Easiest way to execute local file from Firefox?

Question

I am developing a web application. I would like to extend my error messages (and their backtraces) so that I can click on the mentioned file, and have it opened automatically in my PHP IDE.

I would like to make this a easy-to-activate feature so that whoever works on the web application, can easily map the error message to point to their local copy of the site, and open their IDE.

What - short of developing a custom FF extension - is the simplest way you can think of to execute a local command (a batch file that calls the IDE) on click in Firefox on Windows(7)? I have looked for extensions but had no luck. Maybe using another extension like Firebug or Greasemonkey?

Security is not an issue, as this is supposed to work on the developer's workstation only and I can change my local Firefox's settings.

Answer 1

There's not a way to do this with javascript. But it looks possible with a firefox addon. Have a look at this.

Answer 2

I think that the closest you can get to this, is by having the configuration of the web browser associate a particular mime type with a given "helper application" (here the IDE program), and to have the HTTP server return such a file.

Otherwise, security concerns dictate that browser would not run any "abritrary" program/logic on the client.

Answer 3

I don't know which IDE you're using, but in for example Eclipse you can also use the built-in webbrowser to test your webapp and the exceptions/traces in the Eclipse console log already have links to the source code in question. Easy as that. See if your IDE provides something similar.

Answer 4

Pekka,

After reading the thread so far, it seems that you want to build an application that somehow authenticates with the server--i.e.: the "average user" wouldn't have access to it. If this were the case, then delivering it through the browser is an impossibility without writing a custom extension.

Running authentication through GreaseMonkey is difficult, but once the client is authenticated, there is no real way to "run" the trace.

If the server generates a batch file or some kind of instruction set (script, shortcut, etc.), you can simply configure the browser (or have the local instance of your app configure the browser) to run the file. The problem here is that you have no way to automatically authenticate!

The only other way I can imagine that you could get this to work is via a Java applet, which would only be cumbersome and require Java to initialize every time you wanted to import a trace.

The problem you have is that the browser is inherently secure. It's designed to protect the computer from malware, rogue websites, etc etc., and so without developing a custom extension for the browser, there's no way to make the hop to any applications that run in tandem with the browser.

So on that note, I'll suggest that you reconsider writing a Firefox XUL extension as mentioned above. You'll probably need to implement some XPCOM code to make it work, too. Here are some resources that will help get you started:

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/xpcom

https://developer.mozilla.org/En/XUL

http://ted.mielczarek.org/code/mozilla/extensiondev/

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/XUL%5FTutorial/Introduction

Answer 5

You can add a new protocol (like "edit://") to windows (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa767914%28VS.85%29.aspx) and write a small handler program that picks a filename from the "edit://" url and passes that file to the editor. This way i taught windows to understand txmt links (http://blog.macromates.com/2007/the-textmate-url-scheme/) in the way my mac does.

Answer 6

http://mozex.mozdev.org/

MozEX is an extension which allows the user to use external programs for these actions:

* edit content of textareas (possibly utilizing a spell-checker, color syntax etc.)
* view page source
* handle mailto, news, telnet and FTP links
* download files
* ... and many more :)

The universal handler lets you enter a list of protocol schemes, e.g., "abc://,def://" and a command to handle them. So you just have your application generate a url that begins with your chosen (made up) protocol, and mozex will intercept a click on the url and send the url to your chosen command as a paramater.

I think this is exactly what you want.