697480 - The Plugin Finder Service never tells what type of plugin is needed, even if it fails to locate a plugin

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 678707

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Erik Ridderby]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:7.0.1) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/7.0.1
Build ID: 20111022100248

Steps to reproduce:

I went looking for pictures on the US Patent Office. The figures are not displayed but a text telling me a plugin is needed is shown. When I chose to install the needed plugin it fails. Nowhere can I find what type of files it is I need a plugin for. 

This was earlier reported in Bug 264282 and sorry to say I cannot see that this is solved.

The problem can be reproduced using the test case from bug 264282.



Actual results:

A plugin was needed but there are no information on what kind of file needs it. 


Expected results:

I would very much need information about the file that cannot be displayed, and a suggestion about a plugin if existing. Without the file information I cannot find the plugin myself. 

I am running Linux and would in any case expect to be able to install any plugin using the package manager (portage in my case with Gentoo). Thus I would like to get information about the file unable to be displayed regardless if there is a suitable plugin known or not.

Comment 1

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

I think this is supposed to be resolved somewhere in the future. There is a feature listed for this: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Improved_missing_plugin_experience

It currently has no ETA, but I think the expectations listed there have to do with what is currently wrong here.

Comment 2

[Rob]

(In reply to Erik Ridderby from comment #0)
> I went looking for pictures on the US Patent Office. The figures are not
> displayed but a text telling me a plugin is needed is shown. When I chose to
> install the needed plugin it fails. 

> Nowhere can I find what type of files it is I need a plugin for. 
Right click on the Page and choose "View Page Source".


> A plugin was needed but there are no information on what kind of file needs
> it. 
> 
> I would very much need information about the file that cannot be displayed,
> and a suggestion about a plugin if existing. Without the file information I
> cannot find the plugin myself. 
> 
> I am running Linux and would in any case expect to be able to install any
> plugin using the package manager (portage in my case with Gentoo). Thus I
> would like to get information about the file unable to be displayed
> regardless if there is a suitable plugin known or not.

I think they use ".PDF" or ".TIFF" Files (give us an example URL). I recall there being a version of Adobe Reader for Linux but there are third party Programs also. There is a ".TIFF" Plugin for Windows, you might have to search for a Linux version.

Once you figure out the URLs that the Plugin would use (view the source, Luke) you can always download the Patent's Page in question (or the whole document); though it is not as neat as the embedded Readers that 'Patent Sites' tend to have.

You might also try a "non US Patent Office" Site (that has US Patents) and use it's search tools and viewer instead of the one at the Site you use now (give us the URL).

Comment 3

[Rob Janssen]

The issue is still present in the current version.
(testing with SeaMonkey 2.13.1 which is equivalent to FireFox 16.0.1)

"view page source" is not a viable alternative.  There should be some indication what plugin is missing, preferably in the info bar that is shown when plugins are missing, but certainly in the popup window that shows when it has not been able to locate the plugin.

Example page: https://www.accessonline.abnamro.com/ then click on Access Online button.

Comment 4

[Rob Janssen]

Duplicate of bug 678707

Comment 5

[Virgil Dicu [:virgil] [QA]]

Yeah, though that one is probably a dupe of an older one.