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XUL Tutorial. XUL Tutorial. Getting started with XULRunner. This article explores the Mozilla platform by building a basic desktop application using XULRunner. Given that Firefox, Thunderbird, and multiple other applications are written using the platform, it's a safe bet that it can be used to build a basic application. There is an article with a more complicated approach to building XULRunner applications at Creating XULRunner Apps with the Mozilla Build System. If you need to change XULRunner itself or integrate it with external binaries you may need to read that article. Step 1: Download XULRunner You can find a download link on the main XULRunner page here on MDC. Since we are not creating any binary XPCOM components, we only need to download and install the XULRunner runtime package, not the SDK.

The XULRunner download for Windows is a zip file, not a true install. The Mac version of XULRunner is distributed as an tar.bz2 archive. FIREFOX_VERSION=`grep -Po "\d{2}\. You could also save this script to a file for convenience. Main.xul: <? Main.js: Getting started with XULRunner. This article explores the Mozilla platform by building a basic desktop application using XULRunner. Given that Firefox, Thunderbird, and multiple other applications are written using the platform, it's a safe bet that it can be used to build a basic application. There is an article with a more complicated approach to building XULRunner applications at Creating XULRunner Apps with the Mozilla Build System. If you need to change XULRunner itself or integrate it with external binaries you may need to read that article. Step 1: Download XULRunner You can find a download link on the main XULRunner page here on MDN. The XULRunner download for Windows is a zip file, not a true install.

The Mac version of XULRunner is distributed as an tar.bz2 archive. In Ubuntu desktop and its variants (Xubuntu, Kubuntu, ...), from version 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), XULRunner is not longer maintained and doesn't exist in Ubuntu repository. FIREFOX_VERSION=`grep -Po "\d{2}\. Step 2: Install XULRunner main.xul: <? Mac #! Deploying XULRunner. Current XULRunner is a stable developer preview release. This means that while the release is immature in some areas such as embedding, application deployment, and OS integration, it can be used by developers that are releasing standalone XUL applications. This document explains how deployment should be managed for self contained portable applications built on XULRunner. Note: To actually install a XULRunner application, a compatible version of XULRunner must be registered on the system and the app must be deployed per the instructions at XUL Application Packaging. If your installer is capable of determining whether or not XULRunner has been registered on the system you could perform the check and register the appropriate version if necessary.

After that, the app could be installed to the registered XULRunner and appear in start menus, lists of installed programs, etc. Windows When deploying with XULRunner 2.0 and above do the following: Mac OS X <? Here's a sample of the PkgInfo file Linux. The Joy of XUL. Intended audience: Application developers and development managers who seek to better understand XUL and why the Mozilla platform is built with it.

Introduction XUL (pronounced "zool") is Mozilla's XML-based user interface language that lets you build feature rich cross-platform applications that can run connected to or disconnected from the Internet. These applications are easily customized with alternative text, graphics, and layout so they can be readily branded or localized for various markets. Web developers already familiar with Dynamic HTML (DHTML) will learn XUL quickly and can start building applications right away. This document will describe the compelling reasons for application developers to leverage XUL and Mozilla technology for building cross-platform applications.

Key Features and Benefits Supporting Technologies There are number of other technologies introduced by Mozilla that complement XUL for building cross platform web applications. Conclusion Reference material. What XULRunner Provides. XULRunner Guide - Open Source@Seneca. From Open Source@Seneca Project Name XUL Runner Guide Project Description The XULRunner project provides an "application runner" for building apps -- like Firefox, Thunderbird, and Sunbird -- atop the Mozilla toolkit framework.

Related tech and skills: XUL, documentation, cross-platform testing. Project Leader(s) Michael Lau (mylau) Colin Guy (Guiness) Project Contributor(s) Vanessa Provided us a link to XULRunner examples in bsmedberg's blog Erin Davey Erin provided the screen shots of the XULRunner install on Windows. Elichak Provided lots of comments on how to fix the Hello World section of the guide Melz Provided us a link on PDF Export from Wiki to help us get started Dean Introduced us to mfinkle on IRC and also gave us his blog Sherman Helped to compile and convert the XULRunner guide to PDF. mfinkle Help read through the whole guide and provided useful comments on the document Mohamed Attar Helped proof read v1 of the XULRunner Guide.

Jeff Smedberg Guided us on where to find certain information. XULRunner. These pages on wiki.mozilla.org are about XULRunner development and planning. If you want more information about developing or using XULRunner-based applications, visit the Mozilla Developer Center, which includes documentation on building, running, and deploying XULRunner. XULRunner Roadmap TODOs A core requirement of XULRunner is the elimination of any app-specific #ifdefs. The build system must be extended so that it is possible to build XULRunner in one objdir and applications in separate objdirs, propagating compiler feature tests from configure tests and keeping makefile configurations separate. The XUL Development Kit In addition to the XULRunner runtime, the XULRunner build process will produce a Development Kit which contains tools for building XUL applications and extensions.

A build environment without all of the complexity of the Mozilla system for applications which consist entirely of XUL+JS (no binary components) . $ cd dist/bin $ . Not much to see, I know. User Profiles.