Firefox bug

I'm going to make this post very quick so here is a link to the bug I filed
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1160256

FirefoxOS Design

I was reading the FirefoxOS in action tutorial today and I added some code to the note app provided by the book but it had an error(although it was a simple error that I fixed) so I just stopped reading it.

I started reading articles on the app center on the mozilla developer website

• When making an app there are some pretty obvious things everyone should do but is important anyway but these steps can be modified depending on your preference
• When thinking of an idea for an app and you have decided you should state the purpose of the app and who would use it. Also consider if it will be on different platforms
• Draw what the app will look like, probably a sketch for each screen and more if the app will be on multiple platforms
• Also if your app is on different platforms it may have different features on each platform, a mobile app will sometimes have less features than a desktop site because of the lack of space(google docs is a word processor with a lot of functions but the mobile app only allows you to view your documents and not edit them which is annoying in my opinion)

This tutorial looks really good so far and I looked at the example geolocation app on my laptop but I haven't seen what it looks like on the Flame.

FirefoxOS and Naming bug

Over the weekend Fredy emailed me saying he fixed the testcases I invalidated and he doesn't have any assignment for me right now but he will email me on Monday(which he never did and I hope he didn't forget). I did a bit more reading today and I wrote a few notes below.

• As I mentioned in a previous blogpost, the "certified" permission has permissions that can be abused(making purchases) but this permission level is not available on workplace apps and is a part of the OS
• The note app that I currently have allows a contact to be selected but it doesn't actually add that person to the note like it's supposed to so that needs to be fixed

I also wrote to Fredy about a bug but it was kind of annoying to explain so I just want him to confirm that it is a bug that hasn't been filed yet if he can.

FirefoxOS stuff

Today I finished up the last few testcases and I emailed a few questions for Fredy. One of the testcases referenced an "Active" tab which was removed recently so I invalidated that. As for your app, it worked fine on my simulator and you actually don't need contacts for it to work and you can just pull the changes from Finn, I think.

Testcases

I actually went to moztrap and noticed there was another page of testcases which must have been added recently so I went through those today. When going through them I checked for bugs or invalid instructions. I'm not really sure if I should invalidate some stuff but I think as long as the instructions are understandable I don't need to. I make sure to invalidate a testcase if the UI is different but for example one testcase says "Press continuously "Power" button" when it should probably say to "Hold down the "Power" button continuously". I also need to make a note to myself to look at testcase 26 because there was a problem with upvoting, I think.

I think I may have found a bug though because when you delete your name it gets replaced with a randomly generated one with the word Buddy and a number with it(like Buddy3478) but when you delete your name and it gets randomly generated again there is a lowercase "b". I'll have to check in with Fredy about this stuff though.

Testcases(11-20)

I don't really have anything interesting to blog about because I just went over the rest of the testcases. I don't think I missed anything and I tried to use my best judgement. There was one prerequisite that I think was wrong but I didn't report it although maybe I should have(testcase 13). Besides that I didn't really find any problems and I went through the testcases pretty thoroughly so I'll probably email Fredy soon and see if he needs anything else done right now.

More testcases(1-10)

So my new task is to go back through the testcases and invalidate any testcases if required because all the testcases were changed to be clearer and the UI of BuddyUp keeps changing.

One thing I noticed with the testcases so far was that one page is referred to as the "Homepage" when it says "Support" at the top but I think it's fine. I did invalidate a different test that referenced a nonexistent tab so the UI must have changed very recently. Testcase 9 and 10 are really long but I think both were fine so I only found a problem with one.

Debugger

You're probably already fairly familiar with the debugger but I wasn't aware that you could track certain variables by clicking on the "gutter" of a line which I posted a picture of below. You can also just screw around with your code like by stopping it at a certain point, inspecting your app, and resuming it. The debugger is also really useful for redesigning your app and seeing the changes immediately.

The problem is now I added that geolocation code and my app is no longer working and the debugger won't show anything and I really have no idea why.

The little blue dot is where the gutter is and you can mark certain lines of code

Awesome Note App

I continued looking at the book since I had no other task. I got to the part where it talked about making a note app and a bit on how to to debug if necessary. The explanations are pretty good but I think there was one error in the manifest file because I could not run my app although maybe it was my fault. You made the app yourself but I posted a screenshot of it below. This does make it really easy to convert any website into a mobile app because you just have to make the manifest file and add an icon(and probably redesign it).

FirefoxOS in action

I finished my task so I decided to read some more of that book today.

Security
There are 3 different types of permissions for Firefox OS that determine what an app can access because you may not want websites to have access to your SD card and then it gets a hold of your pictures.

• Standard:  Stuff that can't really cause harm like gps or vibration
• Privileged: Stuff that can expose personal info like contacts
• Certified: Stuff that can cost money like making calls or disabling wifi and wasting data

Whenever a FirefoxOS app would like to use one of the higher permissions it prompts the user, unlike Android where you are only prompted once before installing the app.

Developing

• Making an app is obviously very similar to making a website except you have to keep a couple of things in mind, people are tapping and not using a mouse, and the phone is less powerful than a desktop.

Also, I learned how to use some basic git commands from Finn so I shouldn't need as much help when using github

Finished up invalidating

I finished looking over all the tests, it was pretty tedious but got easier towards the end since the testcases seemed to be more up to date. It wasnt really hard and I usually knew when I should and shouldn't invalidate something, but there was one testcase though that I wasn't sure about because it said to tap on an input field but it was a button. I didn't invalidate it because I was unsure and it didn't seem too important but I was thinking it made it sound like the button was a text field.

Most of these tests had the same error though because there was one wrong button but I did invalidate one today that had quite a few wrong buttons and pages listed in the instructions.

Invalidating more stuff

Fredy emailed when class ended yesterday and he wanted me to continue checking is testcases were valid so I did that for today. I don't think I really need to go into detail(unless you want me to) about it because it's pretty simple. I usually just keep invalidating a test because a button or web page is titled wrong since there seem to be so many UI changes and the github repo seems to be updated at least once a week. The app was especially changed a lot recently which you can see on the "My profile" page below so the test cases are unclear but the app looks a lot nicer.

FirefoxOS in Action

 I emailed Fredy about what I should be working on but until then I'll just continue reading.

There are a lot of reasons why FirefoxOS is appealing

• It's convenient for web developers
• You can reuse web page code
• It can utilize cheap hardware
• Browsers are updated often as opposed to an OS
• It's free, no market places and you can use any familiar libraries

There are three distinctive software layers in Firefox OS:

• A Linux kernel, called Gonk.
• The browser engine, called Gecko.
• The UI, called Gaia.

Also, here's the logo with a smaller circle.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/8028799/Librifox2.svg