Extensions and custom buttons for UXP browsers - Corrections, modifications, adjustments, and special recommendations

[dmiranda]

5 minutes ago, dmiranda said:

So, let's say I want to include the key "browser.backspace_action", I just add it using edit list?

Yes, indeed. Let me play with it for a day or two a day or too. It looks very promising.

[AstroSkipper]

3 hours ago, dmiranda said:

So, let's say I want to include the key "browser.backspace_action", I just add it using edit list?

Right! There is no need to change anything in the button code unless you want to create a mod of this custom button. The preferences, you want to control should be added, edited or deleted via the button "Edit List".

Edited April 3 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

11 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

16 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

AstroSkipper, what is the original source of the "Custom Buttons 0.0.5.8.9.6-fixed8" version you are offering?  Is the offering a mod?

As far as I can remember, I got this version from the Custom Buttons Forum many years ago. This forum is no longer active and has unfortunately closed.  The Custom Buttons extension was fixed on a regular base in those days due to breakages which occurred repeatedly after updating Firefox. In these days, you can get this extension either via the Classic Add-ons Archive or here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/custombuttons/files/. I personally have an huge archive of custom buttons themselves and the Custom Buttons extensions which were created in those days. However, the Custom Buttons 0.0.5.8.9.6-fixed8 version, you presumably will get only here.  These fixed versions were never archived officially. 

I have just checked my archive of custom buttons and extensions. I found there a more recent version of the Custom Buttons extension targeting our Firefox respectively Pale Moon based browsers and installed it in a New Moon 28 testing profile. Only if the testing is positive, and all my custom buttons are working properly, I will present this version here.

[AstroSkipper]

17 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

I have just checked my archive of custom buttons and extensions. I found there a more recent version of the Custom Buttons extension targeting our Firefox respectively Pale Moon based browsers and installed it in a New Moon 28 testing profile. Only if the testing is positive, and all my custom buttons are working properly, I will present this version here.

This version has much more options than the old one. Its layout is more modern, and this Custom Buttons extensions offers features which the old one doesn't have. All is working in the moment as it should. This Custom Buttons extension seems to be a perfect choice especially for the more advanced users. Here is a preview.



Cheers, AstroSkipper

Edited April 4 by AstroSkipper

[Ascii2]

11 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

@dmiranda, @Ascii2 Do you still use custom buttons at all? This was actually my initial question. What do you think about custom buttons in general? And have you ever tried the Pref Toggler custom button or my modded version I recently presented here? 

l have not yet used custom buttons.  However, I have long wanted to have at least a way to easily toggle functionality that I choose that need not be already implemented in an easy or convenient manner.  I have also wanted to have indication when certain conditions were true for things that might not be obvious otherwise and would need frequent checking to determine, derive, or deduce.

Unfortunately, I historically have not had sufficient time to find solutions to that or other things due to performing on higher priories at the various times that would occupy the needed time to do so.

Custom buttons appear to be a reasonable solution to the things I wanted and described hereinabove.  I have never tried the Pref Toggler custom button or any modded version of it.

[Ascii2]

 

15 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

As far as I can remember, I got this version from the Custom Buttons Forum many years ago. This forum is no longer active and has unfortunately closed.  ...These fixed versions were never archived officially. 

From what I can tell there have been a few forums for the Custom Buttons extension.  The Mozilla Russia Custom Buttons forum is still available but is in the Russian language (unsurprisingly) and not English.  My impression is that those "fixed" extension versions might also be sourced from those forums.  The Mozilla Russia Custom Buttons forum pages of interest are:
http://forum.mozilla-russia.org/viewforum.php?id=34
http://forum.mozilla-russia.org/viewtopic.php?id=9591
http://forum.mozilla-russia.org/viewtopic.php?id=41987

 

15 hours ago, AstroSkipper said:

The Custom Buttons extension... In these days, you can get this extension either via the Classic Add-ons Archive or here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/custombuttons/files/.

It is also live on Mozilla AMO on the addons.thunderbird.net domain (which is not just for Thunderbird addons) via:
https://addons.thunderbird.net/addon/custom-buttons/

[AstroSkipper]

7 hours ago, Ascii2 said:

It is also live on Mozilla AMO on the addons.thunderbird.net domain (which is not just for Thunderbird addons) via:
https://addons.thunderbird.net/addon/custom-buttons/

 

On 9/18/2022 at 11:02 PM, AstroSkipper said:

Last not least, some additional sources where legacy extensions and custom buttons can be found:

