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RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:43:57 GMT

Success! After attaching the external drive and uninstalling the old version, installing the new version, and manually enabling the Firefox add-on which was disabled for some reason, I've only been prompted once by the toolbar!

I've loaded pages in new Firefox windows and restarted Firefox several times, and haven't had the prompt appear again. Furthermore, the toolbar appears to be working correctly, as I was able to add a feed using it. I don't know what was changed but you appear to have fixed my problem. (Heh, is this where you tell me you didn't actually change anything? Does the placebo effect apply to computers? :-D)

Thanks for all your help with this Nick! I definitely appreciate it.

Drew

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Nick Harris — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 12:29:45 GMT

Yeah - I forgot to put an upgrade path in the installer, that's why it wants you to uninstall.

You can use this tool: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301 to forced windows to delete the registry keys then install the new build.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 11:00:09 GMT

Thanks Nick, I received the new build to install. Unfortunately, it refuses to install until I uninstall the previous version, and the previous version refuses to uninstall because my external hard drive isn't plugged in!?! I do have the Vista folders "Music", "Pictures", and "Video" mapped onto this drive, so perhaps that caused the problem? I'll follow up when I get home and can plug in the drive, though it might be worth investigating this separate issue. (Or maybe this is another example of unreproducible problems that only happen to me. This is a fresh Vista/Firefox install, I promise!) Thanks again.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:00:49 GMT

Email sent. Thanks!

Drew Loika

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Nick Harris — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:16:26 GMT

I have a test build for you - send an email to beta@newsgator.com and say "Pass this to Nick Harris" and I'll send it to you ;-)

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:18:22 GMT

[quote]You're the only one who has ever reported this :-)[/quote]

I wish I'd received a dollar for every time I've heard that. :-)

[quote]The best way to test this is to disable all your other extensions except for the NewsGator Toolbar. [/quote]

Unfortunately, disabling ALL my extensions and using the default theme didn't change the behavior of the prompt.

[quote]When onBrowserLoad fires, it looks first to see if Toolbars in general are visible[/quote]

Yep, toolbar is visible, to the right of the seach box.

[quote]Next, it reads through the "newsgator.setting" user preferences that deal with hiding/showing the toolbars buttons.[/quote]

I manually changed the value of "newsgator.setting.dontshowdefaultmessage" to true. Opening a new window and loading a page causes to value to be set back to false. (I can have multiple windows open, one of them about:config, and watch this occur. Note, that I have to load a page before the change occurs, simply opening a new Firefox window isn't enough) UPDATE: I forgot to check the "don't show this again" box the first time around. If I check that then the value stays set to true, although the prompt still appears on every new window&page load. The value also stays true if Firefox is restarted.

[quote]Finally it sets the "showDefaultReaderMsg". It remains true if:
1. The FireFox version is 2.0 or later
2. The user pref "browser.feeds.handlers.application" is the same as the path to NGSubscriber.exe
3. The user pref "newsgator.setting.dontshowdefaultmessage" is false (meaning *do* show the message)

If all of those are true, "showDefaultReaderMsg" remains true, otherwise it gets set to false.[/quote]

Firefox version is 2.0.0.11, the handlers.application path is the same as NGSubscriber.

Hopefully this info helps narrow it down, and helps convince you I'm not just making this up. :-)

Thanks for your help.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Nick Harris — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 20:13:58 GMT

I've been trying to reproduce this and can't - I even installed all the extensions that you listed but still no luck.

So instead I dug into the code to figure out how what you're describing *could* happen. I think the problem is that some setting in one of your other extensions is either firing events that would normally only fire when Firefox is initializing, or the preferences are blocked from being saved. You're the only one who has ever reported this :-) so that really points to some set of circumstances with the extensions you have installed and their settings.

The best way to test this is to disable all your other extensions except for the NewsGator Toolbar. If it works as expected, re-enable each extension one by one and see if one of them is causing the conflict. You may eventually add them all back without any issues since the NGToolbar made the changes it needed without any interference.

