Btukfyl

I'd like to know how to update URL addresses in Firefox using Web Extensions.

I'm trying to port a simple extension I've created with Chrome APIs to Firefox, but I don't really understand the tab URL mechanisms in Firefox.

This extension was made to switch between YouTube desktop/TV version with a click.

It works well on Chrome, but I don't know why it's not working on Firefox.

UPDATE 1: Placing most important code block related to the question:

chromeApi.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {

  var actionUrl = '';

  var tabUrl = tab.url;



  if (getCurrentPageVersion(tabUrl) !== undefined) {

    actionUrl = getConvertedActionUrl(tabUrl);

    if (actionUrl !== tabUrl) {

      chromeApi.tabs.update(tab.id, {url: actionUrl});

    }

  }



});

Full source

(function(chromeApi) {



  getCurrentPageVersion = function (tabUrl) {

    var ytValidRegex = /^(https?://)?(www.)?(youtube.com|youtu.?be)/g;

    var ytValidStdPageRegex = /^(https?://)?(www.)?(youtube.com|youtu.?be)?(/watch?v=).+$/g;

    var ytValidTvPageRegex = /^(https?://)?(www.)?(youtube.com|youtu.?be)?(/tv#/watch(/video)?/(idle|control)?v=).+$/g;



    if (!ytValidRegex.test(tabUrl)) {

      return undefined;

    } else if (ytValidStdPageRegex.test(tabUrl)) {

      return "std";

    } else if (ytValidTvPageRegex.test(tabUrl)) {

      return "tv";

    }



    return undefined;

  };



  getConvertedActionUrl = function (tabUrl) {

    var result = '';



    var shortStdYtUrlRegex = //watch?v=.+/g;

    var shortTvYtUrlRegex = //tv#/watch/video/(idle|control)?v=.+/g;

    var shortStdYtUrlReplaceRegex = //watch?v=/g;

    var shortTvYtUrlReplaceRegex = //tv#/watch/video/(idle|control)?v=/g;



    if (shortStdYtUrlRegex.test(tabUrl)) {

      result = tabUrl.replace(shortStdYtUrlReplaceRegex, '/tv#/watch/idle?v=');

    }



    else {

      result = tabUrl.replace(shortTvYtUrlReplaceRegex, '/watch?v=');

    }



    // YouTube standard website video url

    //https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tRDQK2MtRs

    // YouTube TV url

    //https://www.youtube.com/tv#/watch/video/idle?v=9tRDQK2MtRs

    return result;

  }



  onInit = function () {



  };



  // Called when the user clicks on the browser action.

  chromeApi.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {

    var actionUrl = '';

    var tabUrl = tab.url;



    if (getCurrentPageVersion(tabUrl) !== undefined) {

      actionUrl = getConvertedActionUrl(tabUrl);

      if (actionUrl !== tabUrl) {

        chromeApi.tabs.update(tab.id, {url: actionUrl});

      }

    }



  });



  chromeApi.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(function(tabId, changeInfo, tab){

    if(!changeInfo.url) return; // URL did not change

    // Might be better to analyze the URL to exclude things like anchor changes

    var pageVersion = getCurrentPageVersion(tab.url);

    if (pageVersion === undefined) return;



    /* ... */

    chromeApi.browserAction.setBadgeText({text: pageVersion.toUpperCase(), tabId: tab.id});

  });



  chromeApi.tabs.onCreated.addListener(function(tab){

    var pageVersion = getCurrentPageVersion(tab.url);

    if (pageVersion === undefined) return;



    /* ... */

    chromeApi.browserAction.setBadgeText({text: pageVersion.toUpperCase(), tabId: tab.id});

  });



})(chrome);

If you pay attention, the core functionality happens on the chromeApi.browserAction.onClicked event, whenever you click the add-on/extension button.

The extension updates correctly between each YouTube version in Chrome, but in Firefox, this one redirects to YouTube TV once and never goes back to the desktop version no matter how many times you click on it.

But there's something weird in Firefox: browser history is updated correctly whenever the tab.update method is called, but it redirects to the TV version by itself again.

IMPORTANT: Both Firefox/Chrome extensions are using the currentTab permission, so it's not an extension issue by itself.

Extension on GitHub

UPDATE 2 (2018-11-25): I've updated the source code based on previous feedback