Rewrite NTT as webextension

[whimboo]

NTT is still an old-style extension which uses XUL overlays. This won't be supported anymore with Firefox 57. So what we need is a rewrite of the whole extension as webextension.

Not sure if everything which we currently support can be implemented, but we should try to get as much as possible ported over.

So far I found those deficits when checking the API:

• Sadly a webextension is not able to change the title of a window, and a request for that has not been implemented yet bug 1333376.

• I don't see a way to implement a real menu within the menubar. Only context menus seem to be supported, and that very limited. Bug 1268020 covers a Tools menubar implementation.

• Forcing add-on compat and other preferences modifications will no longer be possible as described in this document

• Crashme is in question, but it might be able to run it via an experiment. But using those experiments look less promising for an end user.

Good things which will work:

• To get a list of extensions and their details the management API could be used.

• Clipboard interaction should also work as demonstrated here

• Use browser.runtime.getBrowserInfo() to get the build information.

• Screenshots should be doable similar to what the Web Clipper addon is doing.

So seeing this list we most likely will loose a lot of our features, and I wonder how useful such a rewrite will be.

@pascalchevrel we still list this addon on the nightly page. I wonder how important it is for you all those days. Personally I don't have the time to do the rewrite. Also CC'ing @AutomatedTester and @stuartphilp for info.

Statistics for the add-on can be found here: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/nightly-tester-tools/statistics/?last=30

[tonymec]

Firefox 57 already! Does that mean all Toolkit 57 applications, or will there be a delay for Thunderbird and/or for SeaMonkey? IIUC, both Lightning and Chatzilla are also under the crosshairs.

[whimboo]

I don't know if and when other toolkit applications will be affected. There might be similar blog posts like https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2017/02/16/the-road-to-firefox-57-compatibility-milestones/ which explain the process.

[pascalchevrel]

@whimboo I checked with marcia and a lot of our testers use this extension so a rewrite as a web extension, even with a reduced set of features, would be useful I think.

[xabolcs]

Uhh-ohh, no Chatzilla for Fx57? That will be sad.

@whimboo, what about starting a new NTT fork?
There will be two repo, one for this webextension rewrite (e.g. Nightly Tester Tools WebeExtension), one for the toolkit applications (e.g. Nightly Tester Tools for Toolkit)? There is already an NTT for Mobile. :)

I would like to keep supporting Thunderbird and SeaMonkey.

[whimboo]

We will keep this repository. I don't see a need for another one. We will simply create a new branch while the webextension is under development. Later we can flip and keep a branch for the old-style add-on.

The biggest question for now is how we can manage the rewrite. As I mentioned earlier I most likely won't have the time to work on that. So we need some people to actually do the work.

[xabolcs]

I don't see why should live two separate product in the same repo.

Anyway, I happily do the experiment. In the mean time it would be nice to define what should we call 'done' for this issue in the description.

[whimboo]

It will still be NTT. It's not a different product / fork. It's just built on a different code base. I strongly wish to be able to keep the current extension id if that is possible.

We will most likely have a couple of different PRs. Small ones are definitely appreciated so that development can proceed faster. If you would really have the time to work on that it would be fantastic! Maybe some other contributors might also join in once the basics are done, and development for different features can happen in parallel.

[xabolcs]

It is. NTT-webex supports only Fx 57 and up with a feature set. NTT-toolkit supports anything but Fx57 and up with a more wider feature set (including UI) compared to the webex version.

OK, will provide a starter PR sometime. Please note that is just mean I start experimenting ... feel free to jump in!

[UtiluMark]

The ability to change and customize the title of a window to include the exact version information is quite an essential feature of NTT for me. A WebExtension version of NTT without this feature wouldn't be very useful.

[whimboo]

This rewrite is not optional, or based on personal opinions. It's something which has to be done, or the add-on will no longer exist. @UtiluMark, if you want to help to make the best out of it, I would appreciate that.