Zotero-Related addons/extensions break Firefox functionality

Echelon
Recently I have been having a problem with Firefox (50.0): my findbar completely stopped working/showing up. Neither CTRL + F nor Edit -> Find nor F3 would bring up the findbar. As "find" functionality is one of the most useful and essential tools in Firefox (or any other browser, or any other application for that matter), I racked my brains for 4 days trying to figure out why Firefox's findbar suddenly stopped working. In desperation, I disabled all of my addons/extensions (I have many) and then went through a painstaking process of re-enabling one addon/extension at a time and then restarting Firefox to see which addon/extension, if any, was/were disabling my findbar. Through this process I discovered two addons/extensions that, when enabled, either together or individually, kill my findbar: Zotero and Abbreviations for Zotero. I really enjoyed the Zotero-related addons/extensions to my browser, but I need to use the findbar literally hundreds of times per day, so, sadly, the Zotero-related addons/extensions have to remain disabled.
  • bwiernik
    This is definitely not normal behavior. What version of Zotero do you have installed?
  • Echelon
    4.0.28
  • Echelon
    4.0.28 stand-alone
  • dstillman
    edited November 25, 2016
    4.0.28 is a year and a half old and not compatible with recent Firefox releases. Upgrade to the latest versions.
  • Echelon
    To clarify, I have the "stand-alone" version of Zotero (not "Zotero for Firefox"), which still works fine with FF 50.0 (but my FF findbar doesn't when either "Zotero" or "Abbreviations for Zotero" integration addon is enabled). With that said, per your advice I went ahead and installed the latest (stand-alone) Zotero version available, 4.0.29.10, obtained here: https://www.zotero.org/download/ . The afore-described findbar problem still exists.
  • dstillman
    edited November 25, 2016
    If you're using Zotero in Firefox, you have Zotero for Firefox (which just runs in connector mode when Standalone is open) as well. That's the only thing that would affect Firefox, so you'd want to check the version of that in the Firefox Add-ons pane.

    If you're still having trouble, we'd need a Report ID from Zotero for Firefox.

    And we have nothing to do with Abbreviations for Zotero, so you can disable that while you're debugging this.
  • Echelon
    Thanks, Dan.

    Following the information in the link you posted, the Zotero Error Report says, "No errors have been logged since Zotero started." There is no Report ID to give.

    According to information obtained from the Firefox Add-ons pane, the FF "Zotero" add-on version is 4.0.29.16, last updated 11/24/2016.
  • dstillman
    You can submit a Report ID even if there are no errors. We'd want to see one after you reproduce this problem with no other extensions enabled.
  • Echelon
    I apologize for the delayed update as I've been dealing with a family emergency. As it turns out, after more investigation, it seems that something in Firefox itself has recently changed, and that as a result of this change there are numerous addons that, when enabled, break Firefox's findbar. I have seen countless people on various Mozilla addon pages complaining that findbar functionality is broken when addon [whatever] is enabled.

    I know that many Mozilla developers complain about their addons being repeatedly broken as the Firefox API repeatedly changes. I'm wondering whether there has been another API change (or something similar) that affects the findbar when an addon doesn't take the change into account.

    In any case, it seems this findbar issue is not limited to Zotero-related addons/extensions.
  • adamsmith
    Just to be clear -- there are (at least) tens of thousands of people running Zotero in Firefox 50 and you are literally the only person who has reported issues with the findbar here. It works just fine for me, e.g., and presumably for bwiernik and Dan as well. Zotero developers also, obviously, pay close attention to changes in the Firefox extension framework, so while things can certainly break, that's relatively rare.

    So this has got to be something more specific than Zotero breaking Firefox functionality. Could be two add-ons together, a theme, etc.
    That's why Dan was asking for the error report with no other add-ons enabled.
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