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Chrome

5,273 bytes added, 12:46, 6 October 2006
→‎Chrome URLs
=What is Chrome?=
In a nutshell, Chrome is the user interface parts of the application window that are outside Mozilla products. The user interface is composed mostly of a window's content area. [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_toolbar_buttons Toolbars[XUL]], menu bars[[XBL]], progress barsCSS, and window title bars JS files. (You can make changes to these files without needing to recompile the Mozilla project you're working on - which is an enormous timesaver, especially for people who are all examples of elements that are typically part of the chromejust starting out on Mozilla-based development).
=Chrome Registration=A supplier If you look in the chrome subdirectory of your installation, you'll find .jar files - these contain the chrome for a given window type (efiles that make up the user interface.gThese jar files are actually just ZIP archives., for the browser windowExtensions are (usually) is called a chrome providerapplets. The providers work together to supply a complete set 90% of an [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Extensions extension], typically is chrome for a particular window, from the images on the toolbar buttons to the files that describe the text, contents and appearance of the window itself.
There are three basic In the XUL world, Chrome is the top level window which contains groups of UI elements of various types . Example of chrome providers:are the <b>browser window</b> and <b>dialog window</b>.
==Content==
The main source file for a window description comes from the content provider, and it can be any file type viewable from within Mozilla. It will typically be a XUL file, since XUL is designed for describing the contents of windows and dialogs. The javascript files that define the user interface are also contained within the content packages, as well as most XBL binding files.=Chrome in depth=
==Chrome Providers==
The chrome obtains its UI description from four types of providers:
* Content provider
::Provides the skeleton, i.e., the menus, command buttons
* Skin provider
::Supplies the look-and-feel of the chrome
* Platform provider
::Gives platform dependent UI description
* Locale provider
::Offers the language and culture sensitive resources
==LocaleChrome URLs==To maximize the flexibility, Mozilla introduces a new technology called "Configurable Chrome" (Refer to [http://www.mozilla.org/xpfe/ConfigChromeSpec.html Configurable Chrome] by Benjamin Smedberg <benjamin@smedbergs.us>). A XUL file can be written in such a fashion that its chrome description comes from a mixture of physical sources, either locally, remotely, or a combination of both. An end user may customize her/his configuration to pick up any of the source type from his favor [[Chrome#Chrome_Providers|chrome providers]].
Localizable applications keep all their localized information in locale providersTo achieve this, chrome type URLs must be used to reference external sources; such as CSS files and JavaScript files. This allows translators A Chrome URL points to plug in a different chrome package to translate an application without altering file registered within the rest of the source code. The two main types of localizable files are DTD files and javaMozilla product (it could be e-style properties filesmail, calendar, browser etc.)
The general form of chrome URLs look like this [Refer to [http://xulplanet.com/tutorials/xultu/chromeurl.html XULPlanet - The Chrome URL] for more details]:
==Skin==<pre>chrome://WindowType/ProviderType/[ProviderName/]</pre>
A skin provider *The "WindowType" is responsible for providing a complete set of files that describe the visual appearance window type of the chrome. Typically a Possible values are "navigator", "messenger", etc. The "ProviderType" is one of the four providers: content, skin , platform, or locale. Examples of the provider will provide CSS files names, "ProviderName", are Mozilla, Mozillazine, xyzOrg, myISP, and imagesetc. (Refer to [http://www.mozilla.org/projects/intl/iuc15/paper/iuc15xul.html XUL - Creating Localizable XML GUI] for illustrations).Below: Chrome registry - mapping chrome providers to URLs[[Image:Chrome.JPG]]
