I installed Seamonkey 2.53.18 (x64) over my existing Seamonkey 2.53.16
(x64). With the latter, I had PrefBar 7.1.1, which I used extensively.
With the former, the PrefBar toolbar is blank.

The Add-ons Manager for Seamonkey 2.53.18 showed that PrefBar 7.1.1 was
indeed installed. When I selected the Customize button for PrefBar in
the Add-ons Manager, however, both the Available Items and Enabled Items
columns were blank.

I have reverted to Seamonkey 2.53.16. (Fortunately, I always save my
four SeaMonkey profiles whenever I update.) Does anyone know how to get
PrefBar to work with Seamonkey 2.53.18?

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rosde.com/>

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'.
Others characterize X (previously known as Twitter) as the place
where truth goes to die.

On 10.12.2023 05:50, David E. Ross wrote:
> I installed Seamonkey 2.53.18 (x64) over my existing Seamonkey 2.53.16
> (x64). With the latter, I had PrefBar 7.1.1, which I used extensively.
> With the former, the PrefBar toolbar is blank.

You need to replace all instances of nsIPrefBranch2 by nsIPrefBranch in
PrefBar's Javascript source.

See:

https://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3110416
http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=%3Cu6v3lbu700@dont-email.me%3E

On 12/10/2023 12:20 AM, mike wrote:
> On 10.12.2023 05:50, David E. Ross wrote:
>> I installed Seamonkey 2.53.18 (x64) over my existing Seamonkey 2.53.16
>> (x64). With the latter, I had PrefBar 7.1.1, which I used extensively.
>> With the former, the PrefBar toolbar is blank.
>
> You need to replace all instances of nsIPrefBranch2 by nsIPrefBranch in
> PrefBar's Javascript source.
>
> See:
>
> https://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3110416
> http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=%3Cu6v3lbu700@dont-email.me%3E
>

Are other extensions similarly affected?

--
David E. Ross
<http://www.rosde.com/>

Paris mayor quits X platform, calling it a 'gigantic global sewer'.
Others characterize X (previously known as Twitter) as the place
where truth goes to die.

David E. Ross wrote:
> On 12/10/2023 12:20 AM, mike wrote:
>> On 10.12.2023 05:50, David E. Ross wrote:
>>> I installed Seamonkey 2.53.18 (x64) over my existing Seamonkey 2.53.16
>>> (x64). With the latter, I had PrefBar 7.1.1, which I used extensively.
>>> With the former, the PrefBar toolbar is blank.
>>
>> You need to replace all instances of nsIPrefBranch2 by nsIPrefBranch in
>> PrefBar's Javascript source.
>>
>> See:
>>
>> https://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3110416
>> http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=%3Cu6v3lbu700@dont-email.me%3E
>>
>
> Are other extensions similarly affected?
>

yes

frg wrote:
> David E. Ross wrote:
>> On 12/10/2023 12:20 AM, mike wrote:
>>> On 10.12.2023 05:50, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>> I installed Seamonkey 2.53.18 (x64) over my existing Seamonkey 2.53.16
>>>> (x64).  With the latter, I had PrefBar 7.1.1, which I used extensively.
>>>> With the former, the PrefBar toolbar is blank.
>>>
>>> You need to replace all instances of nsIPrefBranch2 by nsIPrefBranch in
>>> PrefBar's Javascript source.
>>>
>>> See:
>>>
>>> https://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3110416
>>> http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=%3Cu6v3lbu700@dont-email.me%3E
>>>
>>>
>>
>> Are other extensions similarly affected?
>>
>
> yes

Several are. When I installed 2.53.17, I had to do this set of tweaks to
keep PrefBar working. I also had to do tweaking to FlashGot -- the
tweaks were similar but different, and IMO, a little more difficult,
because that extension includes an embedded container that's in .ZIP format.

One other extension that has problems since 2.53.17 is Session Manager,
and so far, I haven't yet found what to fix there. According to the
Release Notes, Session Manager 0.8.1.14 should be working, but I haven't
been able to get it to work, even after a reinstall. And so far, I
haven't found any discussion of what might be needed to fix.

I haven't yet installed Seamonkey 2.53.18. I'm hopeful that Session
Manger might suddenly work again, although I'm not especially optimistic.

However, looking through the instructions from the links above, it looks
like there's one module for Session Manager that references
NsIPrefBranch2 (actually Ci.NsIPrefBranch2), and I'll see if dropping
the 2 for that one accomplishes anything useful.

