92959 - JavaScript Error alert

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(SeaMonkey :: UI Design, enhancement)

Description

[blockcipher]

From Bugzilla Helper:
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; WinNT4.0; en-US; rv:0.9.2+) Gecko/20010724
BuildID:    

I was wondering if it would be possible to have a visual alert occur somewhere
in the browser window when a JavaScript error occurs.  Right now I would have to
explicitly look at the JavaScript window to see if an error occured.  I see one
of two options here.

1. A graphical alert (like a stop sign) that flashes somewhere when an error occurs.
2. A dialog comes up asking if you wish to open the JavaScript console.  This
could also bring the JavaScript console into focus if already open.

The dialog option may be the better option since it's less likely to be missed.
 Of course, this should be an option that can be turned on or off since most
users don't want to be bothered with errors.

Comment 1

[Jason Johnston]

How 'bout the good old Netscape Communicator approach: display a message in the
status bar saying something like 
"JavaScript Error: See JavaScript Console for more details."

Comment 2

[Boris Zbarsky [:bzbarsky]]

do you have any idea how common JS errors are out there?  a dialog for such is
completely uncalled for. I think what you're looking for is an implementation of
bug 6211 with its quality indicators.

Over to XP apps gui unless you only wanted these errors while running the JS
debugger....

Comment 3

[blockcipher]

Yes, I do understand the commonality of JavaScript bugs.  That is why I
suggested that it would be an option.  By default, it should be turned off
because of all the errors out there.  However, when I'm developing, I would turn
it on so I can work on resolving my errors.  Perhaps this could be combined with
bug 6211.  Either way, it would be very nice to have some sort of immediate
feedback when an error occurs in the browser window itself.

Idea: Perhaps have a sidebar panel to configure if alerts occur and any other
preferences we come up with, like severity.  (i.e. only warning, like the
console does.)  Please not that this should not take the place of the console. 
The console should be where we can see the actual errors.

Comment 4

[Henrik Gemal]

It used to be in Netscape 4.x. Check:
http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/js/client/jsguide/console.htm#1045065

Comment 5

[Jesse Ruderman]

I think the best way to fix this would be to fix bug 47128, Display JavaScript
error indicator in status bar.  IE and Opera have a mode where each javascript
error creates an modal dialog (and that's the only way to see script errors in
Opera), but I don't think there's a real advantage to supporting such a mode
once bug 47128 is fixed.

Comment 6

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

*** Bug 96048 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Comment 7

[Blake Ross]

Yes, 47128 is the way to go.

Comment 8

[Blake Ross]

Meant to close.

Comment 9

[sairuh (rarely reading bugmail)]

v