757922 - launch() method opens in an app tab and does not open the available .app

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 740922

(Web Apps :: HTML, defect)

Description

[tofumatt [:tofumatt]]

I'm working on the newnewtab thing that will show recommendations but also your currently installed apps. When using the launch() method on an app from mozApps.getInstalledApps(), the app launches in an app tab even though I have it installed as a .app "executable" on my Mac. This happens when the .app is open and when it's closed. I'm running Nightly (15.0a1 (2012-05-22)) on OS X 10.7.4.

I think it should open the .app if it's installed; that feels more "native" (driving home how apps are native and awesome and not just things stuck in your browser) and it's silly to open a version in the browser which might have different data. AND it's really silly to open it in an app tab when it's already open in my Dock.

I don't use Windows/Linux but I'd argue for similar behaviour on those OSes too.

Steps to reproduce: (I'll link to persona.org because their staging env is more stable but the issue/code is the same)

0. Make sure you have some apps installed as .app files on your machine from the marketplace
1. Go to https://persona-dev.mozillalabs.org/
2. Log in with an @mozilla.com email!
3. Go to Dashboard > My Apps
4. Click on an app

Expected result:

The .app bundle is opened (or, if opened, focused) when the app icon is clicked.

Actual result:

An app tab is opened.

Comment 1

[[:fabrice] Fabrice Desré]

This is because the code at https://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/modules/webappsUI.jsm#36 has not been updated to support launching native apps.

Comment 2

[Jason Smith [:jsmith]]

This is a duplicate of two bugs (duping against the first since I can't do a double dup) - bug 704922 to disable app tabs to change back to new tab, and bug 745924 for doing exactly what is described in this bug as a followup.

Matthew - We should sync up on this along with Myk & Jen - Myk is driving the apps runtime stuff, Jen is the product manager. I drive the QA testing on this as well.