[jsword-devel] [sword-devel] Announcing FireBible 0.5.1 - GPLed Firefox font-end

[DM Smith]

Brian Fernandes wrote:
>> This may not be the first non-BD use of JSword, but it is the coolest.  
>> Perhaps, I should start a "sightings" page in the wiki. Or feel free  
>> to do so for yourself.
>>     
>
> Thanks DM, if you can setup the page, perhaps I can add a blurb.
>   
>> I'm not able to get it to work on my Mac Mini. When I click on "Select  
>> Bible" nothing happens. Sword modules are located at "~/Library/ 
>> Application Support/Sword" for both BD and MacSword. (Note the space  
>> in the path). Java is /usr/bin/java and is a link to Java 1.4.2. Apple  
>> includes a way to change this link to point to the "current" Java. I  
>> did not try Java 5.
>>     
>
> "Space in the path" is infamous for causing issues, so I explicitly 
> tested and fixed these issues before release, hopefully that isn't the 
> problem. I don't have access to a Mac for testing though, so I couldn't 
> test on it, it very likely is a core Java issue. I'll try and get access 
> to see what's going on. Since JSword works with 1.4.2, FB shouldn't be 
> different. What version of Firefox were you using?
>   
I'm using the latest in the 2.x series on all platforms. For testing, I 
thought I was using 1.4.2.

> Something to note is that the interface between Firefox and Java changed 
> significantly enough between FF 2 an the recent FF 3 betas to break the 
> extension completely. I have accounted for these changes but perhaps 
> there are even more differences on the Mac.
>
>   
>> On Fedora 8, (a Linux distribution) I couldn't get it to work. On  
>> clicking on Bibles, I get the spinning busy indicator. And it won't  
>> come back. Clicking on it again pops up a dialog box letting me know  
>> it is busy. And then the spinning goes away. However, it is still busy  
>> and clicking again gets the same dialog box. At first, I thought it  
>> was due to my having all the Bibles installed. But when I move .sword  
>> out of the way, I still got the busy situation.
>>     
>
> I did test FireBible on Ubuntu rather extensively; initially I had a 
> problem with the Java plugin not being installed, once I fixed that 
> everything worked fine. Since you saw the "busy" message, it seems to 
> have progressed beyond a Java problem, perhaps a bug somewhere. What 
> JSword/FF version did you try with? (I have only tried 1.0.7).
>   
I use JSword 1.0.7 for all my testing.

> I'm not 100% sure with how Firefox decides what Java version to use so 
> here are some questions.
>
> 1) Do Java applets work? Here is Sun's test page which should print out 
> some info about the Java version being used by FF and display an 
> animation: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml
> If the applet isn't working, then there is no way FB will work.
>   

Applets work on all: Windows, Mac and Linux.

> Note: there are some reports that the animation does not work, but the 
> info should still be displayed.
>
> 2) I had to do this to get FB working on Linux:
>
> In the Firefox/plugins folder, I had to create a symbolic link (do not 
> copy the file) to the Java plugin in my desired JRE, like so:
>
> ln -s 
> /your_path_here/java/j2re1.5.0/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so 
> libjavaplugin_oji.so
>
>
>   
>> I have installed gcj, Sun's Java 1.4, Sun's Java 5, Sun's Java 6 and  
>> IcedTea Java 7. Both gcj and IcedTea were installed via yum from  
>> Fedora. The various Sun's Java were installed as outlined in http://www.crosswire.org/jsword/linuxjava.html 
>> .. I use /usr/sbin/alternatives to switch between them. I tried 1.4.2,  
>> 5, 6 and IcedTea.
>>     
>
>  From point #2 above, I don't think a /usr/sbin switch will get FF to 
> use another Java version, again, I'm not sure.
It turns out I am using icedtea's plugin, which says it is Sun's. It 
appears that the alternatives program does not change the plugin.

>  I know that FF on Linux 
> can only use Sun's Java, nothing else, versions 1.5 and up recommended.
>
> Here is the Mozilla page with the details: 
> http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_Install_Java
>   

This is not the right way to install Java on Linux.

