Pike's Mozilla Firefox Extensions

I was always looking for such an extension. Great!
But the caps lock key is a little bit complicated to use with this extension. Since the caps lock key is toggled to ON after pressing oncw I must always press it once again to deactivate it after I have used it with this extension. In addition it seems to me that the extension works only when toggling the caps lock key to ON but not when toggling to OFF. That means again that I have to press the key twice even if I want to use the extension subsequently. Finally, in Windows XP one can change the behavior of the caps lock key that the ON status is switched back to OFF either by pressing the caps lock key again (this is the default) or by pressing the shift key (this is what I prefer). It seems to me that the extension behaves different for these different settings.
My conclusion is that I would prefer not to use the caps lock key but another key, e.g. the Alt-key with Popup Allow (the combination of the Ctrl-key with the left mouse click is already used in Firefox by default as far as I know).
What's your opinion on this proposal?
Dieter

Unfortunately, alt-click is already used for "download link" in Firefox. Although I could override one of these combinations, doing so would probably make the extension clash with more important ones like TBE and TBP, which is why I ended up settling for Caps-Lock.

I'll look into the Caps-Lock issue you mentioned but it doesn't happen for me (on Win XP).

Hi Pike,
thanks for the quick reply.
Would it be possible to use the "Windows key" instead of Caps Lock? I think the caps lock key has alway the drawback that it has two states and that it has therefor be released if I do not want to write in capital letters after having used your extension. I was also thinking about the ESC key but there may be problems since it is a real "input" key with repeat function.
Another solution could be to use the RIGHT mouse in combination with the Ctrl or Alt key (or are these combinations also already used).
The most convenient way would of course be if one could set the key (and the mouse button) oneself as option. Then everybody could use the combination he wants :)
Dieter

My guess would be that Firefox can't detect when the Windows key is pressed.

Changing the extension to use a different mouse button would probably bring up the issue of my code clashing with TBE and TBP but I'll look into it when I get a chance.

Great extension.

Is there a reason it's not in either the Firefox Help: Extensions or the Mozilla Extension Room?

Dave, I haven't submitted this extension to the database yet, I was hoping to make an improved version first but I haven't had the time lately.

Maybe using the shift key will do the trick, on windows holding shift while puting a CD on drive disable autrun and other things so it's a well known key... (On Win XP Standard Interface, when you shutdown it allow to Hibernate...)

@Pike
I still have problems with the caps lock key. On some links which should pop up a new window nothing happens even if I press the caps lock key. I finally found that I have first to click on the link without pressing caps lock resulting in that a rectangle of a dotted line is shown around the text of the link. If I then press caps lock and click on this "selected" link a window pops up. Look at www.tvtv.de (it's a tv programm for German tv). If you click on the button on the left labelled "Tagesprogramm" (means program of the day) and then on anyone of the titles next to the shown programm times a windows should popup with details to this specific title.

I still have then the problem that caps lock is then turned on and I have to manually turn it off again. This is unconvenient. Sometimes I forget this and type a new url in the address bar which is then in capital letters and which has : instead of . in it (since on the German keyboard the : appears if you press the . key together witch caps lock).

If no other control key is found and the right mouse cannot be used wouldn't it be possible to automatically switch back the status of the caps lock key to off after releasing the mouse button? Perhaps this could make the use of the caps lock key more convenient since it then behaves like a "normal" key.

@blackfox
The shift-click is also already used in firefox for "open link in a new window".

Dieter, I don't have the problem you described on www.tvtv.de, it works OK for me :-(

In your first post you mentioned that you had a setting in WinXP to do with the Caps Lock key, what is that? Does turning it off change anything?

Pike, I swiched the setting of the caps lock key back to the default and then the extension works. But I noticed that one has to hold the caps lock key for some time (about a quarter second) before clicking with the left mouse button. If I click to early the window will not pop up and I have to click a second time (still holding down the caps lock key).

You can change the setting of the caps lock key by going to the control panel and chosing "regions and language settings" (I don't know the exact wording in an English WindowsXP since I am using a German version). Then select the "language" tab and click on the "details" button. On the next window there is a button "keyboard" which may be grayed out. This button is only available if you have at least installed two different keyboard layouts. So if the button is gray add any further keyboard layout with the "add" key.
In the next windows you can swich the behavior of the caps lock key that it is deactivated by pressing the shift key instead of pressing the caps lock key again.

But even if I change the behavior of the caps lock key (what I don't want since I prefer deactivating the caps lock key by pressing the shift key) using the caps lock key for "popup allow" has the drawback that I alway have to deactivate caps lock after having used "popup allow" oncw. I I forget this (what happens quite often) then all typed input is in capital letters and I have to deleted it and type it again. So I really would appreciate it if you could realize any of the previously mentioned solutions (or a different one).

Could you change the extension so that a person could choose which key or combination of keys they want to use?

I didn't get round to making any interface for it but version 0.2 allows you to pick a key, follow these instructions:

1. Visit http://lxr.mozilla.org/mozilla/source/dom/public/idl/events/nsIDOMKeyEvent.idl and find the code for the key you want to use, e.g. if I wanted to use the Num Lock key the code is 0x90.
2. Type about:config into the address bar.
3. Right-click and select New->Integer, in the first box that appears enter "popupallow.allow_key" (without the quotes), in the second box enter the code from step 1 (in this case 0x90).
4. Try it out.

If you've already added a code and want to change it you don't need to use New->Integer. You can just scroll down to "popupallow.allow_key" then double-click to enter the new code.

And this extension to Mozilla Suite ? (1.7).

Dieter,

Sorry I completely missed your message from the 22nd, I've noticed the quarter of a second issue too, but I haven't figured out what causes it.

I've also thought of a way that I might be able to use Shift and Control together without conflicting with other extensions, I'll try that out sometime and see if it works.

Edú,

This extension is for Firefox only, I don't currently have any plans for a Mozilla suite version, sorry :-(

@Pike

Version 0.2 does not work (as 0.1 did as least with the caps lock key). 0.2 does neither work with the default caps lock nor with the insert key. Since I installed 0.2 on www.tvtv.de (as earlier described) the winows do not popup. Does it work for you?
I also tried another key with about:config but nothing helps.

@Pike

Sorry Pike, the 0.2 version was deactivated (shame on me). I activated it and set the F1-key as default and it works now perfectly!!

It still has the delay issue but perhaps you will solve that too. Great!!

Hello!

Do you have

Scroll bar extension for
Mozila Firefox 0.8?

Thank you

Sérgio
lickho@uol.com.br

Sergio,

Do you mean Scrollbar Anywhere? If so you can get it here:

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/marc.boullet/ext/extensions-en.html

Hi Pike,

Good job. I think this is a great extension. I have been looking for something like for Mozilla, and found it for Firefox. But like Dieter, I find it hard to use (with CAP LOCK + click function).

Is it possible to add a context menu? Right click on the link, context menu pops up, and have a selection called (Popup Allow ...). This way, we don't have to worry about the default key or changing key to something that conflicts.

Jimmy

Seems as if your extension does not support Firefox 0.9 - I can't get it work with this new version of the browser.