=What =Chrome Registry==This aspect requires sufficient understanding of Chrome. Acoording to WierdAl (#developers), Firefox uses the toolkit approach: [http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/chrome.manifest Chrome Registration - MDC] whereas SeaMonkey uses the old way (xpfe). ==Code Registry Example==<pre>1. content necko jar:comm.jar!/content/necko/ xpcnativewrappers=yes2. locale necko en-US jar:en-US.jar!/locale/en-US/necko/3. content xbl-marquee jar:comm.jar!/content/xbl-marquee/4. content pipnss jar:pipnss.jar!/content/pipnss/5. locale pipnss en-US jar:en-US.jar!/locale/en-US/pipnss/6. # Firefox-only7. overlay chrome://browser/content/pageInfo.xul chrome://pippki/content/PageInfoOverlay.xul application={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384}8. overlay chrome://communicator/content/pref/preftree.xul chrome://pippki/content/PrefOverlay.xul9. overlay chrome://navigator/content/pageInfo.xul chrome://pippki/content/PageInfoOverlay.xul application=seamonkey@applications.mozilla.org10. content pippki jar:pippki.jar!/content/pippki/ xpcnativewrappers=yes11. locale pippki en-US jar:en-US.jar!/locale/en-US/pippki/12. content global-platform jar:toolkit.jar!/content/global-platform/ platform13. skin global classic/1.0 jar:classic.jar!/skin/classic/global/14. override chrome://global/content/netError.xhtml jar:embedder.jar!/global/content/netError.xhtml15. content inspector jar:inspector.jar!/content/inspector/ xpcnativewrappers=no</pre> *Line 1: <pre>content packagename uri/to/files/ [flags]</pre>**This code will register the package called necko when resolving the URL jar:comm.jar!/content/necko/ with the xpcnativewrappers flag on   *Line 5: <pre>locale packagename localename uri/to/files/ [flags]</pre>**This code will register a locale package called pinpnss with the localename en-US when resolving the URL jar:en-US.jar!/locale/en-US/pipnss/**NOTE: If there are more than one locale file register for the package, chrome will select the best-fit locale for the URL.  *Line 6: <pre># this line is a comment - you can do put whatever you want here</pre>**To comment your code, put '#' in the beginning of the line.  *Line 7: <pre>overlay chrome://URI-to-be-overlayed chrome://overlay-URI [flags]</pre>**The prupose of this code is to overlaying one chrome on top of the other. The application={ec8030f7-c20a-464f-9b0e-13a3a9e97384} is a flag that specific which application will have this overlay.  *Line 13: <pre>skin packagename skinname uri/to/files/ [flags]</pre>**This will register a skin package gobal with the skinname classic/1.0 when resolving the URL jar:classic.jar!/skin/classic/global/**NOTE: If more than one skin register for the package, chrome will select the best-fit skin for the URL.  *Line 14: <pre>override chrome://package/type/original-uri.whatever new-resolved-URI [flags]</pre>**The purpose of this is to override a chrome file provided by the application or XULRunner with a new extension or embedder.  =Additional Info= ==Starting Out==WierdAl in #developers said he started doing the development work by obtaining [http://www.gerv.net/software/patch-maker Gerv's Patch Maker] and looking in Bugzilla for a bug with the words "good first bug" in the Status Whiteboard. WierdAl also has a blog on his development: *[http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/weirdal/archives/cat_xul_widgets.html Burning Chrome: XUL Widgets Archives]*[http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/weirdal/archives/cat_xul_xbl_js_and_dom.html Burning Chrome: XUL, XBL, JS and DOM Archives] == Chrome Tutorials==Here are the following examples of what you can do with tutorials on how to create user interface parts using Chrome:
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_a_Skin_for_Mozilla:Getting_Started Create a skin for Mozilla]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Working_with_windows_in_chrome_code Working with windows in Chrome Code]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_toolbar_buttons Create toolbar buttons]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Creating_a_Firefox_sidebar Create a Firefox sidebar]
*[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/XUL_Tutorial:Creating_a_Window XULTutorial: Creating a Window - MDC]
*[http://www.g4tv.com/screensavers/features/41046/Create_a_Mozilla_Extension_pg3.html Create a Mozilla Extension]
*[http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html Customizing Mozilla]
 
=Resources=
WierdAl in #developers
 
[http://www.mozilla.org/projects/intl/iuc15/paper/iuc15xul.html XUL - Creating Localizable XML GUI]
 
[http://www.mozilla.org/xpfe/ConfigChromeSpec.html Configurable Chrome ]&nbsp;&nbsp; by Benjamin Smedberg <benjamin@smedbergs.us>
 
[http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Chrome_Registration Chrome Registration]
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/tips
http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Working_with_windows_in_chrome_code http://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Chrome_Registration [http://www.xulplanet.com/tutorials/xultu/chromeurlintro.html1.1 Introduction]
Elichak
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