Here's the nitty gritty details of why I think this is happeneing (just so I can think it through by writing it out and possibly catch the eye of another developer who sees something I may be doing wrong):

When the NewsGator Toolbar xpi gets loaded, it has a global variable called "showDefaultReaderMsg" which defaults to true. It also registers for the onBrowserLoad event.

When onBrowserLoad fires, it looks first to see if Toolbars in general are visible, if so it hooks a few more events (DOMLinkAdded, DOMContentLoaded, unload and various others to determine tab switches).

Next, it reads through the "newsgator.setting" user preferences that deal with hiding/showing the toolbars buttons.

Finally it sets the "showDefaultReaderMsg". It remains true if:
1. The FireFox version is 2.0 or later
2. The user pref "browser.feeds.handlers.application" is the same as the path to NGSubscriber.exe
3. The user pref "newsgator.setting.dontshowdefaultmessage" is false (meaning *do* show the message)

If all of those are true, "showDefaultReaderMsg" remains true, otherwise it gets set to false.

At this point, it still has not shown the Dialog. It allows Firefox to continue initializing and waits for "DOMContentLoaded" to fire.

When "DOMContentLoaded" fires, it look to see if "showDefaultReaderMsg" is true. If it is, *it sets it to false* then shows the dialog. Setting it to false prevents that dialog from ever being shown again as long as that variable is alive (since the previous events will only fire when Firefox is initializing). When you click "Yes" on that dialog, it sets "browser.feeds.handlers.application" to the path of NGSubscriber.exe. Checking "Do not show this message again" sets "newsgator.setting.dontshowdefaultmessage" to true.

So even if you hit "No" and don't alter "newsgator.setting.dontshowdefaultmessage" or "browser.feeds.handlers.application", "showDefaultReaderMsg" is still set to false - preventing the dialog from showing, unless "onBrowserLoad" fires again, checks all the settings again, and determines it should be set back to true.

Like I said at the top of this post - disable all your other extensions and see if it still happens. If it doesn't, enabled them again one by one and determine which extension is causing the conflict.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 14:28:44 GMT

No luck. I made the change (it was set to false) and restarted Firefox but was still prompted. I chose yes, and opened another window and was still prompted. I also verified that the setting was still "true". Conclusion: A) The dialog isn't modifying that value and B) Manually modifying the setting doesn't make the dialog go away.

If I haven't already I should mention I'm running Vista, but UAC is disabled. (And has been since very shortly after Vista was installed.)

Thanks for the help.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Nick Harris — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 10:11:27 GMT

The Firefox xpi stores that setting inside Firefox, so lets try changing it there.

In the address bar, type "about:config" - you'll see a page with all of your Firefox settings.

At the top, in the filter, type "newsgator.setting.dontshowdefaultmessage". It's value should be "true" meaning "Don't show me that message". It's a little confusing looking back on it now, but what can I say!

Try changing that and see if that takes care of the issue.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 19:05:41 GMT

No worries, I just read your big announcement, that's awesome! Congrats to you guys for continuing to do well. Of course, FeedDemon is nearly at the top of my short list of "all-time favorite apps that are just really good at what they do" so your success is well deserved.

Thanks for clarifying the difference between the firefox/ie add-ons and the installed executable.

Unfortunately, I tried reinstalling the Toolbar and I'm still prompted to make it the default every time a page loads for the first time in a new Firefox window. Uninstalling it completely resolved the issue (of getting prompted) but I was hoping for a fix that would allow me to use the toolbar after setting my default preferences once.

Thanks for the help.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Nick Harris — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 16:52:05 GMT

OK - Sorry for the delay. We made a major announcement today that's been more than a few weeks in the making so I had missed your previous resposes.

Toolbar is actually three different pieces, an IE com addin for the IE toolbar, a Firefox xpi for the Firefox toolbar, and another program called NGSubscriber.exe which both call into to actually add subscriptions to NewsGator (Inbox, Online or FeedDemon).

The toolbar actually registers NGSubscriber.exe with Firefox as the default feed handler, so just removing the xpi (by removing the NewsGator extension from Firefox) will not remove that association.