Following the JPackage installation instructions given on 
www.crosswire.org/jsword/linuxjava.html,
I entered the following to allow alternatives to handle Sun's Java 
plugin. But only for the versions of Java that I have installed.
The following 3 commands are each a single line, entered as root:
/usr/sbin/alternatives --install 
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so libjavaplugin.so 
/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2-sun/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so 14200

/usr/sbin/alternatives --install 
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so libjavaplugin.so 
/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.5.0-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so 15000

/usr/sbin/alternatives --install 
/usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so libjavaplugin.so 
/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.6.0-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so 16000

Then, as root, I ran /usr/sbin/alternatives --config libjavaplugin.so 
and chose a Sun plugin (in my case #2)
/usr/sbin/alternatives --config libjavaplugin.so

There are 4 programs which provide 'libjavaplugin.so'.

  Selection    Command
-----------------------------------------------
*+ 1           /usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.7.0-icedtea/lib/i386/gcjwebplugin.so
   2           
/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.6.0-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so
   3           
/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.4.2-sun/plugin/i386/ns610/libjavaplugin_oji.so
   4           
/usr/lib/jvm/jre-1.5.0-sun/plugin/i386/ns7/libjavaplugin_oji.so

Enter to keep the current selection[+], or type selection number: 2

And making this change worked. (of course, I had to shutdown all open 
sessions of Firefox and restart)

> If you have the time, can you please do the following:
>
> 1) Type "about:config" into the address bar
> 2) Right click and create a new boolean key named "firefox.debug.active" 
> and set it to true.
> 3) When you restart Firefox, use Tools > Error Console and the extension 
> should print out debugging information, if you paste that here, I will 
> know how far along it got before bombing out.
>   
Warning: reference to undefined property this.jsword
Source File: 
file:///home/dmsmith/.mozilla/firefox/594xyf3s.default/extensions/firebible@thegoan.com/components/bibleprotocol.js
Line: 81
>   
>> But on WinXP, it looks great.
>>     
>
> Whew, thanks!
>
>   
>> Feedback:
>> The table used to show notes and text should be padded between the  
>> columns.
>>     
>
> Agreed.
>
>   
>> The URL showing search results is unreadable because of all the  
>> escaping. If you used the osisRef form, it would be more readable.
>>     
>
> FireBible is completely URL driven, when you use the combos, it creates 
> a URL (through simple concatenation) and passes that on to JSword which 
> returns the text.
>
> When you use the search, it passes the search terms to JSword, which 
> returns the URL (minus "bible://") and I go ahead and pass that verbatim 
> into JSword again which will now oblige with the text.
>
> I have not looked at the osisRef form but will shortly, will it still be 
> usable given the above "inner workings"?
>   
JSword will parse just about anything and will succeed on anything it 
creates.
If you ask for a key's osisRef it will delineate with spaces. Just 
replace those with a comma.

>   
>> When titling the window for a search result, it might be better to  
>> show a variation of search text rather than the long reference. Or  
>> truncate the reference.
>>     
>
> This is definitely possible, the title could indicate *what* you 
> searched for, not the search results.
>
>   
>> On Linux, with GnomeSword installed, there may be a bit of tug-of-war  
>> for the bible:// protocol.
>>     
>
> If you click a bible:// link *within* Firefox I believe it will now be 
> handled by FireBible, even if GnomeSword is the default bible handler. 
> If you click an external link, then it depends on gnome settings, if you 
> choose Firefox to the bible hander or GnomeSword. So hopefully not a big 
> deal deal, though it will be a problem if you want bible:// links in FF 
> to be handled by GnomeSword too. Perhaps I shouldn't add support for 
> sword:// too? Needs more thought and feedback if people have issues with 
>   how it is now. I intended adding the "sword://" protocol too.
>   
>> I'm looking forward to see what you have next!
>>     
>
> Tons planned, the first would be supporting more modules. But right now 
> I'm a tad disappointed it didn't work for you on Linux (didn't expect it 
> to work right off on the Mac), so would like to get it universally 
> working first - and then add more features in.
>
> Thanks for the detailed and prompt feedback, much appreciated.
>
> Brian.
>
> P.S These discussions are relevant to both JSword-devel and Sword-devel, 
>   so I'm replying to both groups (as you have done?). Is this the right way?
>