Gecko Plugin API Reference

Plug-in Basics

• How Plug-ins Are Used
  • Plug-ins and Helper Applications
• How Plug-ins Work
• Understanding the Runtime Model
• Plug-in Detection
  • How Gecko Finds Plug-ins
  • Checking Plug-ins by MIME Type
• Overview of Plug-in Structure
  • Understanding the Plug-in API
  • Plug-ins and Platform Independence
• Windowed and Windowless Plug-ins
• The Default Plug-in
• Using HTML to Display Plug-ins
  • Plug-in Display Modes
  • Using the object Element for Plug-in Display
  • Nesting Rules for HTML Elements
  • Using the Appropriate Attributes
  • Using the embed Element for Plug-in Display
  • Using Custom embed Attributes
• Plug-in References

Plug-in Development Overview

• Writing Plug-ins
• Registering Plug-ins
  • MS Windows
  • Unix
  • Mac OS X
• Drawing a Plug-in Instance
• Handling Memory
• Sending and Receiving Streams
• Working with URLs
• Getting Version and UI Information
• Displaying Messages on the Status Line
• Making Plug-ins Scriptable
• Building Plug-ins
  • Building, Platforms, and Compilers
  • Building Carbonized Plug-ins for Mac OS X
  • Type Libraries
• Installing Plug-ins
  • Native Installers
  • XPI Plug-ins Installations
• Plug-in Installation and the Windows Registry

Initialization and Destruction

• Initialization
• Instance Creation
• Instance Destruction
• Shutdown
• Initialize and Shutdown Example

Drawing and Event Handling

• The NPWindow Structure
• Drawing Plug-ins
  • Printing the Plug-in
  • Setting the Window
  • Getting Information
• Windowed Plug-ins
  • Mac OS
  • Windows
  • Unix
  • Event Handling for Windowed Plug-ins
• Windowless Plug-ins
  • Specifying That a Plug-in Is Windowless
  • Invalidating the Drawing Area
  • Forcing a Paint Message
  • Making a Plug-in Opaque
  • Making a Plug-in Transparent
  • Creating Pop-up Menus and Dialog Boxes
  • Event Handling for Windowless Plug-ins

Streams

• Receiving a Stream
• Telling the Plug-in When a Stream Is Created
• Telling the Plug-in When a Stream Is Deleted
• Finding Out How Much Data the Plug-in Can Accept
• Writing the Stream to the Plug-in
• Sending the Stream in Random-Access Mode
• Sending the Stream in File Mode
• Sending a Stream
• Creating a Stream
• Pushing Data into the Stream
• Deleting the Stream
• Example of Sending a Stream

URLs

• Getting URLs
  • Getting the URL and Displaying the Page
• Posting URLs
  • Posting Data to an HTTP Server
  • Uploading Files to an FTP Server
  • Sending Mail

Memory

• Allocating and freeing memory
  • Mac OS
• Flushing memory (Mac OS only)

Version, UI, and Status Information

• Displaying a Status Line Message
• Getting Agent Information
• Getting the Current Version
• Finding Out if a Feature Exists
• Reloading a Plug-in

Plug-in Side Plug-in API

This chapter describes methods in the plug-in API that are available from the plug-in object. The names of all of these methods begin with NPP_ to indicate that they are implemented by the plug-in and called by the browser. For an overview of how these two sides of the plug-in API interact, see the How Plug-ins Work and Overview of Plug-in Structure sections in the introduction.

• NPP_Destroy
• NPP_DestroyStream
• NPP_GetValue
• NP_GetValue
• NPP_HandleEvent
• NP_Initialize
• NPP_New
• NPP_NewStream
• NPP_Print
• NPP_SetValue
• NPP_SetWindow
• NP_Shutdown
• NPP_StreamAsFile
• NPP_URLNotify
• NPP_Write
• NPP_WriteReady

Browser Side Plug-in API

This chapter describes methods in the plug-in API that are available from the browser. The names of all of these methods begin with NPN_ to indicate that they are implemented by the browser and called by the plug-in. For an overview of how these two sides of the plug-in API interact, see the How Plug-ins Work and Overview of Plug-in Structure sections in the introduction.

NPN_DestroyStream

Closes and deletes a stream.

NPN_ForceRedraw

Forces a paint message for a windowless plug-in.

NPN_GetAuthenticationInfo

This function is called by plug-ins to get HTTP authentication information from the browser.

NPN_GetURL

Asks the browser to create a stream for the specified URL.

NPN_GetURLNotify

Requests creation of a new stream with the contents of the specified URL; gets notification of the result.

NPN_GetValue

Allows the plug-in to query the browser for information.

NPN_GetValueForURL

Provides information to a plug-in which is associated with a given URL, for example the cookies or preferred proxy.

NPN_InvalidateRect

Invalidates specified drawing area prior to repainting or refreshing a windowless plug-in.

NPN_InvalidateRegion

Invalidates specified drawing region prior to repainting or refreshing a windowless plug-in.

NPN_MemAlloc

Allocates memory from the browser's memory space.

NPN_MemFlush

Requests that the browser free a specified amount of memory.

NPN_MemFree

Deallocates a block of allocated memory.

NPN_NewStream

Requests the creation of a new data stream produced by the plug-in and consumed by the browser.

NPN_PluginThreadAsyncCall

Thread-safe way to request that the browser calls a plug-in function on the browser or plug-in thread (the thread on which the plug-in was initiated).

NPN_PopPopupsEnabledState

Pops the popups-enabled state.

NPN_PostURL

Posts data to a URL.

NPN_PostURLNotify

Posts data to a URL, and receives notification of the result.

NPN_PushPopupsEnabledState

Pushes the popups-enabled state.

NPN_ReloadPlugins

Reloads all plug-ins in the Plugins directory.

NPN_RequestRead

Requests a range of bytes for a seekable stream.

NPN_SetValue

Sets windowless plug-in as transparent or opaque.

NPN_SetValueForURL

Allows a plug-in to change the stored information associated with a URL, in particular its cookies.

NPN_Status

Displays a message on the status line of the browser window.

NPN_UserAgent

Returns the browser's user agent field.

NPN_Version

Returns version information for the Plug-in API.

NPN_Write

Pushes data into a stream produced by the plug-in and consumed by the browser.

Scripting plugins

• How the DOM handles scripting
• Threading model
• Security model
• What's in the plugin code?
• Accessing browser objects from a plugin
• How to call plugin native methods
• The API extensions
  • NPString
  • NPVariant
    • NPN_ReleaseVariantValue
    • NPN_GetStringIdentifier
    • NPN_GetStringIdentifiers
    • NPN_GetIntIdentifier
    • NPN_IdentifierIsString
    • NPN_UTF8FromIdentifier
    • NPN_IntFromIdentifier
  • NPObject
    • NPN_CreateObject
    • NPN_RetainObject
    • NPN_ReleaseObject
    • NPN_Invoke
    • NPN_InvokeDefault
    • NPN_Evaluate
    • NPN_GetProperty
    • NPN_SetProperty
    • NPN_RemoveProperty
    • NPN_HasProperty
    • NPN_HasMethod
    • NPN_SetException
  • NPClass

Structures

• NPAnyCallbackStruct
• NPByteRange
• NPEmbedPrint
• NPEvent
• NPFullPrint
• NPP
• NP_Port
• NPPrint
• NPPrintCallbackStruct
• NPRect
• NPRegion
• NPSavedData
• NPSetWindowCallbackStruct
• NPStream
• NPWindow

Constants

• Error Codes
• Result Codes
• Plug-in Version Constants
• Version Feature Constants

External resources

• External projects and articles for plugin creation