I just updated to 3.9.6 and had a some trouble getting the plugin to work again, at first. Turns out that the new plugin for FF40+ (I was looking for the video monitoring functionality and the video download button) apparently does not work in Firefox private tabs yet, by default, while it works fine in regular tabs. Fortunately it is possible to modify the plugin's package.json by yourself to allow it to work in private tabs as well.

As described in https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/SDK/High-Level_APIs/private-browsing, by adding it started working for me. Thought maybe other people might have had the same problem and might benefit from the solution.

Althalus wrote:Turns out that the new plugin for FF40+ (...) apparently does not work in Firefox private tabs yet, by default, while it works fine in regular tabs.

By default NO add-on should work in private mode, so it's expected behaviour.

Althalus wrote:Fortunately it is possible to modify the plugin's package.json by yourself to allow it to work in private tabs as well.

Note that any manual editing breaks digital signature of extension, so starting from Firefox 41 it will be allowed only in developer's version of Firefox.

Althalus wrote:As described in https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Add-ons/SDK/High-Level_APIs/private-browsing, by adding

Code: Select all

"permissions": {"private-browsing": true}

it started working for me. Thought maybe other people might have had the same problem and might benefit from the solution.

Thanks for the helpful hint.

Usher wrote:By default NO add-on should work in private mode, so it's expected behaviour.

Thanks for the clarification. Didn't know that, since the old plugin did work in private tabs by default (at least up to FF39). So I always used it there and was somewhat surprised when the new one didn't work there.

Usher wrote:Note that any manual editing breaks digital signature of extension, so starting from Firefox 41 it will be allowed only in developer's version of Firefox.

To be honest, I was a little surprised that I was able to modify it so easily. But if they'll only start enforcing signatures with FF41, that explains it. Funny, though, that the old plugin was marked as "could not be verified" in FF40 before I updated it, while the new one with my modification is not marked that way in the add-on list.


~Althalus

Mozilla developers have been permissive to add-ons (both plugins and extensions) so far, though they've already started to insist on security and quality - thay may block any add-on if it crashes Firefox or is reported as a security breach. Now they start to make development rules more strict and to force 3rd party developers to obey the rules - maybe because they still think about FirefoxOS.

On the other side Mozilla developers try to make programming easier - as Chrome and other WebKit/Blink based browsers (Safari, Opera) in total are dominating now, Mozilla decided to move add-on development to WebExtensions API (compatible with WebKit/Blink extensions). Note that Microsoft devs are also going to use Chrome compatible extensions in their new browser Edge.
Mozilla devs claim that Blink compatible API is already better documented than API for their own extensions, and it will be much easier to develop a single extension for many browsers. More you can read here:

https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/08 ... x-add-ons/

Dear developer,

I have found a small problem that the menu item "Download with Free Download Manager" don't display in private mode, can you resolve it?

Regards.

themanwithoutsleep wrote:FF 40.0.2 + FDM Extension 1.7.54 + FDM build 1559 - Was unable to test. I could not get FF to enable the extension because it "could not be verified".

This doesn't matter at all as this is a Firefox notification anyway, nothing more, and it should still be working. Unverified extensions are NOT disabled!

But alas the current status is: Free Download Manager plugin 1.7.5.4 (as the extension is actually shown in Firefox) is NOT working with Firefox v40.0.3.

Guest wrote:But alas the current status is: Free Download Manager plugin 1.7.5.4 (as the extension is actually shown in Firefox) is NOT working with Firefox v40.0.3.

It won't work - because of incompatible changes in Firefox API. It's been noted earlier, when reporting problems with Firefox 38 and 39. If you still want to use the old style plugin, install Firefox 38 ESR.

Usher, which FDM version works with FF ESR 38,2,1 ?
I grabbed 3.9.6 1614, it installed extension 2.0.14 and nothing.
XP Pro SP3

All FDM 3.9.6 builds > 1600 come with the new plugin 2.0.x.
The latest FDM build with the old style plugin is FDM 3.9.6 build 1559 (plugin 1.7.5.4). It's clearly described in FDM 3.9.6 topic.

Guest wrote:

themanwithoutsleep wrote:FF 40.0.2 + FDM Extension 1.7.54 + FDM build 1559 - Was unable to test. I could not get FF to enable the extension because it "could not be verified".

This doesn't matter at all as this is a Firefox notification anyway, nothing more, and it should still be working. Unverified extensions are NOT disabled!

But alas the current status is: Free Download Manager plugin 1.7.5.4 (as the extension is actually shown in Firefox) is NOT working with Firefox v40.0.3.

I have installed Firefox 40.0.3 and FDM 3.9.6 build 1614 and is working fine.

Free Download Manager extension 2.0.14

so try install FDM again over the current installation and it will register the plugin again proplerly, otherwise make a clean install of FDM.

Yes, FDM still doesn't install newer extensions when updating, leaving the old incompatible extension version active...

Guest wrote:Yes, FDM still doesn't install newer extensions when updating, leaving the old incompatible extension version active...

In most cases FDM installer works OK. Could you really help developers and provide more details, as it is required by the reporting rules, please?

Hi,

I've been using this FDM for years and years and it has worked very well, thanks for this.

Lately I'm not able to download embedded vids with FDM from web pages as the FDM just does not grab the videos anymore. I now need to install an FF extension ''flashgot'' which grabs the vid on which I click it's icon and it redirects the DL to FDM. It's the only way it works for me now.

I'm having the same trouble in Chrome as FDM on its own does nothing for embedded video downloads.

I recall some time back when viewing an embedded vid in a web page, when starting the video, a small icon used to appear in the corner of the video which I could click to start the download in FDM. Has this function been disabled from FDM?

I'm now on FF 40.0.3 and using the latest FDM 3.9.6 with FF ext 2.0.14.

Thanks for any help or explanation.

rollingrock wrote:Lately I'm not able to download embedded vids with FDM (...)
I'm having the same trouble in Chrome as FDM on its own does nothing for embedded video downloads.
(...)
I'm now on FF 40.0.3 and using the latest FDM 3.9.6 with FF ext 2.0.14.

1. Read release issues ("Note") about the latest FDM extension for Firefox: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17267#p40712
2. Video hosting sites are known to do incompatible changes in their code for video streaming. That's why you may have problems in Chrome and other browsers, but I can't help you more if you don't want to provide any link for verification.

Usher wrote:

rollingrock wrote:Lately I'm not able to download embedded vids with FDM (...)
I'm having the same trouble in Chrome as FDM on its own does nothing for embedded video downloads.
(...)
I'm now on FF 40.0.3 and using the latest FDM 3.9.6 with FF ext 2.0.14.

1. Read release issues ("Note") about the latest FDM extension for Firefox: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17267#p40712
2. Video hosting sites are known to do incompatible changes in their code for video streaming. That's why you may have problems in Chrome and other browsers, but I can't help you more if you don't want to provide any link for verification.

OK thanks.

I guess this confirms I have to uninstall FDM and use the alternative download manager (also free) where everything is working just fine....for all downloads in FF and Chrome.