1. Pale Moon Add-ons - Extensions – Link: https://addons.palemoon.org/extensions/
2. Basilisk Add-ons - Extensions – Link: https://addons.basilisk-browser.org/extensions/
3. Classic Add-ons Archive – This catalogue contains 93,598 versions of 19,450 Firefox add-ons created by 14,274 developers over the past 15 years using XUL/XPCOM technology. To access this archive, you have to install the extension ca-archive. Link: https://github.com/JustOff/ca-archive/releases/tag/2.0.3
4. Extensions for Pale Moon, Firefox & SeaMonkey made by JustOff – Link: https://justoff.github.io/
5. LegacyCollector - Link: http://web.archive.org/web/20191110173006/https://legacycollector.org/firefox-addons/index.html
6. RealityRipple Software – Pale Moon Extensions – Link: https://realityripple.com/Software/XUL/
7. Custom buttons – Link: http://custombuttons.sourceforge.net/forum/index.php
8. AMO archived – Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20171004160834/https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/extensions/
9. Thunderbird.net – Link: https://addons.thunderbird.net/en-us/firefox/
10. TarekJor - Firefox 52 ESR legacy addons - A curated list and XPI files of Mozilla Firefox browser extensions, addons, themes from addons.mozilla.org, before XUL-based purge blackout – Link: https://github.com/TarekJor/Firefox-52-ESR-legacy-addon/tree/master/xpi

Thunderbird.net has still been a source for some legacy extensions. That's why I initially listed it in the first post of this thread to offer and collect here different sources.

[AstroSkipper]

uBlock Origin Legacy - Blocking of certain browser detection scripts

If you want to block browser detection scripts which contain in their URL the string browser-detect- from all websites, you simply have to create an universal rule in the tab "My filters", strictly according to the motto "one for all" , just like this one:

/*browser-detect-*.js

I personally prefer such universal rules to block as many of those crappy browser detection scripts as possible. 

Cheers, AstroSkipper 

Edited April 4 by AstroSkipper

[AstroSkipper]

SQLite Manager - An extension to manage any SQLite database inside the browser

The extension SQLite Manager can manage all sqlite files inside New Moon, Serpent, Pale Moon and other browsers, even those sqlite files which belong to the browser itself. With SQLite Manager, you can view all entries, add new ones, edit or delete old ones inside those sqlite files.
Here is a quotation with all offerred features from its homepage:

Quote

• dialogs for creation, deletion of tables, indexes, views and triggers
• ability to rename, copy, reindex tables
• ability to add and drop columns
• create new db, open any existing db, copy an existing db
• supports writing your own queries (single or multiple)
• supports saving the queries with a name
• a tab for database settings (no need to write the pragma statements) where you can view and change the sqlite library settings
• export tables/views as csv, sql or xml files
• import tables from csv, sql or xml files
• a dropdown menu showing all profile db (.sqlite)
• an intuitive heirarchical tree showing all tables, indexes, views and triggers
• ability to see the master tables
• ability to see the temporary tables, indexes, views and triggers
• ability to browse data from any table/view
• dialogs to allow searching in a table/view
• allows editing and deleting selected record while browsing a table's data
• allows adding, saving and changing blob data
• an extensive menu that helps with writing sql by hand and then executing it
• remembers the last used db, table and the tab (structure, browse & search, etc.) across sessions

The last version is SQLite Manager 0.8.3.1 from 2015 which can be downloaded from the Classic Add-ons Archive or from here: https://github.com/lazierthanthou/sqlite-manager/releases 

Some screenshots:









An alternative is SQLite Admin 1.1, a fork of SQLite Manager for UXP applications, recommended by @billmcct in this post: https://msfn.org/board/topic/183923-extensions-and-custom-buttons-for-uxp-browsers-corrections-modifications-adjustments-and-special-recommendations/?do=findComment&comment=1262553
You can get this extension here: https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/sqlite-admin/

Cheers, AstroSkipper 

 

Edited April 4 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[billmcct]

I am using a fork of  "SQLite Manager 0.8.3.1" which will be supported in the future.

Fork by Moonchild.

https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/sqlite-admin/

[AstroSkipper]

4 hours ago, billmcct said:

I am using a fork of  "SQLite Manager 0.8.3.1" which will be supported in the future.

Fork by Moonchild.

https://addons.palemoon.org/addon/sqlite-admin/

Thank you for the hint! This time, I didn't look there for alternatives. In any case, good to know that there is a more recent fork of SQLite Manager.  I've already added it to my article. 