Smith

NFN Smith wrote:
> frg wrote:
>> David E. Ross wrote:
>>> On 12/10/2023 12:20 AM, mike wrote:
>>>> On 10.12.2023 05:50, David E. Ross wrote:
>>>>> I installed Seamonkey 2.53.18 (x64) over my existing Seamonkey 2.53.16
>>>>> (x64).  With the latter, I had PrefBar 7.1.1, which I used extensively.
>>>>> With the former, the PrefBar toolbar is blank.
>>>>
>>>> You need to replace all instances of nsIPrefBranch2 by nsIPrefBranch in
>>>> PrefBar's Javascript source.
>>>>
>>>> See:
>>>>
>>>> https://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3110416
>>>> http://al.howardknight.net/?STYPE=msgid&MSGI=%3Cu6v3lbu700@dont-email.me%3E
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> Are other extensions similarly affected?
>>>
>>
>> yes
>
> Several are. When I installed 2.53.17, I had to do this set of tweaks to keep
> PrefBar working.  I also had to do tweaking to FlashGot -- the tweaks were
> similar but different, and IMO, a little more difficult, because that
> extension includes an embedded container that's in .ZIP format.
>
> One other extension that has problems since 2.53.17 is Session Manager, and so
> far, I haven't yet found what to fix there.  According to the Release Notes,
> Session Manager 0.8.1.14 should be working, but I haven't been able to get it
> to work, even after a reinstall.  And so far, I haven't found any discussion
> of what might be needed to fix.
>
> I haven't yet installed Seamonkey 2.53.18.  I'm hopeful that Session Manger
> might suddenly work again, although I'm not especially optimistic.

What is broken will stay broken. These extensions were not updated frequently
for later syntax even before 57 and in most cases use(d) features deprecated
years ago. So up to a point I can understsnd mozilla pulling the plug on them.
But only up to a point... :) The pref stuff could probably have stayed in a
bit longer but at the end of the day we needed to take action. It is either
later features in without extensive time consuming rebases or old extensions
and broken websites.

The releasse notes cover some issues. I added some stuff to the meeting notes
too under possible breakage first paragraph:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/SeaMonkey/StatusMeetings/2023-12-03#Extensions_Tracking

> However, looking through the instructions from the links above, it looks like
> there's one module for Session Manager that references NsIPrefBranch2
> (actually Ci.NsIPrefBranch2), and I'll see if dropping the 2 for that one
> accomplishes anything useful.
>

I didn't see any mention of seesion manager breakage but in this case
nsIPrefBranch2 and nsIPrefBranchInternal needs to be changed to nsIPrefBranch.

Nightlies and Betas also get not much testing and when someone complains
months later about stuff taken out it usually falls on my deaf ears because
I/we have moved on to other stuff. Very few exceptions.

FRG

frg wrote:
> NFN Smith wrote:
>> frg wrote:

>>
>> One other extension that has problems since 2.53.17 is Session
>> Manager, and so far, I haven't yet found what to fix there.  According
>> to the Release Notes, Session Manager 0.8.1.14 should be working, but
>> I haven't been able to get it to work, even after a reinstall.  And so
>> far, I haven't found any discussion of what might be needed to fix.
>>
>> I haven't yet installed Seamonkey 2.53.18.  I'm hopeful that Session
>> Manger might suddenly work again, although I'm not especially optimistic.
>
> What is broken will stay broken. These extensions were not updated
> frequently for later syntax even before 57 and in most cases use(d)
> features deprecated years ago. So up to a point I can understsnd mozilla
> pulling the plug on them. But only up to a point... :) The pref stuff
> could probably have stayed in a bit longer but at the end of the day we
> needed to take action. It is either later features in without extensive
> time consuming rebases or old extensions and broken websites.

No objections from me on that handling. The extension is old and not
being maintained, and there's plenty of reason to not take the effort to
maintain backward compatibility. I'm happy to hack my own fix, if I
know what to do.

>
> The releasse notes cover some issues. I added some stuff to the meeting
> notes too under possible breakage first paragraph:
>
> https://wiki.mozilla.org/SeaMonkey/StatusMeetings/2023-12-03#Extensions_Tracking

That's useful. I don't know if I missed that on my last review of the
notes, or that you added it since I looked on Monday. In any case, it's
there now.

>> However, looking through the instructions from the links above, it
>> looks like there's one module for Session Manager that references
>> NsIPrefBranch2 (actually Ci.NsIPrefBranch2), and I'll see if dropping
>> the 2 for that one accomplishes anything useful.
>>
>
> I didn't see any mention of seesion manager breakage but in this case
> nsIPrefBranch2 and nsIPrefBranchInternal needs to be changed to
> nsIPrefBranch.

