XUL Explorer

Introduction

XUL Explorer is a simple tool for experimenting with XUL snippets. Type or insert snippets into the editor and you can quickly preview the results.

A small library of XUL snippets is also included to help beginners start exploring different parts of XUL.

Basic Features

Some basic editor-type features have been implemented. Simple previewing and error reporting is also available:

The Help menu has quick links to the MDC XUL reference, XUL tutorial, and the JavaScript reference.

Editor tabs that have been modified display a special icon. XUL Explorer will prompt you to save any modified files before closing.

Preview

Previewing can be 'manual' or 'automatic' and can be set in the Options dialog. If you choose 'automatic', changes in the editor cause the preview to be updated. Be careful, since the preview may be updated before you are finished editing, resulting in an error.

Use the 'Code' and 'Preview' toggle buttons to switch between code editor and preview pane. Launch a preview in a separate window using the menu or toolbar button.

Snippets

XUL Explorer comes with a small library so XUL and JavaScript snippets. The snippets are displayed in the Snippet panel and are grouped into different categories. you can list all snippets or just those in a specific category

XUL Checker

The XUL Checker feature is a XUL structure check and best practice guide. It will scan the XUL in the selected editor tab and log any potential problems it finds with the XUL. The checker has the following tests:

Simple Keyword Help

Select a XUL element, right-click and pick Keyword Lookup. XUL Explorer launches the Help Browser with the appropiate MDC XUL reference page for that keyword. Currently, this only works for XUL elements, but XUL attributes could be added as well.