780949 - "Save target as" tries to download non-existent file if a filename is highlighted

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Menus, defect)

Description

[u445064]

Attachment: contextmenu.png

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:14.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/14.0.1
Build ID: 20120713134347

Steps to reproduce:

Look for any filename on a webpage that doesn't link to an actual file. For example, open http://gmer.net and scroll down to "Version History 1.0.3".
Now highlight "NTVDM.EXE" and open the context menu.


Actual results:

Firefox offers "Save target as" although there is no target to save. If you click "Save target as", Firefox displays an error message box:

"The download cannot be saved, because an unknown error occured. Please try again."


Expected results:

Firefox should not display the "Save target as" option if selected text contains a filename which doesn't refer to an actual file.

Comment 1

[u445064]

Attachment: Error message box

Comment 2

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

confirming with Firefox14.0.1

Comment 3

[Loic]

Changeset: http://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/pushloghtml?fromchange=ecaad3ae9964&tochange=e94edfdb1f5b

Suspected bug:
Chad Freeman — Bug 720023 - Context menus for selected domains should be the identical as for links. r=jwein

Anyway I think this bug is invalid, it's the normal behavior. In your example, NTVDM.EXE is treated as a domain.

Comment 4

[u445064]

But Bug 720023 talks about misleading domain names - like bob.com which can be detected as a) a domain name (here the option "new tab" may be functional) or b) as a file with filename bob.com

Since .EXE is neither an TLD nor part of a link, the "tab" options must not be displayed. Beyond that, as Firefox detects "NTVDM.EXE" as a filename, the option "Save target as" must not be displayed in the context menu as this is plain text and not a file link.

Comment 5

[Loic]

It's not a new behavior in Firefox. Try with an old version like Firefox 8, select "NTVDM.EXE" and right click: you'll see the context menu displays the 3 options "Open Link" even if it's not a valid link. So I think "Save target as" has been added to extend thisprevious behavior.

Comment 6

[u445064]

"So I think "Save target as" has been added to extend thisprevious behavior."

I don't understand why Firefox devs should increase the level of confusion. A link may be clickable or not and even if Firefox misunderstands something highlighted as a domain, this is not the particular fact I want to mention.

Can you tell me a valid testcase where "Save target as" operates as expected if highlighted text ist just "plain text" without reference to an actual file?

Comment 7

[u445064]

show_bug.cgi  ## test

Comment 8

[u445064]

robots.txt  ## test

Comment 9

[u445064]

See, "robots.txt" offers "Save target as" where "show_bug.cgi" doesn't. But both are present in the root dir of https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/ .