How to Debug HTML5 extensions for InDesign CC? - debugging

Currently i'm in the process of getting to know InDesign CC HTML5 extensions. Using the Extension Builder plugin for eclipse did a few tests creating extensions. No problem there.
But when it came to debugging i ran into some problems. First problem was finding a way to debug at all.
After some research i stumbled over this short guide to HTML5 extensions. It contains a guide for debugging which i followed meticulously.
But now when it comes down to actually debugging no debugging view opens nor am i able to connect to the application via chrome for remote debugging.
What is going wrong?

Turns out you cannot use the Run As/Debug As -> Adobe InDesign Extension of eclipse to start the extension for debugging, because the essential .debug-file will not be exported.
So everytime you want to debug something first Run As -> Adobe InDesign Extension and then copy the .debug-file into: "$User$\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\CEPServiceManager4\extensions\$extesion folder$" (Windows)
After that restart InDesign MANUALLY (not from eclipse that is) and connect via "localhost:$port specified in .debug$" (works only) with chrome to your extension.
This is not very ellegant but it works, at least for me.

Related

Chrome Extension Issue in UiPath Robot Only

I am facing the chrome extension issue. The following is the issue:
“UiPath.Core.BrowserOperationException: Cannot communicate with the browser, please check the UiPath extension”
I have UiPath Robot only so I cannot install extension from Studio. I am running the package from the tray.
Things I did to solve the issue by myself:
Removed extension and installed again (multiple times).
Cleared browsing data before execution.
Update the package few times.
Restarted my machine.
It's not clear whether you have installed the extension from the Chrome web store, but it is preferable to install the extension using the following command:
C:\Program Files\UiPath\Studio\UiPath\SetupExtensions.exe /chrome
This will work without having Studio installed. Also bear in mind that if you are launching Chrome in Incognito, you will need to explicitly allow the extension in Incognito by going to the following URL in Chrome:
chrome://extensions/
Choose "Details" on the UiPath extension, and "Allow in Incognito".
Further information can be found here: Extension for Chrome
Try this.
1 Use the StartProcess to start Internet explorer exe file from program files.
2 Send Url as argument eg “www.abc.com”
3 Use on element appear to check if the home page is loaded.
4 Attach browser and use the browser variable to pass to other workflows.

visual studio code "launch json" on run, how to set debug console as default

I went to user settings to set the debug console to default (when I try to debug now the default console is terminal. I lose the small debug icons to skip, stop etc even when I manually select debug console). I am watching Python tutorials using Vs Code and his default is debug. How can I do this?
Secondly, when I try to run or debug, I am prompted to open LaunchJS, even if it is already open. I attempted to run it using the debug selection "current file, integrated terminal" and also "Python: Attach". Neither will work although the JSON file has these options. I looked at some MS videos but I am not understanding the problem.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
I found the answer at this link: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/python-tutorial
I had not selectd a Python interpreter which establishes a python workspace. Was just trying to run with debugger. A simple program now runs. My guess is that the Python tutorial I selected is too old to follow with this version of VS Code, since I am unfamiliar with any version of VS Code.
Thanks.

