0.1a1 is out!

We are happy to present our first build: Webmonkey 0.1a1 (compatible with Firefox 3.5).
You can download it here: http://cloud.github.com/downloads/ocornu/webmonkey/webmonkey-0.1a1.xpi

A lot of work has been put in cleaning, refactoring and documenting the Greasemonkey core code (see the complete changelog). This task is well advanced now -- but not over yet (#12). Although this work is at the core of several new features, published or yet to be implemented, it is mostly invisible to users.

This release also introduces a few bug-fixes and enhancements, like:

• Firebug:
  • debugger support: it is now possible to set breakpoints in your script source file(s), move forward step-by-step, inspect your script objects at any step, etc (#13)
  • no more errors logged when Firebug is not installed (#1)
• GM_xmlhttpRequest:
  • connection errors now are correctly reported (#2)
  • you can send binary data by setting the "binary" field to true in your xhr details object (#3)
  • you can bypass Firefox cache by setting the "nocache" field to true in your xhr details object (#7)
• UI: the status-bar icon takes less space (#5)

Compatibility with the GM add-on

Both Greasemonkey and Webmonkey may be installed on the same Firefox profile, although only one of these add-ons may be enabled at once.
Webmonkey will not alter your GM config in any way:

• WM stores its scripts in its own "scripts" directory, next to GM "gm_scripts" directory (in your Firefox profile). You may copy your scripts and config.xml from "gm_scripts" to "scripts", but keep these directories separated: WM will tweak config.xml in ways GM does not understand.
• WM will store its (about:config) preferences in its own webmonkey space.

Compatibility with GM scripts

Webmonkey should be compatible with all GM scripts, with one exception: a new script injection logic compatible with Firebug's debugger has been put in place. As a consequence, scripts are no longer wrapped into an anonymous function before being run in their sandbox. In other words, all scripts behave as though they included the @unwrap header tag.
This is known to raise conflicts with a few scripts because of reserved variable names (like "sidebar") inherited from the Window prototype: redefining one of these reserved variables will throw an "Illegal value" error. The solution to this is straightforward: either change this var name or wrap the problematic piece of code yourself.

Debugging your scripts with Firebug

WM scripts show up in Firebug scripts panel and may be debugged like other page scripts.
This feature depends on a recent Firebug 1.5 patch (r4051), thus you need FB 1.5.0a22 or newer. Download it here: http://getfirebug.com/releases/firebug/1.5X/
Then set extensions.firebug.service.filterSystemURLs to false in about:config.

Thanks for your interest and stay tuned: 0.1a2 is on its way!