Firefox 8 for developers
========================

Firefox 8 was released on November 8, 2011. This article provides information both for web developers and for add-on and Mozilla project developers to help take full advantage of the features of this release.

Changes for web developers
--------------------------

### HTML

* The `HTMLImageElement` `crossOrigin` property has been added and the `crossorigin` attribute has been added to the `<img>` element. (see Firefox bug 664299)
* The `HTMLSelectElement.add()` method now supports either an item or index of an item that the new item should be inserted before. Previously it only supported an item. (see Firefox bug 666200)
* The `HTMLIsIndexElement` constructor has been removed. No elements have implemented this interface since before Firefox 4.
* The HTML5 "context menu" feature (`contextmenu` attribute), which lets you add custom element specific items to native context menu, is now supported (the implementation is still experimental awaiting changes in the specification; see Firefox bug 617528).
* Support for the `HTMLElement.accessKeyLabel` attribute has been added to all elements.
* The `<input>` and `<textarea>` elements now support the `selectionDirection` attribute, and their `setSelectionRange()` methods have been updated to support optionally specifying a direction.
* Most elements now get a focus ring drawn around them if they've been made focusable by using the `tabindex` attribute and the user then focuses the element.
* In a set of nested `<label>` elements click events do no longer trigger multiple <label> elements, which caused Firefox to stop responding in the past (see Firefox bug 646157).
### DOM

* The `insertAdjacentHTML` method has been implemented.
* `BlobBuilder` now has a `getFile()` method that returns the content of the blob as a file.
* The `FileReaderSync` interface (part of the FileAPI) has been implemented.
* Event handling in nested `<label>`s has been fixed.
* You can now use `window.postMessage()` to pass `File` and `FileList` objects between windows.
* When editing `contenteditable` areas, exiting a heading by pressing return, or exiting list editing mode by pressing return twice, now returns to paragraph entry mode (that is, paragraphs inside `<p>` blocks) instead of separating lines by `<br>` elements.
* Fixed a bug that prevents justification from taking effect properly when applied to the first line in a `contenteditable` area.
* Fixed a bug that caused pressing delete or backspace at the beginning of a `contenteditable` area to affect the previous `contenteditable` block if one is present.
* `Document.getSelection()` now returns the same `Selection` object as `window.getSelection()`, instead of *stringifying* it.
* The HTML5 `selectionDirection` property makes it possible to define the direction of the selection in an editable text.
* `HTMLMediaElement` now have a `seekable` property that return a `TimeRanges` object.
* The `HTMLMediaElement``.preload` attribute now correctly reflects as an *enumerated value*.
* `crossOrigin` property defaults to "Anonymous" when an invalid value is used.
* `navigator.cookieEnabled` now returns correct information when the default cookie setting is overridden on a per-site basis.
### JavaScript

* `RegExp.exec()` and `RegExp.test()` called with no arguments now match against the string "undefined".
* `String.search()` and `String.match()` called with no arguments or `undefined` now match against the empty string and thus match every string.
* Support for watchlists has been implemented with the new (non-standard) `watch()` and `unwatch()` methods.
### CSS

* `<resolution>` now accepts `<number>`, not just `<integer>` values as per the specification.
* Hyphenation rules have been added for many new languages when using `hyphens`.
* Handling of `background-size` has been revised to more closely match the specification.
* In the past, `text-decoration` in quirks mode had line thickness and position adjusted on descendant text to match the descendant. Now standards mode and quirks mode rendering are more similar.
* Horizontal positioning for elements has been brought more in line with the specification in many cases. Documentation for this is forthcoming, but for now, see Firefox bug 682780, comment 23 for details.
* SVG images are now scaled properly when used as background images.
### Network

* Double quotes are no longer accepted as a delimiter for RFC 2231 or RFC 5987 encoding, as per those RFCs.
* MIME header field parser (`Content-Disposition`) now requires "=" in parameters.
* Scripts are no longer downloaded when JavaScript is disabled.
* SSL 2.0 is no longer supported.
### WebSockets

* The `WebSocket` object's `send()` method no longer incorrectly returns a Boolean value.
* The `WebSocket` object's `close()` method now matches the current draft of the standard, and close events now properly use the `CloseEvent` interface.
* The `WebSocket` object's `extensions` attribute is now supported.
* The WebSocket constructor now supports an array of protocols as well as a single protocol string.
* Mixed content is not allowed with WebSockets; that is, you can no longer open a connection to a non-secure WebSocket server from secure content.
* Connection errors with WebSockets now trigger the `onerror` handler.
* WebSocket API has been updated to the latest draft of the specification (see Firefox bug 674890, Firefox bug 674527, and Firefox bug 674716).
* The deflate-stream extension to WebSockets has been disabled; it has been deprecated, and was breaking compatibility with some sites.
### WebGL

* Cross-domain textures can now be allowed with CORS approval.
* Cross-process rendering with Direct2D/Direct3D 10.
### MathML

* Support for the `displaystyle` attribute on the top-level `<math>` element has been added.
* The interpretation of negative row numbers for the `align` attribute on `<mtable>` has been corrected.
### Developer tools

* The `console` object has a new `dir()` method, which displays an interactive list of the properties on a specified object.
Changes for Mozilla and add-on developers
-----------------------------------------

See Updating add-ons for Firefox 8 for a guide to changes you're likely to have to make your add-ons compatible with Firefox 8.

