Fastest way to debug Firefox addons during develop

Question

Debugging a Firefox addon is a slow process: (1) edit source code in a JS editor (2) package into XPI using a build script (3) drag into Firefox to install (4) restart Firefox (5) open the JavaScript Debugger

Can we speeden up the process? Like install it into Firefox without a restart, or configure the build script to install it into Firefox as well?

Answer 1

i use Netbeans with the Foxbeans Plugin for addon development, there you just press the "run button", and firefox starts up with the addon installed (into a test profile). maybe you should give this a try!

Answer 2

Came here via google - FF nightly 31 has new tools for debugging add ons. Its a god send. Details here: https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2014/04/08/add-on-debugger-now-in-firefox-nightly/

Answer 3

You need the "edit source" and "restart firefox" steps; they can't be removed from the process...

When you install the addon, the javascript ends up on disk, in your firefox profile. If you edit it in there, and restart firefox, the new stuff will be picked up. When you're done, create the xpi from the files in your profile.

Answer 4

To make development of the add-on faster, an important goal is to eliminate restart of FF to test every code change. Three options that I can think of:

• Use the FF nightly 31 build, based on the other answers in this post.

• Use the following add-on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/autoinstaller/

• Build it in your code with a restartless add-on. Refer to the answer in this post firefox restartless bootstrap extension script not reloading

I have used the last two options and it works greatly for me.

Answer 5

You can also set dynamic breakpoints via the debugger keyword. Open the "Browser Toolbox" to make the debugger stop at the line.

I think it's nice because you don't have to lookup the source file and line after every restart.

Also take a look at this Debugging extension code in firefox answer which mention the improved debugger capabilities for restartless extensions since Firefox 23.

Answer 6

http://simplygenius.com/2005/08/debugging-firefox-mozilla-extensions_25.html contains a good description of debugging FF extensions in venkman