Your original issue was that you were prompted by the NewsGator toolbar to be set as the default. Is this still the issue?

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 15:32:46 GMT

Hrm. I guess all the support staff are on vacation...?

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:56:51 GMT

I should also mention this is a fresh Vista install. Here are the other items I have installed in Firefox...

Extensions (enabled: 20, disabled: 0):

* Adblock Filterset.G Updater 0.3.1.3
* Adblock Plus 0.7.5.3
* BugMeNot 1.3
* ColorfulTabs 2.0.8
* Diigo Toolbar for Firefox 1.0.2007101800
* DOM Inspector 1.8.1.11
* Download Statusbar 0.9.5.2
* ErrorZilla Mod 0.2
* FireFTP 0.97.1
* GeckoTIP 1.0.0
* GooglePreview 3.6
* IE View 1.3.5
* Image Zoom 0.3
* InfoLister 0.9f.2
* MeeTimer 0.21
* Mouse Gestures 1.5.2
* NoScript 1.2
* Session Manager 0.6.1.8
* Talkback 2.0.0.11
* Web Developer 1.1.4

Themes (6):

* Aero Fox 1.0.5
* Aquatint Black Gloss 1.0.1
* Blue Ice 1.2.4 [selected]
* Firefox (default) 2.0
* own 1.3.1
* Vista-aero 2.0.0.11

Plugins (9):

* 2007 Microsoft Office system
* Adobe Acrobat
* Java(TM) Platform SE 6 U3
* Microsoft® Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin
* Mozilla Default Plug-in
* RealPlayer Version Plugin
* RealPlayer(tm) G2 LiveConnect-Enabled Plug-In (32-bit)
* Shockwave Flash
* Silverlight Plug-In

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:47:43 GMT

After running the Toolbar setup program which gave me the option to uninstall and clicking a feed link the standard Firefox feed page appears and the Newsgator Toolbar executable name is listed as default. (Previously it was a friendly name.) I believe this is because the toolbar has actually been removed but Firefox is still holding a reference to it. The next item in the list is FeedDemon, and then "Choose an Application" which indicates to me that the Toolbar and FeedDemon are the two feed apps that Firefox knows. Under Firefox's options there's the feeds tab, but I don't see how to remove entries from list list (currently headed by the now unisntalled Toolbar) only add to them.

Thanks for the help.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 14:34:44 GMT

After uninstalling the Newsgator Toolbar (via Firefox's Add-Ons dialog) and clicking the link to Techcrunch's feed I'm shown the standard Firefox feed page with a choice of apps to use to subscribe. Interestingly the Newsgator Toolbar is still the first item in this list, and more interesting is that choosing subscribe causes a Toolbar "Subscribing" dialog to pop up, followed by a confirmation dialog. I'll try some more to actually remove the Toolbar and report back.

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Keith Franklin — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:43:22 GMT

Sorry for the delay in responding.

If you uninstall Toolbar, can you determine which application becomes the default?

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:20:59 GMT

Um, hello?!? I'm a paying customer here, where should I be getting support for this?

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 13:43:32 GMT

I checked both check boxes and chose "No" and then clicking on a RSS link subscribed using the toolbar. (And also tried leaving both boxes unchecked while choosing "No")

However, opening a new Firefox window still causes another dialog prompt to be displayed. The dialog is also displayed each time I start Firefox.

Drew

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

Nick Harris — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 09:26:42 GMT

What happens if you select no? What application becomes your default?

RE: Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:51:22 GMT

Correction, I'm prompted every time I open a Firefox window or a pop-up window appears, not just when I start Firefox.

Vista + Toolbar = Make Default Prompt on Every Start

drdruish — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 01:40:20 GMT

I'm running Vista w/ UAC disabled, the latest Firefox, and the latest Toolbar. Every time I start Firefox I'm prompted by the toolbar by to be the default. I've tried every combination of yes and the check boxes, yet I'm still prompted the next time I start Firefox. What do I need to change to fix this? It certainly seems that another app is "stealing" the association without prompting me. (I also have Outlook and FeedDemon installed.)