Install a personal firefox web extension permanently

Previously, I could write an addon for personal usage packed as something.xpi and I clicked on it to install it.
After a while, mozilla introduced xpinstall.signatures.required which you could still get around it.
However, it did not stop stabbing developers who are interested to have a personal addon isolated from the world. Today, only web extensions are working and my XUL based addon is thrown away. The tutorials only talk about temporary installation of a web extension while I want my one runs on firefox forever.
Beside whether I can use web extension to write into files or create a GUI in an independent page, I have a bigger challenge:
How can I install a local web extension permanently without creating a Mozilla account for personal usage?
Navigate to the folder where your extension is located. You can build it in the usual way using web-ext:
web-ext build
You can install this ZIP file permanently in Firefox by going to about:addons and dragging this file into the tab.
In order for this to work, you need to set xpinstall.signatures.required to false in about:config (works only for Nightly and maybe Developer Edition).
Apart from setting xpinstall.signatures.required to false, you need to add this to your manifest.json:
"browser_specific_settings": {
"gecko": {
"id": "some-name#example.org"
}
}
Found on https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/blqffs/how_to_permanently_add_temporary_addon/exh2u3o/, thanks to "alexherbo2".
You need a "blueish" Firefox -- Developer Edition (effectively beta) or Nightly (unstable, updated every night).
You can get them from https://mozilla.org/firefox/channel/desktop/.
Then xpinstall.signatures.required will work again.
(As for permissions--you can create a GUI in a tab or a popup, but I don't think you can do it in a separate window (unless you do a webpage-style popup window). You won't be able to write to arbitrary files anywhere on the system--which is a good thing! You can write to the Downloads folder, and read/write some sort of internal storage, but that may not expose the actual files involved. For more information see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/WebExtensions/Working_with_files.)
What you should be looking for is having your extension signed by Mozilla as Unlisted.
See Mixing Listed and Unlisted Add-ons on addons.mozilla.org blog post for an overview.
That way, AMO does not host nor (normally) review your extension; it simply runs some basic automated checks and immediately signs your extension so that it can be privately distributed as an XPI.
For those interested in developing/running an extension from a local directory without having to package or load it manually via "Load Temporary Addon..." from about:debuggin#/runtime/this-firefox please go to this github repository.
From the README.md:
The procedure involves a few steps, but it needs to be done only once.
First you need to enable AutoConfig aka userchrome.js by copying the file config-prefs.js to [Your Firefox install directory]/defaults/pref
Note: For best security, on Windows it is best to leave your Firefox install in "c:\Program Files" so that your config-prefs.js and userChrome.js can only be modified when you are in root/admin mode.
Then you need to edit the file userChrome.js and modify the function installUnpackedExtensions() to reflect the locations of your own addons.
The modified userChrome.js then must be copied to your Firefox installation directory. For example on Windows this is usually "c:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox" for the 32-bit version of Firefox. You can rename the file, but remember to modify the corresponding line pref("general.config.filename", "userChrome.js") in defaults/pref/config-prefs.js
Now your addons from your local directories will be loaded automaticaly whenever Firefox starts. After editing your code remember to reload it from about:debuggin. You can also get there via the menu by selecting "More Tools", then "Remote Debugging", and click on "This Firefox" on the left side (but the quickiest way is to bookmark it and then add a bookmark keyword such as "dbg" for quick access.)
Please note that this is an automated install of the extension every time Firefox starts, so it is not quite the same as a "permenent install". That is, this procedure has exactly the same effect as clicking on "Load Temporary Addon..." from the about:debuggin page, just that the process is now automated via userChrome.js. This means that if you have code that does something after the installation of the extension such as browser.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(details => { if (details.reason == "install") { ...do something after install... }); then this code will be called every time Firefox is launched.
You can try setting the preference extensions.legacy.enabled (this will only work in Nightly or Dev Edition).

Nusphere PhpEd Debugger (With CodeIgniter ) Issues

I am using Nusphere PHPED for my CodeIgniter Project. I am trying to use the debugger, it first gave me problems and I had to alter php.ini to get it to start the debug session. Now, I start the debugger from index.php, and it looks like it starts, but every time I do something (like clicking an anchor or something), it takes me back to index.php and has to start initializing everything again before it jumps to the specific task. In the log it says that the session ended and it "failed to navigate to URL localhost/project/profile" (where project is my project and profile is the controller i am targeting with the anchor)
Any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
you can use external browsers like IE, FF or Chrome with installed DBG debugger toolbars. One for IE is shipped and installed with PhpED and bars for FF and Chrome are avilable for free on their forum. Using debugger toolbar you can trigger debugger from the right place.

