Summary
XULRunner is essentially a runtime environment for XUL applications (Such as FireFox and ThunderBird). It will also allow Extension developers to create their extensions for use outside of the FireFox browser thereby allow the extension to keep running if the browser crashes.
Details
- XULRunner as it is a separate application will allow extensions to run in their own process separate from FireFox. This will also keep the extension independent of any themes and other extensions.
- XULRunner is not a browser, but it can be used to make a browser.
- XULRunner will allow developers to create their applications using HTML, XHTML, SVG, or XUL.
- It will allow the use of web services(SOAP), cryptography, XPCOM, history implementation (but no UI that will have to be part of the XULRunner app) and more Gecko Features (see HERE for full list of Gecko Features.
- It will have a user interface for the management of XULApplications (installing, deploying, upgrading, and uninstalling)
- Planned to be used by FireFox 3 when it is released Q1 2007. This will be version 1.9 and will be the first production version of XULRunner.
Code
Bare Bones Directory Structure for a XULRunner Application
/applicationName
/chrome
/applicationName
your app files
chrome.manifest
/defaults
/preferences
prefs.js
application.ini