Edited April 4 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[AstroSkipper]

On 4/2/2024 at 4:07 PM, AstroSkipper said:

Pref Toggler - A custom button for toggling user-selected preferences in about:config

The Pref Toggler custom button, created by the great developer srazzano long time ago, is one of my favourite ones. It gives the opportunity to switch very specific preferences, which have been selected and configured by the user first, much more quickly and clearly than using the about:config page. The controlled preferences by Pref Toggler can be Boolean, String or Integer ones. In addition, this custom button allows direct control over the current state of these user-selected preferences. A tool bar icon in the form of a glowing bulb gives the user an additional indication that some preferences are not in their default state. I only changed the icon images of this custom button inside its code in terms of size for better fit in the tool bar and the main interface window. Here are some screenshots to get an impression how the user interface of Pref Toggler looks like and works:

This is the main interface:



Clicking onto the button "Edit List", you can add, edit or delete preferences to be controlled:



The bulb is glowing due to controlled preferences which are not in their default state:



The bulb is not glowing because all controlled preferences are in their default state:
:


Toggling Boolean preferences is done by a left-click and editing String or Integer preferences by a middle-click or right-click:



Pref Toggler is indeed a great custom button and definitely recommended by me. I uploaded the Pref Toggler custom button as an HTML file for an offline installation.

Here is the download link of my modded custom button Pref Toggler, credits, of course, to its brilliant developer srazzano : https://www.mediafire.com/file/b069qa1jwallwqe/Pref_Toggler_02.04.2024.html/file

Simply open this HTML file in a browser tab and click the embedded custom button link for Pref Toggler! For the installation of this button, as for all others too, the extension Custom Buttons is required and has to be installed first. You can get it from this post: https://msfn.org/board/topic/183923-extensions-and-custom-buttons-for-uxp-browsers-corrections-modifications-adjustments-and-special-recommendations/?do=findComment&comment=1226328

Greetings from Germany, AstroSkipper

 

I changed the image links in my article about Pref Toggler due to access problems caused by the image hoster I use. BTW, if you may wonder where the user-selected preferences are stored, it's in a preference of Pref toggler in about.config called extensions.custombuttons.PrefToggler.prefList. I will also add this information to my article.

Edited April 4 by AstroSkipper

[AstroSkipper]

Custom buttons - An underrated alternative or supplement to extensions

Although most custom buttons are old or even very old, many of them do still work in @roytam1's browsers, Basilisk or Pale Moon.  These custom buttons have unfortunately fallen completely out of the focus of users.  Many don't know them at all or have simply never used them.  I think this is a great pity, as they are a simple, resource-saving and therefore efficient way to add missing or advanced functions to browsers in which a compatible Custom Buttons extension can be installed. Most custom buttons are rather specialised and add features to the browser that cannot even be retrofitted with extensions. The reason is very simple, such legacy extensions weren't and won't be developed any longer to the extent that it once was. Only a few are still maintained, and a very few are developed from scratch. In these days, only webextensions are developed. Anyway! In my browser profiles, the Custom Buttons extension is always the first one I install and then all my favourite custom buttons. Only then are all further required extensions installed.  

Cheers, AstroSkipper 

Edited April 7 by AstroSkipper
Update of content

[billmcct]

A lot of the best extensions have been forked since Mozilla abandoned XUL extensions. Many on PMs extension list are forked or built new.

Then there's TBs extensions and JustOff's. Even Matt (A$$HOLE) Tobin forked a few. Moonchild for a while changed things for PM to only allow installation of extensions  containing PMs GUID. He also reversed that since I and many others know how to edit the "install.rdf" files.

There are many more useful extensions in the "Classic Addons Archive" built by "JustOff" (hope he's still alive) that need coders to take over and update them and to keep them updated. Being 83 YO it can;t be me.

Also I've been using the "custom_buttons-0.0.5.8.9-fixed8-signed" addon since Feb 2020.

 

[AstroSkipper]

34 minutes ago, billmcct said:

A lot of the best extensions have been forked since Mozilla abandoned XUL extensions. Many on PMs extension list are forked or built new.

Then there's TBs extensions and JustOff's. Even Matt (A$$HOLE) Tobin forked a few. Moonchild for a while changed things for PM to only allow installation of extensions  containing PMs GUID. He also reversed that since I and many others know how to edit the "install.rdf" files.

There are many more useful extensions in the "Classic Addons Archive" built by "JustOff" (hope he's still alive) that need coders to take over and update them and to keep them updated. Being 83 YO it can;t be me.

Also I've been using the "custom_buttons-0.0.5.8.9-fixed8-signed" addon since Feb 2020.

 

TBH, I have known all this for a long time. That's why I listed all these sources in my first post in this thread. BTW, I have forked extensions too and made some fully working again. Not only uBlock Origin Legacy but also, for example, Check My IP Address & Location. But what I am trying to do at the moment is to get back the user's focus on custom buttons which are really great and deserve it. 

Edited April 6 by AstroSkipper