Creating Applications with Mozilla

Mozilla is not just a browser. Mozilla is also a framework that allows developers to create cross-platform applications. This framework is made up of JavaScript, CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), and Mozilla's XUL (XML-based User-interface Language) as well as the Gecko rendering engine, XBL (eXtensible Binding Language), XPCOM (Mozilla's component model), and several other components. Creating Applications with Mozilla explains how applications are created with Mozilla and provides step-by-step information about how you can create your own programs using Mozilla's powerful cross-platform development framework. This book also shows examples of many different types of existing applications to demonstrate some of the possibilities of Mozilla application development. One of Mozilla's biggest advantages for a developer is that Mozilla-based applications are cross-platform, meaning programs work the same on Windows as they do on Linux or the Mac OS. Working through the book, you are introduced to the Mozilla development environment and after installing Mozilla, you quickly learn to create simple applications. After the initial satisfaction of developing your own portable applications, the book branches into topics on modular development and packaging your application. In order to build more complex applications, coverage of XUL, JavaScript, and CSS allow you to discover how to customize and build out your application shell. The second half of the book explores more advanced topics including UI enhancement, localization, and remote distribution. Mozilla 1.0 was released on June 5th, 2002, after more than four years of development as an open source project. This book has been written so that all of the information and examples will work with this release and any of the 1.0.x maintenance releases. In addition to Netscape's Mozilla-based browsers (Netscape 6.x and 7.x), the Mozilla framework has been used to create other browsers such as Galeon and Chimera, and chat clients such as ChatZilla and JabberZilla. Developers have also used Mozilla to create games, development tools, browser enhancements, as well as all sorts of other types of applications. 1. Mozilla As Platform 1 -- Visualizing Mozilla's Front End 1 -- Setting Up Your System 5 -- Mozilla Applications 6 -- Simple Xul Example 9 -- Basic Xul Concepts 11 -- Making Mozilla Work For You 17 -- Displaying Xul Files As Chrome 20 -- Creating A Package 21 -- Launching The Application 32 -- 3. Xul Elements And Features 34 -- The Xul Document Object 34 -- Application Windows 36 -- Application Widgets 39 -- Tabular And Hierarchical Information 43 -- Words And Pictures 50 -- Form Controls 53 -- Widget Interaction 56 -- Content Panels 59 -- The Box Model 62 -- Xul Attributes 68 -- Overlays 70 -- The Extras 72 -- Building The Application Shell 74 -- 4. Css In Mozilla Applications 79 -- Interface Basics 79 -- Introduction To Css In Mozilla 84 -- Mozilla Skins 96 -- Creating New Skins 104 -- What Is Possible In A Skin? 108 -- 5. Scripting Mozilla 113 -- Faces Of Javascript In Mozilla 113 -- Javascript And The Dom 114 -- Adding Scripts To The Ui 124 -- Xpconnect And Scriptable Components 133 -- Javascript Application Code 137 -- 6. Packaging And Installing Applications 144 -- Packaging And Installing Overview 144 -- Packaging Mozilla Applications 146 -- Installing Mozilla Applications 157 -- Finishing Things Up 170 -- Extra Tricks For Customizing An Application 172 -- 7. Extending The Ui With Xbl 175 -- What Is Xbl? 175 -- Anatomy Of A Binding 179 -- Adding Behavior To Bindings 186 -- Xbl And The Dom 190 -- Inheritance 197 -- Event Handling 201 -- Resources For Bindings 203 -- 8. Xpcom 205 -- What Is Xpcom? 205 -- Creating Xpcom Components 217 -- 9. Xul Templates 245 -- Understanding Xul Templates 245 -- Enhancing Xul Templates 250 -- Using Other Xul Tags For Templates 261 -- 10. Rdf, Rdf Tools, And The Content Model 263 -- Rdf Basics 263 -- The Mozilla Content Model 275 -- Rdf Components And Interfaces 278 -- Template Dynamics 291 -- Jslib Rdf Files 294 -- Manifests 298 -- 11. Localization 301 -- Localization Basics 301 -- Dtd Entities 305 -- String Bundles 309 -- Programming And Localization 312 -- The Chrome Registry And Locale 318 -- Localization Issues 324 -- 12. Remote Applications 326 -- Directions In Remote Application Development 326 -- Basic Remote Application Example 327 -- Setting Up Xpfe For Remote Applications 330 -- Generated Content 332 -- Certificate Authorities And Digital Signatures 339 -- Creating Signed Remote Applications 346 -- Expanded Privileges In Mozilla 350 -- Signed Remote Snake Game 352 -- Mozilla's Xml Extras And Soap 354 -- Looking Forward 362 -- A. Getting And Building The Mozilla Source 365 -- B. Development Tools 374 -- C. Programmer's Reference 391. David Boswell ... [et Al.]. Using Xul, Javascript, And Css--cover. Includes Index. Mozilla is not just a Web browser. Mozilla is also a framework for building cross-platform applications using standards such as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), XML languages such as XUL (XML-based User-interface Language), XBL (eXtensible Binding Language), and RDF (Resource Description Framework), as well as Gecko, Mozilla's rendering engine, and other technologies. The Mozilla development framework also makes use of programming languages such as JavaScript, C++, C, Python, and IDL (Interface Definition Language), plus framework technologies such as XPConnect and XPCOM, Mozilla's component model. In addition to Netscape's Mozilla-based browsers (Netscape 6.x and 7.x), the Mozilla framework has been used to create other browsers such as Galeon and Chimera, and chat clients such as ChatZilla and JabberZilla. Developers have also used Mozilla to create development tools, browser enhancements, and games, as well as many other types of add-ons and applications. This book explains how applications are created with Mozilla and provides step-by-step information about how you can create your own programs using Mozilla's powerful cross-platform development framework. This book also includes examples of many different types of existing applications to demonstrate some of the possibilities of Mozilla development Mozilla's unique abilities as a development frameworkhave already been noticed by Netscape and other serious contenders in the stand-alone and integrated Web application field. This Mozilla guide covers the newest XUL scripting language.