addons.mozilla xpi corrupt

[vertigo220]

I've tried multiple times to install this add-on and it keeps saying "Installation aborted because the add-on appears to be corrupt."

[carriH]

hi, I've tried to install it and it worked fine for me, so I don't think this is a problem of the extension itself.

What version of Firefox do you have? On what OS are you trying to install it? (seems this error could be related with an old Firefox version).

[vertigo220]

Thanks. I had a feeling it wasn't actually corrupt but wanted to be sure. I'm using Waterfox, which is based on Firefox 56 (pre-Quantum), so it's possible that's the issue. If it is, the minimum version needed should be noted and it would be very helpful if you could at least post the latest version that works here. There are many users staying on older versions and I doubt I'm the only one that would appreciate that. Mozilla is being downright spiteful toward users that aren't happy with the move to web extensions by removing most XUL add-ons, and unfortunately many devs haven't posted them elsewhere. I'm also using Win10, but doubt that's the issue.

Update: Tried different versions and 2.1.1 is the latest that works for me.

[carriH]

Default command shortcuts were changed on version 2.1.2 from Ctrl+Shift+Key to Ctrl+Alt+Key, and this is compatible with Firefox versoin 63, so that is the root cause of the issue you are having. I can change them again to use shortcuts that are compatibles with older versions but there will be other features added in posterior versions that will cause the same issue or other errors in the web extension.

[vertigo220]

Seems like it would be a good idea, so it can be installed, though I guess it depends on whether it would actually work or just end up breaking anyways. I'm just confused because it says on AMO that it's compatible with v42.0 and later.

Also, while it seems to be the best notes add-on available, it's still missing some features I'd really like to have, to the point I'd consider them necessary to use it, but if they wouldn't be available to me even if you added them due to using an older browser version, there wouldn't be much point.

[carriH]

What is incompatible is the usage of the key Alt as secondary modifier.

What other options do you think that are necessary and are not included on this extension? It would be good to have your feedback.

Thanks,

Javier.

[vertigo220]

I actually left a review on AMO a few years back, which you replied to, and you seem to have dealt with the first point I brought up, which was an issue with it, and a couple others, but AFAICT several still haven't yet been added/fixed, so I'll just copy/paste it here, minus the first issue. Please let me know if you want more elaboration on, or to discuss any, of them.

1) It needs a toolbar icon/button as well as the ability to set shortcuts to make adding notes and annotations quicker (using the context menu is less than idea for something like this). This would also require a setting to tell it where to place new notes by default. It would also provide a way to open the sidebar, and another method for doing so should probably be added to the My notes context menu. 2) When a note or annotation is created in a location that causes it to not be visible (i.e., to be off-screen) when a page loads, there should be a notification that there's a note on the page that requires scrolling to see it (see Internote as an example of this). 3) There needs to be an optional warning when deleting a note. Or maybe an undo option in the context menu, to bring back a deleted note. Or a recycle bin in the sidebar. 4) It needs the ability to export/import the settings. 5) It sometimes takes two tries to get it to create a note or annotation. 6) Moving the notes was a bit counter-intuitive. I expected to click and drag on the hamburger menu to do so, but you have to drag the note itself. And then the hamburger menu stays in place while you move the note around, jumping back next to it once you drop it in its new position. (this seems to have changed) 7) Needs an interface to view/edit/delete all notes and annotations from all sites in one place (again, see Internote as an example). (this has since been added) 8) Needs the ability to backup/restore all notes and annotations and to set the directory where the files that contain their information are kept, so they can be kept on a separate drive or partition as well as be sync'd between computers. Speaking of sync'ing, it would be great if they would be sync'd by Firefox sync (maybe they are), but that might be asking a bit much. Also, if they aren't already, the files that contain the information should be human-readable. (this appears to have been added, though I'll need to look into where it's store and if it's in a readable format, and it still can't be specified where it's stored, though that may be a limitation) 9) While not necessary for it to be a great and functional add-on, I'm looking at this as a possible replacement for Internote, which appears to be abandoned and isn't e10s compatible, and the ability to import all my notes from that add-on into this one would be HUGELY helpful, since I have a LOT of notes in it. With this and the above changes, this would not only replace that add-on, but be a massive improvement over it. I hope development continues on it and it becomes a suitable replacement. (this is far less important, since it's now been a few years since I've used Internote and most, if not all, of the notes I had in it are no longer needed, but it's possible it could still be useful for others, so I guess it just depends on how much work it would require as to whether it would be worth the effort)

