Feature Request: Compatiblity with sidebar tab addons and keybindings

[tradewatcher]

Hello,
I can't install the experimental version under FF 57.0b9 so i still use legacy addons :/ (Dev Edition)

It would be really great and powerful if your addon is able to support vertical tab addons like Tree Style Tab, Tree Tab and so on. All of them use the sidebar and have a own link in the sidebar dropdown menu - maybe its possible to replace the single addon link with container names and links.

Options to configurate keybindings to display each/next container would also be a great feature.

But thanks for your great work !! Tree Style Tab + Panorama was one of the most powerful combinations for freaks like us. (200++ open tabs :D)

P.S.: do you have any ideas how long it will take to see an API which support the feature to hide/unhide single tabs? FF 59-60 ?

[grahamperrin]

… how long it will take to see an API which support the feature to hide/unhide single tabs? …

@kesselborn is that #26 where the issue in GitHub is closed whilst the blockage in Bugzilla@Mozilla is not yet fixed?

@tradewatcher from https://addons.mozilla.org/addon/conex/reviews/936581/ (2017-10-18):

… don't think they will add this functionality for 57 ... perhaps 58.

Reference:

• Mozilla bug 1384515 - Provide an API for hiding and showing individual tabs (2017-07-26)

Importance: P2 normal

– 51 votes.

[kesselborn]

Hey, in order to use experimental, you need to follow these instructions:

https://github.com/kesselborn/conex#hyper-experimental

movie of what this extension does: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTwmIFSnLWY

I don't really understand what you mean by "if your addon is able to support vertical tab addons like Tree Style Tab, Tree Tab and so on"? This addon is not implementing the functionality of hiding / showing tabs but rather relying on Firefox for implementing this functionality (see the bug @grahamperrin referenced in the last comment). Things looked good until today it was decided that hidden tabs most probably get discarded as well 😢 ... if this is how it will be implemented, it's probably not a good thing for conex.

[tradewatcher]

Hello,

thanks for your reply, i will take a look on experimental version.

The old addons until WE used and modifiy the standard tab strip cause of this it was no problem to use Tree Style Tab + Tab Groups together. Tree Style Tab modified the visual style of Tabs and Tab Groups organized the hidden Tabs. (One of the most powerful addon combinations to handle more than 200-300 tabs without any troubles at the same time) - Tab Mix Plus/Suspend Tabs was the crown for people who want some more features and performance improvement.)
(ex.: Suspend Tabs discard all unused tabs after X minutes except white list domains)

The new WE's for vertical tabs create a own second tab list in the sidebar (standard tab list need to be removed with chrome.css or an API in the future).

I'm not sure if your addon will be able to organize this "second addon based tabbar/sidebar" cause of this i made a feature request for conex. I have no experience with JS but it would be really great if you can provide a compatibility to such vertical tab addons maybe without changing your addon each time to support such compatibility. There are already 3 or more vertical tab addons which use the same sidebar API's with some different improvement/style.

Maybe conex will work automatically with vertical tab addons but i wanted to inform you about this very important compatibility and its better to know such things in a alpha/beta stage to be prepared for the future.

I know you dont design the API's and i will also create an account on Bugzilla only to flame about this crap but i hope you will take a look on the compatibility in the future.

[grahamperrin]

… i will also create an account on Bugzilla only to flame about this crap …

As someone who has, in the past, flamed and/or been burnt by flames, I offer this gentle hint:

• refrain; sleep on it for a day or so.

There's a massive amount of information to digest, widely scattered. For what it's worth, my perception:

• there have been, there currently are, and there will be, plenty of very well-thought-out decisions by Mozilla

– we simply can not reap the benefits in time for Firefox 57.

Hope that helps. Last but not least, recommended reading (don't be off-put by the title) :

• Dealing With Disrespect

If the title does put you off, try this short URL that I created:

• http://tinyurl.com/ontotheaffirmative

[tradewatcher]

thanks for your advice.

Mozilla announced WE change 2 years ago and they are still not able to offer the most important API's. The most famous addon "NoScript" is a Legacy Addon because they wait for API's since 2 years?.
This is more than a bad joke from Mozilla while wee see new Test Pilot Addons to assist a private company collecting as much private data as possible "Cliqz" and please ignore the new credit card stealing feature in your browser. Cant be more easy to create malicious software to steal a standard information from Firefox.

Now we have to read, no we dislike to create an API for Tab Group addons because we think you dont use it like we think. I followed the TabHiding API until it got assigned. I thought this will be done for us but no the API is more than useless. Creating a new Window and open all Bookmarks will do the same like the new API.

But its important to delete the option enable.legacy.addons asap... Their "new way" is a big scam for me like Windows 10.

Sorry 4 off topic...

