C++ writing HTML onto each of two already opened Firefox tabs from within extension

Question

I'm seeking C++ help in writing HTML code to a new tab in Firefox within an extension.

Our C++ code has been partially wrapped by an XPCOM wrapper and embedded within a Firefox extension thanks to the work of a consultant we have lost contact with, and still partially implemented by calling out to a standalone executable.

To get our output displayed from the standalone executable, the C++ code writes the output to a file and simply calls system(firefox file.html) which then comes up with a file:-based URI.

This no longer works in all situations, based on a report from a user running Vista. So it seems to be time to do it right, and navigate the DOM, likely integrating the rest of the C++ code into the XPCOM-wrapped part. Perhaps there's a right way to do it from the standalone executable using the DOM model?

The "current working directory" seems to no longer match the directory in which the extension installed the standalone executable, with a "VirtualStore" path element.

We also generate parallel output in a different MIME type, VRML to be specific.

Any suggestions or examples for how to properly generate output into a Firefox browser pane under C++ programmatic control would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

1. You could call Firefox with a fully specified file:/// URL, not a relative URL (file.html).
2. Or you if you want to dump a separate executable, you could implement a protocol handler or a simpler about module (where ios.newChannel would be replaced by your own channel implementation that generates the data).

I'd say keeping the file-generation solution is OK and doesn't seem very bad, so I'd go with (1), perhaps changing the generated file location to a temporary folder and specifying it fully both for the executable that generates it and for Firefox.