summaryrefslogtreecommitdiffstats
path: root/toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 19:33:14 +0000
committerDaniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>2024-04-07 19:33:14 +0000
commit36d22d82aa202bb199967e9512281e9a53db42c9 (patch)
tree105e8c98ddea1c1e4784a60a5a6410fa416be2de /toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst
parentInitial commit. (diff)
downloadfirefox-esr-36d22d82aa202bb199967e9512281e9a53db42c9.tar.xz
firefox-esr-36d22d82aa202bb199967e9512281e9a53db42c9.zip
Adding upstream version 115.7.0esr.upstream/115.7.0esr
Signed-off-by: Daniel Baumann <daniel.baumann@progress-linux.org>
Diffstat (limited to 'toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst')
-rw-r--r--toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst145
1 files changed, 145 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst b/toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b55e918588
--- /dev/null
+++ b/toolkit/components/extensions/docs/schema.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,145 @@
+API Schemas
+===========
+Anything that a WebExtension API exposes to extensions via Javascript
+is described by the API's schema. The format of API schemas uses some
+of the same syntax as `JSON Schema <http://json-schema.org/>`_.
+JSON Schema provides a way to specify constraints on JSON documents and
+the same method is used by WebExtensions to specify constraints on,
+for example, parameters passed to an API function. But the syntax for
+describing functions, namespaces, etc. is all ad hoc. This section
+describes that syntax.
+
+An individual API schema consists of structured descriptions of
+items in one or more *namespaces* using a structure like this:
+
+.. code-block:: js
+
+ [
+ {
+ "namespace": "namespace1",
+ // declarations for namespace 1...
+ },
+ {
+ "namespace": "namespace2",
+ // declarations for namespace 2...
+ },
+ // other namespaces...
+ ]
+
+Most of the namespaces correspond to objects available to extensions
+Javascript code under the ``browser`` global. For example, entries in the
+namespace ``example`` are accessible to extension Javascript code as
+properties on ``browser.example``.
+The namespace ``"manifest"`` is handled specially, it describes the
+structure of WebExtension manifests (i.e., ``manifest.json`` files).
+Manifest schemas are explained in detail below.
+
+Declarations within a namespace look like:
+
+.. code-block:: js
+
+ {
+ "namespace": "namespace1",
+ "types": [
+ { /* type definition */ },
+ ...
+ ],
+ "properties": {
+ "NAME": { /* property definition */ },
+ ...
+ },
+ "functions": [
+ { /* function definition */ },
+ ...
+ ],
+ "events": [
+ { /* event definition */ },
+ ...
+ ]
+ }
+
+The four types of objects that can be defined inside a namespace are:
+
+- **types**: A type is a re-usable schema fragment. A common use of types
+ is to define in one place an object with a particular set of typed fields
+ that is used in multiple places in an API.
+
+- **properties**: A property is a fixed Javascript value available to
+ extensions via Javascript. Note that the format for defining
+ properties in a schema is different from the format for types, functions,
+ and events. The next subsection describes creating properties in detail.
+
+- **functions** and **events**:
+ These entries create functions and events respectively, which are
+ usable from Javascript by extensions. Details on how to implement
+ them are later in this section.
+
+Implementing a fixed Javascript property
+----------------------------------------
+A static property is made available to extensions via Javascript
+entirely from the schema, using a fragment like this one:
+
+.. code-block:: js
+
+ [
+ "namespace": "myapi",
+ "properties": {
+ "SOME_PROPERTY": {
+ "value": 24,
+ "description": "Description of my property here."
+ }
+ }
+ ]
+
+If a WebExtension API with this fragment in its schema is loaded for
+a particular extension context, that extension will be able to access
+``browser.myapi.SOME_PROPERTY`` and read the fixed value 24.
+The contents of ``value`` can be any JSON serializable object.
+
+Schema Items
+------------
+Most definitions of individual items in a schema have a common format:
+
+.. code-block:: js
+
+ {
+ "type": "SOME TYPE",
+ /* type-specific parameters... */
+ }
+
+Type-specific parameters will be described in subsequent sections,
+but there are some optional properties that can appear in many
+different types of items in an API schema:
+
+- ``description``: This string-valued property serves as documentation
+ for anybody reading or editing the schema.
+
+- ``permissions``: This property is an array of strings.
+ If present, the item in which this property appears is only made
+ available to extensions that have all the permissions listed in the array.
+
+- ``unsupported``: This property must be a boolean.
+ If it is true, the item in which it appears is ignored.
+ By using this property, a schema can define how a particular API
+ is intended to work, before it is implemented.
+
+- ``deprecated``: This property must be a boolean. If it is true,
+ any uses of the item in which it appears will cause a warning to
+ be logged to the browser console, to indicate to extension authors
+ that they are using a feature that is deprecated or otherwise
+ not fully supported.
+
+
+Describing constrained values
+-----------------------------
+There are many places where API schemas specify constraints on the type
+and possibly contents of some JSON value (e.g., the manifest property
+``name`` must be a string) or Javascript value (e.g., the first argument
+to ``browser.tabs.get()`` must be a non-negative integer).
+These items are defined using `JSON Schema <http://json-schema.org/>`_.
+Specifically, these items are specified by using one of the following
+values for the ``type`` property: ``boolean``, ``integer``, ``number``,
+``string``, ``array``, ``object``, or ``any``.
+Refer to the documentation and examples at the
+`JSON Schema site <http://json-schema.org/>`_ for details on how these
+items are defined in a schema.