Firefox XUL toolbar with javascript to IE?

Question

Hi,

I have developed a Firefox toolbar in XUL, which uses javascript to manipulate the DOM.

I'd like to export this to IE.

I know that IE doesn't support XUL, but wonder:

(1) is there an easy way to use the existing javascript code for the IE toolbar as well?

(2) is there a IE installer that easily creates all necessary registry values for creating a toolbar?

I'd be grateful for any help. If anyone can point me to a sample IE toolbar code, with several buttons, drop-down menus and perhaps even a search box, that'll make things much easier as well.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Try AmpleSDK by using this you may port your toolbar to ie

Answer 2

Writing an IE toolbar requires C++, the Windows API and Microsoft COM. If you have the paid version of Visual Studio then you can also use ATL to simplify some of the work.

You won't be able to re-use your JavaScript code. Unless perhaps JavaScript code for manipulating the DOM of the currently loaded webpage.

This article is what got me started: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb776819.aspx

I found this to be a helpful sample.

I want to warn you though that creating an IE toolbar can be quite painful. If you are serious then I recommend that you learn and understand the basics of COM and ActiveX first. (I did not do this and spent many hours messing around getting nowhere.)

An alternative option would to embed XULRunner in IE. It would allow you to port most of your code. I have never tried this myself though.

Answer 3

Well the company www.softomate.com is focused on porting existing FF plugins to IE and other browsers. We were able to port my existing Security related plugin to IE and Safari with them.