Firefox 32 release notes for developers

Firefox 32 was released on September 2, 2014. This article lists key changes that are useful not only for web developers, but also Firefox and Gecko developers as well as add-on developers.

Changes for web developers

Developer Tools

Highlights:

• Web Audio Editor
• Code completion and inline documentation in Scratchpad]
• User agent styles in the Inspector's Rules view
• Element picker button has moved
• Node dimensions added to the Inspector's infobar
• Full page screenshot button added
• HiDPI images added to the tools
• Nodes that have display:none are shown differently in the Inspector

All devtools bugs fixed between Firefox 31 and Firefox 32.

CSS

• Enabled {{cssxref("mix-blend-mode")}} by default (Firefox bug 952643).
• Enabled position:sticky by default in release builds (only enabled on Nightly and Aurora before) (Firefox bug 916315).
• Implemented {{cssxref("box-decoration-break")}} and removed the non-standard -moz-background-inline-policy (Firefox bug 613659).
• Allowed {{cssxref("flex-grow")}} and {{cssxref("flex-shrink")}} to transition between zero and nonzero values, like 'flex-grow: 0.6'(Firefox bug 996945).

HTML

• Experimentally implemented, behind a pref, {{HTMLElement("img")}} srcset property, To activate it set dom.image.srcset.enable to true (Firefox bug 870021).
• id and class are now true global attributes and also apply to XML elements, in a namespace or not (Firefox bug 741295).

JavaScript

• The following new ECMAScript 2015 built-in methods got implemented:
  • {{jsxref("Array.from()")}} (Firefox bug 904723),
  • {{jsxref("Array.prototype.copyWithin()")}} (Firefox bug 934423),
  • {{jsxref("Number.isSafeInteger()")}} (Firefox bug 1003764).

Interfaces/APIs/DOM

• The {{domxref("Navigator.languages")}} property and {{domxref("Window.languagechange_event", "languagechange")}} event have been implemented (Firefox bug 889335).
• The {{domxref("Navigator.vibrate()")}} method behavior has been adapted to the latest specification: too long vibrations are now truncated (Firefox bug 1014581).
• The {{domxref("KeyboardEvent.getModifierState()")}} and {{domxref("MouseEvent.getModifierState()")}} methods have been extended to support the Accel virtual modifier (Firefox bug 1009388).
• The {{domxref("KeyboardEvent.code")}} property have been experimentally implemented: it is disabled on release build (Firefox bug 865649).
• Scoped selectors for {{domxref("Document.querySelector()")}} and {{domxref("Document.querySelectorAll()")}}, for example querySelector(":scope > li") have been implemented (Firefox bug 528456).
• The experimental implementation of the {{domxref("Document.timeline")}} interface, related to the Web Animation API, has been added (Firefox bug 998246). It is controlled by layout.web-animations.api.enabled preference, enabled only on Nightly and Aurora for the moment.
• The Data Store API has been made available to Web Workers (Firefox bug 949325). It still is only activated for certified applications.
• The ServiceWorker InstallPhaseEvent and {{domxref("InstallEvent")}} interfaces have been implemented (Firefox bug 967264).
• The MSISDN Verification API, only activated for privileged apps, has been added (Firefox bug 988469).
• The Gamepad API is now supported on Firefox for Android (Firefox bug 852935).
• To match the spec and the evolution of the CSS syntax, minor changes have been done to {{domxref("CSS.escape_static", "CSS.escape()")}}. The identifier now can begins with '--' and the second dash must not be escaped. Also vendor identifier are no more escaped. (Firefox bug 1008719)
• To complete our Hit Regions implementation, MouseEvent.region has been implemented (Firefox bug 979692).
• The {{domxref("CanvasRenderingContext2D.drawFocusIfNeeded()")}} method is now enabled by default (Firefox bug 1004579).
• The {{domxref("Navigator.doNotTrack")}} properties now returns '1' or '0', reflecting the HTTP value, instead of 'yes' or 'no' (Firefox bug 887703).
• XMLHttpRequest.responseURL was implemented (Firefox bug 998076).

MathML

• Add support for the {{MathMLElement("menclose")}} notation phasorangle.

SVG

No change.

WebRTC

• New constraints for WebRTC's {{domxref("Navigator.getUserMedia", "getUserMedia()")}}, width, height, and framerate, have been added, to limit stream dimensions and frame rate (Firefox bug 907352):

  jsCopy

  const constraints = {
    mandatory: {
      width: { min: 640 },
      height: { min: 480 },
    },
    optional: [
      { width: 650 },
      { width: { min: 650 } },
      { frameRate: 60 },
      { width: { max: 800 } },
    ],
  };
  

• WebRTC methods which previously used callback functions as input parameters are now also available using JavaScript promises.

Audio/Video

No change.

Security

• Privileged code now gets Xray vision for JavaScript Object and Array instances.

Changes for add-on and Mozilla developers

Xray vision is now applied to JavaScript objects that are not themselves DOM objects: Xrays for JavaScript objects.

A getDataDirectory() method has been added to Addon instances. This method returns the preferred location, within the current profile, for add-ons to store data.

Add-on SDK

Highlights

• Added exclude option to PageMod.
• Added anonymous option to Request.
• Add-on Debugger now includes a Console and a Scratchpad.

Details

GitHub commits made between Firefox 31 and Firefox 32. This will not include any uplifts made after this release entered Aurora.

Bugs fixed between Firefox 31 and Firefox 32. This will not include any uplifts made after this release entered Aurora.

XPCOM

• The nsIUDPSocket interface now provides multicast support through the addition of the new nsIUDPSocket.multicastLoopback, nsIUDPSocket.multicastInterface, and nsIUDPSocket.multicastInterfaceAddr attributes, as well as the nsIUDPSocket.joinMulticast() and nsIUDPSocket.leaveMulticast() methods.