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Select and copy in Add-ons Manager

  • 5 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 12 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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In Add-ons Manager I cannot select text and copy it. (Typically I click and drag the cursor and the text is highlighted. )

I want to be able to select text and either copy it to paste into another tab or session, or select a URL and right click to open it in another tab.

For example, the "More" link on DownloadHelper 4.9.22 has some complicated work arounds that I'd like to try but don't trust my typing. And it has a couple of URLs listed that can't be clicked on, but could be easily used if I could select the text.

In Add-ons Manager I cannot select text and copy it. (Typically I click and drag the cursor and the text is highlighted. ) I want to be able to select text and either copy it to paste into another tab or session, or select a URL and right click to open it in another tab. For example, the "More" link on DownloadHelper 4.9.22 has some complicated work arounds that I'd like to try but don't trust my typing. And it has a couple of URLs listed that can't be clicked on, but could be easily used if I could select the text.

All Replies (5)

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There are many times that the right-click context menu doesn't come up, but you can press Ctrl+c and get at least some of the content onto the clipboard. I don't have DownloadHelper installed on this Firefox, but I think that's worth a try.

Ctrl+a to select all the selectable text on the page and Ctrl+c to copy it. Then try pasting into Notepad or another application. Any luck?

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Ctrl+a works fine, but Ctrl+c doesn't copy anything to the clipboard.

I wonder why "click and drag the cursor" does not select text in Add-ons Manager? And why does Ctrl+c not work? Is there a security issue, or is it just a coding deficiency?

The right click context menu is a minor issue if I can at least easily select text and get it into the clipboard, DownloadHelper was just an example and where I ran into the issue--the problem seems to be in the Add-ons Manager and impacts all add-ons.

Thanks for your interest and answer.

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Depending on what you want to copy, you could open the web page for that add-on and copy from there.

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Oops, I just realized I was testing on a plugin, not an extension. I also find that Ctrl+c doesn't copy from the More page for an extension.

Okay, this is very hacky, but it seems to work to get a copyable display:

When viewing the extension's More page, press Ctrl+Shift+k to open Firefox's web console.

Then paste this code after the caret (») and press Enter to run it:

var tva = "<h1>" + document.querySelector("#detail-name").textContent + "</h1>"; var ddesc = document.querySelector("#detail-desc-container").innerHTML; ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\n/g, "<br>"); ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\<vbox|\<hbox/g, "<div"); ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\<\/vbox\>|\<\/hbox\>/g, "</div>\n"); ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\<description/g, "<p"); ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\<\/description\>/g, "</p>\n"); ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\<image/g, "<img"); ddesc = ddesc.replace(/\<\/image\>/g, ""); var wnew = window.open("", "_blank"); wnew.document.body.innerHTML = tva + ddesc;

A new tab (or window) should open with the description contents, retaining some level of HTML formatting.

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Note that some texts are label elements that value a value attribute.


e=document.querySelectorAll("*");
for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){E.style.setProperty("-moz-user-select","text","important");E.style.setProperty("-moz-user-focus","normal","important");}

e=document.querySelectorAll("#detail-rows row");T=[];for(i=0;E=e[i];i++){L=[];if(E.hasAttribute("label")&&E.hasAttribute("value")){L.push(E.getAttribute("label"),E.getAttribute("value"));}else{f=E.querySelectorAll("label",".detail-row-label");for(j=0;F=f[j];j++){if(F.value!="undefined"){L.push(F.value);}else{L=[];}}}if(L)T.push(L)}
console.log(T.join("\n"));