Add-ons using the techniques described in this document are considered a legacy technology in Firefox. Don't use these techniques to develop new add-ons. Use WebExtensions instead. If you maintain an add-on which uses the techniques described here, consider migrating it to use WebExtensions.
From Firefox 53 onwards, no new legacy add-ons will be accepted on addons.mozilla.org (AMO).
From Firefox 57 onwards, WebExtensions will be the only supported extension type, and Firefox will not load other types.
Even before Firefox 57, changes coming up in the Firefox platform will break many legacy extensions. These changes include multiprocess Firefox (e10s), sandboxing, and multiple content processes. Legacy extensions that are affected by these changes should migrate to WebExtensions if they can. See the "Compatibility Milestones" document for more.
A wiki page containing resources, migration paths, office hours, and more, is available to help developers transition to the new technologies.
Experimental
Construct, validate, and parse URLs.
Globals
Constructors
URL(source, base)
The URL constructor creates an object that represents a URL, verifying that the provided string is a valid URL in the process. Any API in the SDK which has a URL parameter will accept URL
objects, not raw strings, unless otherwise noted.
Parameters
source : string
A string to be converted into a URL. If source
is not a valid URI, this constructor will throw an exception.
base : string
An optional string used to resolve relative source
URLs into absolute ones.
DataURL(uri)
The DataURL constructor creates an object that represents a data: URL, verifying that the provided string is a valid data: URL in the process.
Parameters
uri : string
A string to be parsed as Data URL. If is not a valid URI, this constructor will throw an exception.
Functions
toFilename(url)
Attempts to convert the given URL to a native file path. This function will automatically attempt to resolve non-file protocols, such as the resource:
protocol, to their place on the file system. An exception is raised if the URL can't be converted; otherwise, the native file path is returned as a string.
Parameters
url : string
The URL, as a string, to be converted.
Returns
string : The converted native file path as a string.
fromFilename(path)
Converts the given native file path to a file:
URL.
Parameters
path : string
The native file path, as a string, to be converted.
Returns
string : The converted URL as a string.
isValidURI(uri)
Checks the validity of a URI. isValidURI("http://mozilla.org")
would return true
, whereas isValidURI("mozilla.org")
would return false
.
Parameters
uri : string
The URI, as a string, to be tested.
Returns
boolean : A boolean indicating whether or not the URI is valid.
getTLD(url)
Returns the top-level domain for the given URL: that is, the highest-level domain under which individual domains may be registered. Uses getPublicSuffix()
internally.
var urls = require("sdk/url"); console.log(urls.getTLD("http://www.bbc.co.uk/")); // "co.uk" console.log(urls.getTLD("https://developer.mozilla.org/")); // "org"
Parameters
url : string
The URL, as a string.
Returns
string : The top-level domain for the URL.
URL
Methods
toString()
Returns a string representation of the URL.
Returns
string : The URL as a string.
toJSON()
Returns a string representation of the URL.
Returns
string : The URL as a string.
Properties
scheme
The name of the protocol in the URL, without the trailing ':'
. Compare with protocol. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.scheme); // https
userPass
The username:password part of the URL, null
if not present.
host
The host of the URL, null
if not present. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.host); // developer.mozilla.org
port
The port number of the URL, null
if none was specified.
path
The path component of the URL. Contains everything after the host of the URL. Compare with pathname. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.path); // /en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top
hostname
The domain of the URL, as a string. Mirrors window.location.hostname
. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.hostname); // developer.mozilla.org
pathname
An initial '/'
followed by the path of the URL, as a string. Compare with path. Mirrors window.location.pathname
. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.pathname); // /en-US/Add-ons
hash
A '#'
followed by the fragment identifier of the URL, as a string. Mirrors window.location.hash
. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.hash); // #top
href
The whole URL as a string. Mirrors window.location.href
.
origin
The canonical form of the origin for this URL, as a string. Mirrors window.location.origin
.
protocol
The protocol of the URL, including the final ':'
, as a string. Compare with scheme. Mirrors window.location.protocol
. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.protocol); // https:
search
If any parameters are present, a '?'
followed by the parameters of the URL, as a string. Mirrors window.location.search
. For example:
var url = require("sdk/url").URL("https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons?example=true&visible=yes#top"); console.log(url.search); // ?example=true&visible=yes
DataURL
Methods
toString()
Returns a string representation of the Data URL. If base64
is true
, the data
property is encoded using base-64 encoding.
Returns
string : The URL as a string.
Properties
mimeType
The MIME type of the data. By default is an empty string.
parameters
An hashmap that contains the parameters of the Data URL. By default is an empty object.
base64
Defines the encoding for the value in data
property.
data
The string that contains the data in the Data URL. If the uri
given to the constructor contains base64
parameter, this string is decoded.