Difference between revisions of "Firefox module"

Revision as of 15:16, 7 November 2012

Firefox cache reader is a vrtool module that reads boat and wind data from files downloaded by the regatta app, and saved to disk.

Note: Recently the Firefox Team released several new FF versions and changed many things. As a result, vrtool method of reading boat data from Firefox cache broke. In the newer FF versions, the file cache is not accessible.

A clever user discovered that installing and activating a plug-in named httpFox the file cache was again accessible. But then it was found that the said plug-in leaked memory. The plug-in developer was contacted and promptly corrected the problem. This correction however broke the vrtool module again. In the end, the very bug that leaked memory was responsible for allowing vrtool to read the cache files. ( see bug report [1] ).

Currently, the vrtool Firefox module only works with:

• Firefox 3.6 or older.
• Newer Firefox with httpFox 0.8.10 installed and activated ( It will not work

with httpFox 0.8.11 or latter).

I can not recommend using either of these combinations. Using old browsers can result in security problems and compatibility issues with state of the art web sites.

If you choose to stick with version 0.8.10 of httpFox, be aware that this hogs your computer memory. Restarting FF at least once a day is recommended to reclaim lost memory.

Steps to downgrade from httpFox 0.8.11 to 0.8.10:

• Select Firefox > Add-ons from FF menu. Locate add-on httpFox 0.8.11. Click [Remove]
• Disable automatic extension update ( in the Add-ons Manager page, click the options button (the gear icon), uncheck Update add-ons automatically )
• Download file http://httpfox.googlecode.com/files/httpfox-0.8.10.xpi and save it.
• Drag httpfox-0.8.10.xpi from Firefox Downloads window and drop in FF main window. Restart Firefox.

More on Firefox cache module in this tutorial