Can add-ons for Firefox for Android have preferences?

Add-ons Development
#1

I don’t see any way to access the preferences of an SDK add-on that I just uploaded to AMO.[0] I thought I’d try it out on Firefox on my Android device, but without access to its preferences it doesn’t do anything.

I assumed that add-on preferences would work, and I see that the Add-on SDK’s “simple-prefs” module is listed as supported.[1] Searching the web, MDN, and bugzilla didn’t uncover a definitive answer, so I thought I’d ask here. Thanks, -Paul

[0] https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/automatic-reader-view/
[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/SDK/Tutorials/Mobile_development

#2

I installed a different add-on (Home Page Links) and I see the preferences/options for it, so that answers that question. So it must be something with my add-on. Maybe once the message about not being able to be verified by Firefox goes away, they will become accessible? (When I disable and re-enable my add-on I see the “OPTIONS” heading briefly before it gets covered up as the “unverified” message moves up.)

#3

See https://discourse.mozilla-community.org/t/simple-prefs-options-and-firefox-for-android/7467/2

A workround is to set the preferences in about:config, though that doesn’t work for all types of pref.

#4

Thanks. So it’s a larger problem with all add-ons created with jpm that use simple-prefs, that only affects Firefox for Android. The workaround with about:config worked, so I can at least see that everything with the add-on itself is working on Android.

#5

Yeah
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1038003
partially analyzed this but never got assigned to a mozilla owner.

Meanwhile I lost interest

#6

I didn’t find that one when I raised https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1167246 in May 15. Is the dependency on https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1110502 still true?

Edited to add: Is this is actually a bug in Fennec, not the sdk? The fact that it originally happened in cfx too, and Erik’s comment, suggests that. Should I change the product?

A fennec bug might get fixed whereas a jpm bug won’t, pending webextensions, I think. Until then fennec addons can’t have prefs.

#7

I think so. That bug got unassigned and has no further history. That platform just looks abandoned.

#8

This is being progressed here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1243467

Luca Greco has produced a workaround which makes simple prefs work in Android and is compatible with desktop. WFM. IIUC he plan to do a fix which would be available from Fx48 at the earliest.

Bug 1243467 seems to be a duplicate of my bug 1167246. How they relate to bug 1038003 & bug 1110502 I don’t know.