Popular:
 Building Resilient Systems on AWS: Learn how to design and implement a resilient, highly available, fault-tolerant infrastructure on AWS.

Firefox Extension Template

By  on  

Creating a Firefox extension can be difficult if you don't know the files involved and how to structure your extension folder. Fear not -- I have created a very basic Firefox extension template file/folder structure for you to get your first plugin going.

Download ZIP

File & Folder Structure

  • MyExtension/
    • chrome/
      • content/ - contains the extensions XUL and JavaScript files.
        • myExtension.xul - The XML that creates the layout of the extension.
        • options.xul - The XML that creates proviedes extension options. Empty for this template.
        • myExtension.js - The JavaScript that manages the action of each extension object.
      • locale/ - contains language files. None included in this template. Assume English.
      • skin/ - contains images and CSS to control extension object layout.
        • myExtension.css - a CSS file controling presentation, just like a website.
        • logo.png - a sample image. All images go in this folder as well.
    • chrome.manifest - maps out the file/structure layout of the extension for Firefox.
    • install.rdf - provides information about the extension.
    • update.rdf - gets pinged to check for extension updates.

Note that this structure isn't required but is a very commonly used structure. Also, make sure to check out my David Walsh Blog Toolbar post to see an example of my file contents.

Download ZIP

Stay tuned for my post on creating the XPI file that packages the extension!

Request Metrics real user monitoring
Request Metrics real user monitoring
Request Metrics real user monitoring
Request Metrics real user monitoring

Recent Features

  • By
    7 Essential JavaScript Functions

    I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent.  Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should...

  • By
    Animated 3D Flipping Menu with CSS

    CSS animations aren't just for basic fades or sliding elements anymore -- CSS animations are capable of much more.  I've showed you how you can create an exploding logo (applied with JavaScript, but all animation is CSS), an animated Photo Stack, a sweet...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Spyjax: Ajax For Evil Using Dojo

    The idea of Spyjax is nothing new. In pasts posts I've covered how you can spy on your user's history with both MooTools and jQuery. Today we'll cover how to check user history using the Dojo Toolkit. The HTML For the sake of this...

  • By
    Implementing Basic and Fancy Show/Hide in MooTools 1.2

    One of the great parts of MooTools is that the library itself allows for maximum flexibility within its provided classes. You can see evidence of this in the "Class" class' implement method. Using the implement method, you can add your own methods to...

Discussion

  1. Lim Chee Aun

    I guess both of us think alike :) http://github.com/cheeaun/example-fx

  2. David Walsh

    @Lim Chee Aun: As always! :) This setup is pretty common.

  3. Foobar

    u mis-typed the word “chrome”…

  4. David Walsh

    @Foobar: Updated.

  5. Tyler Diaz

    Thanks a bunch David, I’ve always wanted to try my hand at creating my own Firefox tool bar but never really knew how to start. Thanks for the jump start. ;)

  6. Skakunov Alexander

    You can use an Extension Wizard for that purpose.

  7. Scott Morris

    I have been tasked to create an add on and through all the searching and examples yours was the best. Thank you.

  8. andrew

    I have defind a new action that to call other program In my myExtension.js ,
    Am i input the program with myExtension.js in content too ?

  9. Home

    I always to the star to make my Firefox toolbar, but knew how to really wanted to try my hand but never.
    ——————————–
    ruthallen

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!