Right. I dug down and found usage of nsIPrefBranch in
logger_backend.jsm, preference_manager.jsm and session_convert.jsm, but
nothing for either nsiPrefBranch2 or nsIPrefBranchInternal that can be
changed.

I'm not going to pretend that any further attention to this one is worth
your time. Fortunately, I've figured out a functional work-around. My
primary need for the the extension is being able to recover open tabs if
I restart Seamonkey. Since I do have a working instance of PrefBar, I
have a button there that allows for a restart, and when I use that
button, a restart reopens my tabs. Beyond that, if I need to keep a set
of tabs longer, the control for Bookmark This Group of Tabs works well
enough, even where I can easily locate those in a folder in the
Bookmarks bar. Perhaps not quite as elegant as using the extension, but
certainly usable.

>
> Nightlies and Betas also get not much testing and when someone complains
> months later about stuff taken out it usually falls on my deaf ears
> because I/we have moved on to other stuff. Very few exceptions.

A reasonable explanation.

Smith

On 11/12/2023 19:53, frg wrote:
>...>
>
> I didn't see any mention of seesion manager breakage but in this case
> nsIPrefBranch2 and nsIPrefBranchInternal needs to be changed to
> nsIPrefBranch.

The MailRedirect <https://mailredirect.sourceforge.io/> extension broke
between 2.53.17.1 and 2.53.18 for this reason.

It has a block like this

try {
/* to use nsIPrefBranch2 */
} except {
/* Windows: use nsIPrefBranchInternal */
}

/df

--
London
UK

NFN Smith wrote:
> Fortunately, I've figured out a functional work-around.  My
> primary need for the the extension is being able to recover open tabs if
> I restart Seamonkey.  Since I do have a working instance of PrefBar, I
> have a button there that allows for a restart, and when I use that
> button, a restart reopens my tabs.  Beyond that, if I need to keep a set
> of tabs longer, the control for Bookmark This Group of Tabs works well
> enough, even where I can easily locate those in a folder in the
> Bookmarks bar.  Perhaps not quite as elegant as using the extension, but
> certainly usable.

Does Go > Restore Previous Session not do what you need, without needing
any extension? I don't often use it myself, but as far as I recall it
restores whatever windows and tabs were open when SeaMonkey last exited.
Of course, a single button may be a useful convenience if it's
something you need more frequently.

Note that using the "X" in the corner of the window, or File > Close /
Close Window on the menu, just closes that window without exiting
SeaMonkey, so it's not subsequently restored as part of the session.
But if you use File > Quit, I think Restore Previous Session does bring
back all the windows (and tabs in each) which were open at the time.

--
Mark.

On 14/12/2023 13:31, Dirk Fieldhouse wrote:
> ...>
> The MailRedirect <https://mailredirect.sourceforge.io/> extension broke
> between 2.53.17.1 and 2.53.18 for this reason.
>
> It has a block like this
>
> try {
> /* to use nsIPrefBranch2 */
> } except {
> /* Windows: use nsIPrefBranchInternal */
> }
From the relevant BZ #1374847:
>nsIPrefBranch2 and nsIPrefBranchInternal are both trivial subclasses of
nsIPrefBranch which exist purely for add-on compatibility.

(since Gecko 13)

/df

--
London
UK

Mark Bourne wrote:
> NFN Smith wrote:
>> Fortunately, I've figured out a functional work-around.  My primary
>> need for the the extension is being able to recover open tabs if I
>> restart Seamonkey.  Since I do have a working instance of PrefBar, I
>> have a button there that allows for a restart, and when I use that
>> button, a restart reopens my tabs.  Beyond that, if I need to keep a
>> set of tabs longer, the control for Bookmark This Group of Tabs works
>> well enough, even where I can easily locate those in a folder in the
>> Bookmarks bar.  Perhaps not quite as elegant as using the extension,
>> but certainly usable.
>
> Does Go > Restore Previous Session not do what you need, without needing
> any extension?  I don't often use it myself, but as far as I recall it
> restores whatever windows and tabs were open when SeaMonkey last exited.
>  Of course, a single button may be a useful convenience if it's
> something you need more frequently.
>
> Note that using the "X" in the corner of the window, or File > Close /
> Close Window on the menu, just closes that window without exiting
> SeaMonkey, so it's not subsequently restored as part of the session. But
> if you use File > Quit, I think Restore Previous Session does bring back
> all the windows (and tabs in each) which were open at the time.
>

For some reason, I have never really looked at the options for Go,
either Restore Previous Session or the list of Recently Closed Tabs.
Both useful to know about, and I'll keep those in mind for the future.

Thanks for the reminder.

Smith