForModule("notifications").globalScope.
>+    setAlertService(mockAlertServ);

Nit: can't this just set the global property directly?  I.e.:

  loader.findSandboxForModule("notifications").globalScope.gAlertServ =
    mockAlertServ;

Comment 5

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

Attachment: patch v2

Thanks for the quick review!

(In reply to comment #4)
> Nit: it seems like "iconURL" would be a bit more descriptive of the function of
> this property.

Good call.

> Nit: can't this just set the global property directly?  I.e.:
> 
>   loader.findSandboxForModule("notifications").globalScope.gAlertServ =
>     mockAlertServ;

Yeah, I did that initially but then thought a function would be a more proper interface.  Probably over-thinking it, so I changed it back as you suggested.

Comment 6

[Drew Willcoxon :adw]

http://hg.mozilla.org/labs/jetpack-sdk/rev/fcd9b1cc8cf9

Comment 7

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

The Add-on SDK is no longer a Mozilla Labs experiment and has become a big enough project to warrant its own Bugzilla product, so the "Add-on SDK" product has been created for it, and I am moving its bugs to that product.

To filter bugmail related to this change, filter on the word "looptid".