[BUG] Unchecking functions in the patcher doesn't remove them when applying the patcher a second time

[sec-martin]

Describe the bug
When "Tabs below URL bar" is used it works perfect. But when "Tabs below URL bar" is UNCHECKED it remain the tabs remain still below URL bar

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior, or a brief explanation on it:

1. Check "Tabs below URL bar"
2. Click on Patch
3. Execute Firefox
4. UNCheck "Tabs below URL bar"
5. Click on Patch
6. Execute Firefox

Expected behavior
I was expecting that Tabs will show back to above URL bar.

Screenshots
If applicable, add screenshots to help explain your problem.

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: WIN 10, build 16299
• Version FF74, 64bit

[Izheil]

That's expected behaviour. If you want to remove a function, you have to check what you want to remove, and click "remove patch", which will prompt you if you want to remove everything or just the function.

Either way, I agree that right now it's a bit confusing for those that don't know what it exactly does, so I'll try to change the GUI to make it more compact and clearer.

[sec-martin]

Thank you Izheil, anyway you did a great job. This program really helps me.

[Izheil]

A small heads up on this, I started building a new front-end for the patcher using Qt, which should make it look better (instead of looking like it comes from windows 98 in windows default theme).

It will still take me some time since I don't have that much free time this month, but the thing is that I had another idea while re-building the patcher that might make it more usable for everyone.

Since it's just an idea, I'd prefer not to make any wild claims right now, since I still don't know if it is completelly feasible to do, but at least it should let people autoupdate the scripts from Firefox instead of having to run a secondary process in the background (which was one of the reasons I didn't want to have autoupdates yet).

Either way, until june I will probably not be able to start making much progress on it, but hopefully I'll manage to get it working by July (This isn't a promise, but more of an optimistic "maybe").

[boar24]

In addition to what sec-martin reported I want to report that it is not only about removing functions, but also changing values (number of scrollable rows, milliseconds for Focus-tab-on-hover) and subsequent patching does not result in the values being updated - which would be what users like me would have expected.

It might help to put a hint into the "Choose what functions you want to install/remove" box, that removing functions works through the "Remove Patch" button. Or it could be helpful to rename the buttons to "Install" and "Remove".
Anyway, these remarks may become obsolete with what you are working on now.
I am keen on the results. Keep up the good work!

[Izheil]

@traveler4, that's a bug which shouldn't happen, so I'll try to fix it in the old version.
It will take me some more time to start working on the new installer, but I'll take these things into consideration to test before releasing the new one.

[Izheil]

The bug should be fixed now in v1.7.1, along with some regressions that I spotted since 1.6.0 update.
Thanks for reporting them!

[Izheil]

Alright, some more news on the update!
I've been working on the new patcher, and as you guessed, it's still not ready yet. As I expected, July was too optimistic of a release date.

Instead of having to use the patcher for almost each Firefox update, with this new one you should only need to patch once. The patcher will install a "mod manager" that will then allow you to install all mods in the repository, and which will also make sure to keep them all updated.

This will make it more similar to an "extension", in the manner that it will be integrated into Firefox, you will be able to switch values of the scripts on-the-go, and it will update on firefox startup or on request.

Hopefully this will also open new possibilities to make more flexible scripts to mod Firefox with or add new features, allowing you to do things similar to what old XUL extensions could do.

I have almost finished making the back-end of the "mod manager", and so far it's working, which is why I can now share how it's going to be, since at least now I know it's possible.

As for why not make a webextension that used a binary to do the same (which was the other alternative), I think that Mozilla left it clear that they don't want people meddling with the UI of Firefox in some of the theming bugs of bugzilla to know that even if I had approached that method, they would most likely have taken it down as soon as they could from AMO.

After I'm done with the back-end, I'll see how to do the front-end, which would be a local html file just like with any regular webextension. Since it will show the ugly "file:///...." path on the urlbar, I'll see if I can do something to make it look better like "about:mods" or load it as a dialog window, but I don't know if that will be possible.

The mod manager will work similar to how stylus or tampermonkey addons work, except you will get options instead of the raw code (which you will also be able to edit from the manager) to make it look more like an addon.

Once all of this done, I'll just have to remake the front-end of the old patcher with QT (I got part of that done, so it should hopefully not be too hard), and then it will be ready to install the mod manager.

This installer will be on the "pre-releases" section once I upload it, since all of this will still be too experimental, and the idea is to not need to update as often the "mod manager" (which will be the one updating the multirow and all other function scripts), so until I'm relatively sure that I won't be adding any other new feature to it, and that it doesn't have any serious bug, I won't move it to the stable releases section.

This way people will be able to test the basic version and give some feedback... but that will still take a while to finish.