[kesselborn]

• I think I somewhere saw a comment that hiding the complete tab bar is part of the api for hiding / showing tabs that is being implemented at the moment ... can't find it at the moment. If this is the case it could be an option in either web-extension (vertical tabs or conex)

• regarding hiding and showing of groups / containers: there should not be a compatibility issue here: if you switch to a tab using conex, clicking on a tab or whatever extension you are using shouldn't matter

• regarding off-topic: I agree with @grahamperrin that mozilla usually makes very educated decisions and that ranting is not constructive. From my involvement in the bug you can tell that I am not happy with the current direction the api is taking.
  Every restart (and that's kind of what this is) hurts for a while but in the end, we hopefully get a much better browser that will be ready for the next 10 oder 15 years. For now, the Mozilla people will have to triage bugs and features although we probably disagree with some decisions, I think ranting is not helping anyone.

[kesselborn]

so: the only thing left is configuring key bindings and there is currently no api for it available. I can't find a bug at mozilla that explicitly asks for dynamically create keybindings so I am closing this bug.
Feel free to re-open if you have a mozilla bug (or just comment with a link to the bug and I'll reopen the issue).

[tradewatcher]

The experiment version works great but only for main tabstrip and old legacy vertical tabs.
I tested the experiment version and it doesnt work with sidebar tabs. :( (Tree Style Tab WE)

I know you develop this addon for your own use but it would be really really awesome if you could take a look on the sidebar tab addons maybe you can provide compatibility.

https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab/tree/master/webextensions
This is the source code of Tree Style Tab WE maybe you find some minutes to take a look. All sidebar tabs will work like this.

All of them use the sidebar and have a own link in the sidebar dropdown menu - maybe its possible to replace the single addon link with container names and links.

#24 Its maybe possible to display this menu with (toolbar api)
https://ibb.co/ctd5Fm (sidebar menu)

Schonmal danke, ich wär auch bereit zu ner kleinen Spende in BTC wenn dein Addon mit TST WE läuft, wär mir und auch bestimmt einigen anderen extrem wichtig.

[kesselborn]

mmm ... I don't really understand what you mean :)
I played around using the sidebar (screenshot) instead of a popup, but that's not what you mean, right?
So: what doesn't work with the Tree Style Tab WE? I need to know the problem.
Cheers

[tradewatcher]

Reproduce the problem:
create new Firefox profile
install tree style tab (https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/)
install tabs hide/show api
open sidebar and choose Tree Style Tab
install conex 0.66experiment
open a new tab in container 1
open a new tab in container 2
use conex search bar and select the tab in container 1

expected result: switch to selected tab and hide tabs from other containers
result: switch to selected tab - no hidden tabs (sidebar)
(result with Tree Style Tab Legacy Addon: switch to selected tab and hide tabs from other containers)

For an extra usability it would be great if each container get a own link in the sidebar MAIN menu:
(I mean the menu where you can choose "Bookmarks", "History", "Synced Tabs", "Move Sidebar to Right", "Close Sidebar").
Add container names, icon and a "shortcut" to show tabs from this container
On your Screenshot you see "[Icon] Taborama" which display your gui, replace this Taborama menu point with single container names and show Tree Style Tab with tabs from the chosen container instead of your full gui and replace the single "Tree Style Tab"/"Taborama" button in the main menu.

After selecting a Container without tabs, create a new tab in the chosen container.

Effect:

• Maybe it will be possible to show sidebar menu entries (to create extra addons like "Tab Group Managers" and display the sidebar menu (container list) on a toolbar or something like that.
• Compatibility for vertical/sidebar tab addons (Tree Style Tab, Tree Tabs, Tab Center Redux and more)
• Extra usability for sidebar users (show/switch container with a click)
• Its already possible to open Bookmarks and History Sidebar with a shortcut. I think there are good chances to open other sidebars (and containers) with custom keybindings in the future.

Your Icon and "pop-up" menü is a already a great solution but I miss the option to select a container and not a single tab. It would increase usability with an option to ignore tab search and display the container and his tabs after a click on the container. Some people will prefer search method some people prefer open full container with last tab because they already have a structure.

Big Thanks, i want to donate some Bitcoin if your addon is usable with Tree Style Tab. TST works very well and is only waiting for the API to hide the standard tabstrip.

[grahamperrin]

Keyboard shortcuts, key chords, key bindings

… a bug at mozilla that explicitly asks for dynamically create keybindings …

For reference only

• Mozilla bug 1325692 - [commands] Explicit support for overriding built-in keyboard shortcuts by WebExtensions (2016-12-23)

Other Mozilla bugs that might become aligned with WebExtensions APIs include:

• 1259818 - No keyboard shortcut for Firefox Menu (AKA as hamburger menu) (2016-03-25)

[grahamperrin]

Spun off from #85 (comment):

… Keyboard shortcut support is kind of a mess.

Parallel to Mozilla's incomplete documentation for developers, re: https://framasphere.org/posts/4091856 I wonder whether Mozilla bug 1215061 - Better keyboard shortcut support is also partially blocking key-related features for users of Firefox Quantum.

---

Whilst the mess and conflicts do not bother me :-) as a side note, I wonder why sometimes, I find it necessary to repeatedly disable some Web Developer shortcuts. Here, for example:

I guess that some of the blank spaces (seen with Firefox 56.0.2) relate to things that use WebExtensions APIs.

[kesselborn]

sorry: this issue is a conglomerate of different and sometimes outdated problems. I will close this for now and expect the main topics to pop up again if they still hurt.