The Mozilla Jetpack project for next generation Firefox browser extensions got an interesting update this week.
In the new Jetpack 0.8 SDK there is a new Windows API which will give add-on developers great control over browser window and tab operations.
“The windows module provides easy access to browser windows, their tabs, and open/close related functions and event,” the Jetpack SDK docs state. “browserWindows is an object
An object that contains various properties and methods to access functionality from browser windows, such as opening new windows, accessing their tabs or switching the current active window.”
That’s right, no longer is an add-on limited to just the adjacent window or browser tab. To me, it’s still not entirely clear how a developer can actually target a specific tab since I don’t see specific tab name variables in the SDK (if I’m wrong let me know). That said the ability to control tabs and windows is a critical one that will make the whole add-on experience better.
With the Windows API, Jetpack continues its march towards code completion providing add-on developers and users with a powerful new set of capabilities. Jetpack is supposed to be part of Firefox 4, but code for the new browser is not exactly locked-down (yet).
