Extension Manager:Localized Addon Text

This requirement is essentially about placing localized information about add-ons into a fixed place for reading by the application and addons.mozilla.org alike.

Throughout this page I will use the term localizable information to refer to those parts of the add-on metadata that are/should be localizable, this includes name, description, creator, homepage, developers, contributors and translators.

Current Situation

Currently there are two places where add-on authors can place localizable information.

The first place is in the add-on's install.rdf file. The information here is used during install and by addons.mozilla.org. This information is only present in one locale.

The second place is in a localizable property e.g. extensions.<add-on id>.name. This can be used in the application after an extension is installed and is used in preference to the previous place since it is fully localizable, however these properties are only available when the add-on is installed and enabled.

New Requirements

The primary requirement here is that the localizable information must be available both in the application and to external users of the add-ons such as addons.mozilla.org.

A secondary requirement is that the localizable information must be available while the add-on is disabled.

This means that the localizable information should appear in a defined place inside the add-on xpi, preferably in the install.rdf file since both AMO and the application already read their information from there.

Proposed Implementation

The proposed implementation adds the localizable information to the add-on's install manifest file.

Install Manifest Extension

It is proposed that a new property be added to the add-on's install manifest, em:localized. It will relate a set of localizable information to the add-on which can contain all the existing localizable information and in addition contains at least one em:locale property that marks which locales the information should be used for. The following is an example install manifest with most other properties removed for brevity:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<RDF xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
     xmlns:em="http://www.mozilla.org/2004/em-rdf#">
  <Description about="urn:mozilla:install-manifest">
    <em:id>TabSidebar@blueprintit.co.uk</em:id>
    <em:localized>
      <Description>
        <em:locale>de-DE</em:locale>
        <em:name>Tab Sidebar</em:name>
        <em:description>Zeigt in einer Sidebar Vorschaubilder der Inhalte aller offenen Tabs an.</em:description>
      </Description>
    </em:localized>
    <em:localized>
      <Description>
        <em:locale>es-ES</em:locale>
        <em:name>Tab Sidebar</em:name>
        <em:description>Muestra una vista previa de sus pestañas en su panel lateral.</em:description>
      </Description>
    </em:localized>
    <em:localized>
      <Description>
        <em:locale>nl-NL</em:locale>
        <em:name>Tab Sidebar</em:name>
        <em:description>Laat voorbeeldweergaven van uw tabbladen in de zijbalk zien.</em:description>
      </Description>
    </em:localized>
    <em:name>Tab Sidebar</em:name>
    <em:description>Displays previews of your tabs in your sidebar.</em:description>
  </Description>
</RDF>

Note that when an em:localized exists for the required locale then all other localizable information is ignored. That means that if the em:localized does not have a description property then the add-on is considered to not have a description, regardless of whether a description is specified directly on the install manifest.

Backwards Compatibility

In order to maintain backwards compatibility, where an em:localized doesn't exist for the required locale then the current method for retrieving the localizable information is used. So in the application's case a possible localized property is used and if not then the normal information on the install manifest. In the case of addons.mozilla.org the normal information on the install manifest is the only fallback.

It is suggested that add-on authors will want to continue using the localized properties in certain situations since that mechanism allows a third party locale pack to localize their add-on's metadata.

Related bugs

• bug 257155 - Bug tracking this requirement.