[etoys-notify] [JIRA] Commented: (SQ-551) Browser plugin fail on IE and Firefox

[tracker at squeakland.org]

     [ http://tracker.immuexa.com/browse/SQ-551?page=comments#action_38520 ]
     
Jerome Peace commented on SQ-551:
---------------------------------

[Meta-topic] Squeak in browsers works unreliably. Why?

A good goal would be to have a squeak plugin that works each time, every time, with all popular browsers.

What I am curious about is: what about the browser interface can be dialed back to prevent even the likelihood of failures.

The reason this is important is that the kind of failures that users run into UNSELL the idea of using squeak.

My experience on Ubuntu 8.04 (Firefox 3.0.15) is particularly severe. Even though the plugin can be used once. As soon as I dismiss the tab or window, my entire browser shuts down losing my other open tabs. Why?

The browsers can and do get updated past the failure point. Bert(?) claims the problem goes away on more recent versions of the Firefox browser. (Which AFAIK requires a more recent version of Ubuntu to run.)

My point is not to fix this one problem, it is to explore and probe what is happening until the failure is UNDERSTOOD. Then use the knowledge to find a safe harbor that works with all browsers.

IMO the software/technology is currently running too close to the edge to be useful. Continuing things the way they are will make reasonable users stop using the software.

Yours in curiosity and service, --Jerome Peace



> Browser plugin fail on IE and Firefox
> -------------------------------------
>
>          Key: SQ-551
>          URL: http://tracker.immuexa.com/browse/SQ-551
>      Project: squeakland
>         Type: Bug
>   Components: etoys-win
>     Reporter: Karl Ramberg
>     Priority: Blocker
>      Fix For: etoys 4 and showcase - october 2009

>
>
> I have not been able to get the browser plugin to work on either IE8 or Firefox. It work however on Google Chrome.
> If this problem i widespread it is quite serious for Etoys4 release since IE is a large part of our potential users. The fail is in StandardFileStream>>primURLRequestFileHandle: request that never get a file handle.
> I changed this code to print to the Transcript and got 3 Fails printed.
> StandardFileStream>>requestURLStream: url ifError: errorBlock
> 	"Request a FileStream for the given URL.
> 	If Squeak is not running in a browser evaluate errorBlock"
> 	"FileStream requestURLStream:'http://www.squeak.org'"
> 	| sema index request result |
> 	self waitBrowserReadyFor: self defaultBrowserReadyWait ifFail: [^errorBlock value].
> 	sema _ Semaphore new.
> 	index _ Smalltalk registerExternalObject: sema.
> 	request _ self primURLRequest: url semaIndex: index.
> 	request == nil ifTrue:[
> 	
> 	Smalltalk unregisterExternalObject: sema.
> 		^errorBlock value.
> 	] ifFalse:[
> 		[sema wait. "until something happens"
> 		result _ self primURLRequestState: request. 
> 		result == nil] whileTrue.
> 		result ifTrue:[Transcript show: result asString.fileID _ self primURLRequestFileHandle: request].
> 		self primURLRequestDestroy: request.
> 	].
> 	Smalltalk unregisterExternalObject: sema.
> 	fileID == nil ifTrue:[Transcript show: 'Fail'.^nil].
> 	self register.
> 	name _ url.
> 	rwmode _ false.
> 	buffer1 _ String new: 1.

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