The next three are new

10) When creating a note, it should get focus so the user can start typing immediately without having to click in it 11) There are a couple issues with text selection in a note. First, if all the text is selected, the only way to deselect it is with the arrow keys, as clicking outside of it doesn't work, nor does clicking within it. In any standard text editor, clicking outside and after the text would put the cursor at the end of the text, which would deselect it, and clicking within it would put the cursor where you click, which would also deselect it. One would expect similar behavior here. Second, since notes are moved by clicking and dragging anywhere within the note, trying to select text can often result in accidentally moving the note instead. 12) You can change background and text color but not text size (or font, though that's far less important)

[carriH]

ah yes, I rememeber those suggestions. About them:

1. I implemented the keyboard shortcuts for this. Now you can select a text and use the shortcut keys to create a new highlight text or change text note, or use the shortcut to create a multimedia or sticky note. Those shortcuts are also configurables in the option menu (in fact this is what caused the issue you are having).
2. I've raised the item #13 to develop this, but it has not been started yet.
3. I've raised the item #9 to develop this. It's started but not finished yet. Will probably be added as part of next release (when I have time to develop it).
4. It's possible to import and export notes from the sidebar. On top left corner there is a menu button that shows options to do this action.
5. I noticed this before, and have fixed some issues that could cause this. From now I haven't been able to reproduce the problem again, so till it can be reproduced consistently this can't be fixed. I'm planning to add a logging panel that could provide some extra information when this happens.
6. hamburguer menu was removed and all the actions are done by context menus.
7. This can be done with the sidebar.
8. I've created the item #26 to develop this and it is in process. The idea is to let the user to create some backups that from now are saved in the internal storage the browser dedicates for extensions. This is not saved in a physical file so the only option to access to this information is through the extension. The panel on which I'm developing this also includes an option to show a tree with all the notes saved in the extension, so you can review the backups created. If you want to save this in a physical file, you have to export it using the menu of the sidebar (Firefox does not allow Webextensions to use physical storage, so the only option to do this is to simulate the download of a file from one of the opened pages, that is what the export option does).
9. Each program has its own format so it's not possible to make a method to migrate notes from one system to another. Only way would be to create the XML file that would be created when exporting the note and import it.
10. I've to investigate this, but if it is not happening I agree that is how this should work.
11. I've to investigate this, raise a new defect if you want.
12. I've raised the item #27 to develop this, but it has not been started yet.

[vertigo220]

1. Ok, I hadn't looked much into it yet, as I said that was mostly a copy/paste. But I'd still prefer to have an icon, as it's often easier to just click that vs both remembering and using a keyboard shortcut. Not sure how much work goes into it, though, so you'll have to decide if it's worth the effort, and shortcuts should suffice if needed, but if possible an icon would be nice.
2. Ah, yes, and I even commented on that one. Look forward to hopefully seeing it implemented at some point, but I understand this stuff takes time and you only have so much of it.
3. Excellent! Following the issue.
4. Notes, yes, but not options, so if the user changes any of the colors or shortcuts, there's no easy way to back up and transfer those custom settings.
5. Sounds good. I had it happen the first time I tried to create a note the other day, but subsequent tries all worked, so hopefully it's at least a rare occurrence, which, for something like this, would be ok. If I start using it more, I'll try to keep an eye on this.
6. Yup, though I still think the mechanism for moving the notes isn't very intuitive. Granted, once the user figures it out, they'll most likely have little issue with it (aside from point 11), but it caused me some confusion at first, and I worry that it may cause other users confusion as well, which might cause them to abandon the add-on prematurely and leave it a poor review. I don't know what's possible and what's not, but even having the cursor change to the four-directional arrow when hovering over a non-text portion of the note would probably help, as it would indicate that the note can be dragged to be moved, though that could be a problem if the note is full of text, but then, that might cause a problem with moving it period. Maybe there should be such an icon (four-directional arrow) in a corner that needs to be dragged to move the note, and dragging anywhere else would simply select text, which would resolve both this issue and point 11.
7. That's why I crossed it out, just wanted to show that it's one of the areas of improvement I immediately noticed, and it's much appreciated.
8. I don't see the relationship to the linked issue. As for storage limitations, I figured as much, but since it can't be saved in a separate file somewhere, and it must be saved somewhere, where is that? In other words, I like to automate backups of stuff like this as much as possible, otherwise I'd likely forget to regularly open the panel and export the notes, but if they're saved in "C:...\Appdata\Roaming...\profile\somefile.json" then I could just have that file automatically backed up on a regular basis, and if something were to happen I could restore the backed up file which would theoretically cause MyNotes to see all the notes. Does that make sense?
9. No worries. As I mentioned, it's not likely to be helpful to many people anymore, since Internote has been defunct for a few years now.
10. --
11. I'll create a separate issue for this.
12. Following.