Fastest way to debug Firefox addons during development

Debugging a Firefox addon is a slow process: (1) edit source code in a JS editor (2) package into XPI using a build script (3) drag into Firefox to install (4) restart Firefox (5) open the JavaScript Debugger
Can we speeden up the process? Like install it into Firefox without a restart, or configure the build script to install it into Firefox as well?
You'll want to locate your profile folder. Once you find it, go into the folder called 'extensions', and then locate the folder for the add-on you are working on. Replace that folder with a file of the same name (minus .xpi if that's part of the name), and inside the file place the full path to your source directory of the add-on.
In Linux and Mac, that'll look like:
/full/path/to/yourExtension/
And on Windows:
C:\full\path\to\yourExtension\
Remember the trailing slash and beware of extra whitespace.
As long as you don't use jar files inside your add-on, you will no longer have to rebuild (this is covered in a bit more depth here).
Additionally, you'll want to set nglayout.debug.disable_xul_cache to true. For edits to xul or js files, you'll just have to open up a new window to see your changes instead of restarting the application. There are other preferences here that you may find useful as well.
Extra tips:
Starting firefox with a certain profile (dev), while other firefox profile is open and with the debugger already on:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe" -no-remote -P dev -jsconsole
Check out the restart addon (saves time).
i use Netbeans with the Foxbeans Plugin for addon development, there you just press the "run button", and firefox starts up with the addon installed (into a test profile). maybe you should give this a try!
You need the "edit source" and "restart firefox" steps; they can't be removed from the process...
When you install the addon, the javascript ends up on disk, in your firefox profile. If you edit it in there, and restart firefox, the new stuff will be picked up. When you're done, create the xpi from the files in your profile.
http://simplygenius.com/2005/08/debugging-firefox-mozilla-extensions_25.html contains a good description of debugging FF extensions in venkman
Came here via google - FF nightly 31 has new tools for debugging add ons. Its a god send. Details here:
https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2014/04/08/add-on-debugger-now-in-firefox-nightly/
To make development of the add-on faster, an important goal is to eliminate restart of FF to test every code change. Three options that I can think of:
Use the FF nightly 31 build, based on the other answers in this post.
Use the following add-on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autoinstaller/
Build it in your code with a restartless add-on. Refer to the answer in this post firefox restartless bootstrap extension script not reloading
I have used the last two options and it works greatly for me.
You can also set dynamic breakpoints via the debugger keyword. Open the "Browser Toolbox" to make the debugger stop at the line.
I think it's nice because you don't have to lookup the source file and line after every restart.
Also take a look at this Debugging extension code in firefox answer which mention the improved debugger capabilities for restartless extensions since Firefox 23.
As of 2022 most of the old answers are quite outdated.
Installing unsigned extensions/addons/themes is not possible anymore for the Release versions of firefox, especially just copying them into the profile/extension folder ("sideloading", see here).
Only ESR, Developer, Nightly and Unbranded versions of firefox still allow installation of unsigned extensions.
Mozilla gives a nice Firefox workflow overview for creating extensions.
For running and debugging extensions you can use the tool web-ext or the following (both methods described in link above):
in firefox open a new tab exteand type about:debugging
under This Firefox you can Load temporary Addon... to load your extension
(don't load a .xpi file, just select any file within the directory you develop your extension in)
the extension is loaded and you can debug it
you need to use the Browser Toolbox to debug extensions
in case the devTools won't work make sure devtools.chrome.enabled = true in about:config
when you made code changes you can click Reload in the debugging tab
Finally, after coding and testing, when you want to create a new .xpi file, VS Code's Tasks are handy.
This here is a very simple task that uses 7-zip on Windows to create a .xpi:
{
"version": "2.0.0",
"tasks": [
{
"label": "Make Theme .xpi",
"type": "process",
"windows": {
"command": "C:\\Program Files\\7-zip\\7z.exe",
"args": ["a", "-tzip", "${relativeFileDirname}-theme.xpi", "${fileDirname}\\*"]
}
}
]
}
(this snippet uses variable substitution to read files and put .xpi file into specific dir)

Resources