**Note:** Firefox 8 requires that binary components be recompiled, as do all major releases of Firefox.

### XPCOM

`Components.utils`

The new methods `Components.utils.createObjectIn()` and `Components.utils.makeObjectPropsNormal()` have been created to make it easier to create objects in specific compartments.

#### Other XPCOM-related changes

* You can now instantiate DOM `File` objects from component code by doing new File, instead of having to instantiate an `nsIDOMFile` directly.
* The `nsTPtrArray` array type has been removed. Its functionality is now all available on `nsTArray`, which now offers the `SafeElementAt()` method when instantiated using a pointer type.
### Workers

It is no longer possible to access XPCOM objects from ChromeWorkers. XPConnect has been disabled in worker contexts as of Firefox bug 649537.

### XUL

* A bug in `document.execCommand()` that occurred when calling it on the value of `contentDocument` has been fixed. Since Firefox 3, this has resulted in errors instead of working correctly.
* Bootstrapped add-ons can now load chrome using a `chrome.manifest` file.
* XUL images now shrink down with the same ratio in both directions when specifying maximum sizes.
### Changes to the build system

* The following build configuration options have been removed:
    + `--enable-timeline`
    + `--disable-storage`
    + `--necko-disk-cache`
* When compiling IDL files to headers, the header file `jspubtd.h` is automatically included when needed. Manual inclusions of `jspubtd.h` and/or `jsapi.h` in IDL files that use jsval or [implicit\_jscontext] are no longer necessary.
### Chrome registration

* The `platformversion` flag can be used in the chrome.manifest to specify Gecko version compatibility.
### Interface changes

* The `mozIJSSubScriptLoader.loadSubScript()` method now loads scripts from the startup cache when possible.
* The `ownerWindow` attribute has been removed from the `nsIAccessNode` interface.
* The `nsIDOMStorageWindow` interface has been merged into the `nsIDOMWindow` interface.
* All members of the `nsIDOMWindowInternal` interface have been moved into the `nsIDOMWindow` interface. The interface itself (with no members) remains available for compatibility until Firefox 9.
* In order to improve performance, callback handling for asynchronous Places database updates has been changed. See the new `mozIVisitInfoCallback.handleResult()` and `mozIVisitInfoCallback.handleError()` methods, which replace the old single method for both error and success condition handling.
* The `KIND_MAPPED` attribute of `nsIMemoryReporter` has been deprecated in favor of `KIND_NONHEAP`, new unit types `UNITS_COUNT_CUMULATIVE` and `UNITS_PERCENTAGE` have been added.
* The `nsIMemoryReporterManager` interface has a new `explicit` attribute, which reports the total size of explicit memory allocations.
* The `nsIMemoryReporterManager` interface has a new `resident` attribute, which reports the amount of physical memory used.
* The `nsINetworkLinkService` interface has a new attribute, `linkType`. This attribute provides the type of network connection in use. All Operating Systems currently return `LINK_TYPE_UNKNOWN`. Android support was backed out due to perceived security concerns.
* The `nsISelection2` interface has been merged into the `nsISelectionPrivate` interface.
* The `nsISelection3` interface has been merged into the `nsISelection` interface.
* The `nsISessionStartup` attribute state is now a `jsval` instead of a string, for performance reasons.
* The `nsIDocShell` attribute `isActive` is now `false` for minimized windows.
* The `nsIDownloadHistory.addDownload()` method now saves the target where the download is saved on the local file system.

#### Removed interfaces

The following interfaces were implementation details that are no longer needed:

* `nsITimelineService`
* `nsIDOMHTMLIsIndexElement`

The `nsIWorkerFactory` interface has been removed as well. Workers can still be created using the `Worker` and `ChromeWorker` constructors.

### Other changes

* When a window is minimized, un-minimized, or switches between full screen and windowed mode, it receives a `sizemodechange` event.
* You can now use the `extensions.autoDisableScopes` preference to disable automatic installation of add-ons from specific add-on install locations.
* The new `mozSyntheticDocument` property on `Document` objects lets you determine whether a document is synthetic (that is, something like a standalone image, video, or audio file) rather than a full, standard DOM document. This can be useful, for example, if you want to present different user interface in this situation (such as adding contextual items differently depending on this case).
* You can now specify a filter when opening `about:config`; for example, "about:config?filter=sessionstore" will show only session storage related preferences.
See also
--------

* Firefox 7 for developers
* Firefox 6 for developers
* Firefox 5 for developers
* Firefox 4 for developers
* Firefox 3.6 for developers
* Firefox 3.5 for developers
* Firefox 3 for developers
* Firefox 2 for developers
* Firefox 1.5 for developers