new URI scheme: chrome://

It seems to be used to control or reference netscape/mozilla
UI internals or something.

from http://www.mozilla.org/xpfe/ConfigChromeSpec.html :

> What is Chrome?
> 
> The chrome is that part of the application window that lies
> outside of a window's content area. Toolbars, menu bars, progress
> bars, and window title bars are all examples of elements that are
> typically part of the chrome. 
:

> 3. Chrome URLs
> 
> New windows can be opened via JavaScript. For example, a new
> window can simply be opened by passing in the URL of a XUL file,
> e.g.,
> 
> window.openChromeWindow("MyNewWindowName",
> "http://www.foopy.com/myCoolXUL.xul");
> 
> The file will then be loaded just as a normal Web page might
> load. 
> 
> To open a window of a particular type, e.g., a new navigator
> window, however, we don't want to give an explicit URL in the
> open call, since we don't know who the user might have as a
> content provider for the navigator window. If we were to hardcode
> a URL in our file, then we would be choosing a specific structure
> and content for the navigator window, one that might conflict
> with what the user has chosen.
> 
> Therefore rather than passing in the URL of a XUL file, the page
> designer should use a window type instead, specified using a
> chrome URL. 
> 
> window.open("MyNewBrowserWindow", "chrome://navigator/");
> 
> When a URL of the form chrome://WindowType/" is encountered, the
> default XUL file for that WindowType is loaded by looking up the
> entry in the chrome registry. Note that chrome://WindowType/ and
> chrome://WindowType/content/ are synonymous.
> 
> Any content files for a particular window type can be referenced
> using chrome content URLS, with the assumption that
> chrome://WindowType/content/ refers to the base directory
> specified for content in the chrome registry.
:

I discovered this scheme via:

    http://discuss.userland.com/msgReader$15969

> Author: Andrew Wooldridge
> Posted: 4/5/00; 3:38:56 PM
> Topic: Developing Netscape 6 Sidebar?
> Msg#: 15969 (in response to 15967)
> Prev/Next: 15968/15970
> Reads: 40
> 
> If you installed the sidebar as "chrome" then yes, but if you did
> it via a website then no.
> 
> Meaning this, if you have the user download some files which then
> get placed in a directory under the Chrome directory (in their
> respective content, locale, and skin subdirs) and then install
> the sidebar using something like
> "chrome://[[mypackagename]]/content/starting.xul" where
> starting.xul could be any name as well, and mypackagename is the
> name of the directory immediately under the Chrome dir.

-- 
Gerald Oskoboiny       <gerald@w3.org>  +1 617 253 2920
System Administrator   http://www.w3.org/People/Gerald/
World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)      http://www.w3.org/

Received on Wednesday, 5 April 2000 20:41:00 UTC