I enabled the windows specific options to run files hidden, but it doesn't work. Why?
Answer:
First make sure that you have windows scripting installed and working. Make sure the path for the location of WSCRIPT.exe is set properly in the preferences. Also make sure invis.vbs exists and the path to that is set properly. - Not applicable from MAF 0.6.0 onwards.
Question:
MAF doesn't save the page content properly. What's going on?
Answer:
MAF uses some (very) mangled code version of the File -> Save as -> Web page Complete code, so if it works properly when not using MAF then I've mangled it too much. If that's the case, eMail the URL you're trying to save to me with a brief description of your browser version, platform and what's not right.
Question:
MAF doesn't save international characters in a page properly. What's going on? (Related to the above question).
Answer:
Odds are the character encoding you're using is wrong and everything's saved fine. In Firefox go to View -> Character Encoding -> Unicode (UTF-8) and see if that fixes the display.
Question:
MAF on Mozilla for Windows 2000 and XP just hangs when trying to open or save pages, why?
Answer:
Not too sure, but it seems that there are some strange permission problems that are created when the scripts are installed. If you can, try moving the MAF script installation to a non-ntfs partition (and modify the scripts accordingly). Alternately, opening the batch files in notepad and saving them back does the trick for some users. - Not applicable from MAF 0.6.0 onwards.
Question:
When I'm saving pages they sometimes take really long, even though I know they're cached. What's going on?
Answer:
Sometimes, websites tell browsers not to cache particular parts of a web page (such as a frame holding an ad). When MAF (or Mozilla to be more precise) tries to save the complete web page, because some parts have been marked "don't cache" it attempts to dowload them again. If you don't mind not saving parts that have not been cached, work offline before you try to save pages. The side effect of this is sometimes you end up having downloads in a queue even though the rest of the page is in the archive. You can ensure that your saved pages are in the archive and cancel the queued downloads.
Question:
I opened an archive and nothing happened. Why?
Answer:
There could be various reasons, but odds are your preferences are set to do nothing on an archive opening. If you can browse the open archives and it's there, then the preference setting is the issue.
Question:
Can I save as MHT?
Answer:
As of 0.4.0 MHT Encoding and Decoding is now 99.99% standards compliant. The 0.01% is a sentance I probably missed in all the MHTML related RFCs I read. To save as a MHT archive (compatible with IE) then save the page as a MAF MHT Archive.
Question:
When I try to save as MHT or open an MHT I get a prompt saying "A script on this page is causing mozilla to run slowly. If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive. Do you want to abort the script?". Why?
Answer:
I'm doing a bit-o-magic implementing the MHT encoding and decoding purely in javascript. Basically, there's one thread running all the javascript and UI code. The MHT routines are so processor intensive that it might look like the script has hung the browser (as if someone coded an infinite loop, say). If you keep pressing cancel at the prompt, eventually it would finish. To fix this I have one of three choices:
Mangle the code even more and make liberal use of something called setTimeout
Find some way to tell the current thread to sleep
Implement the code in an XPCOM component
I've created an XPCOM component in Javascript that uses mangled setTimeout code to avoid the prompt. It's not faster, but you shouldn't see the prompt coming up (if you do, press cancel like before). If I have the inclination I can re-write the encoder using C++ and replace the javascript component for an instant speed boost. The C++ component isn't in my project plan though, so don't hold your breath. :).
Question:
What happens if I associate MAF with .MAF? Would it screw up .MAF files for Microsoft Access Forms or Office?
Answer:
It may take the auto-open from Office, but the .maf extension is for older files. The default is .maff now. Basically, don't do this.
Question:
What happens if I associate MAF with .MHT? Would it screw up IE and prevent .MHT files from automatically opening in IE?
Answer:
It may. That setting is for people who don't use IE who want to easily open the MHTs in Fïrefox. I say it may because MS has a habit of putting the associations back when it's one of their products.
Question:
Why is there no 'Save As MAF' or 'Save as MAF MHT' option in the 'Save As' dialog box?
Answer:
MAF is either disabled or not installed properly. If you right click and Save in archive or use the MAF menu you're probably using MAF on an unsupported version of Mozilla/Firefox.
Question:
What's the difference between open in tabs using MAF:// and open in tabs?
Answer:
The second uses the MAF protocol, which basically allows you to bookmark pages in an archive. The first opens using the file protocol referencing the file in the temp folder. Sometimes the MAF protocol mis-renders so I left that option in.
Website
Question:
Why can't I download anything?
Answer:
There's probably some trouble with the download servers or I haven't uploaded the file you're trying to get. Please try again sometime later.
Advocacy
Question:
So, is this like MHT?
Answer:
No. It's better. I am, of course, biased.
Question:
Is this really better than MHT?
Answer:
It's cross platform, lets you use a well known archive format (zip), stores meta-data in XML-based RDF files and integrates almost seamlessly into Mozilla based browsers like Firefox. Hmmm. I don't rightly know. It depends on who you ask.
Development
Question:
Why use scripts? Why not create an XPCOM component?
Answer:
No-one actually asked this, but I'll answer it anyway. Mozilla's source is a huge download for someone who's still on a 14.4 modem. Heh. That and I recently started playing around with Mozilla based development. This is only my second Mozilla-based project. Also, scripts allow users more control over what archive applications they want to use. Choice is always good. Most of the code now provides XPCOM component interfaces though. - From 0.6.0 I've created an XPCOM Zip writer component so no more scripts are necessary. Wohoo!
Question:
What other Mozilla-based projects are you working on?
Answer:
I'm experimenting with XPCOM library development tools. Thus, the FAXP project (nowhere to host it currently - it might end up on sourceforge). Basically it's an ANT-based build of the fastcomponent project. FAXP - Fast Ant XPcom framework. It uses ant-contrib and beanshell to download template files via cvs and fill out the template information. The aim is to make it easily usable across platforms and allow developers to use either the gecko sdk or mozilla source for development.
Another project I'm working on is the Nariva project. It's a front end installed in Firefox that lets you search indexed MAF files for content. It uses the Apache Lucene search engine library and filters that hook into Mozilla preferences.
Personal
Question:
Who are you?
Answer:
As of this writing, an employed developer at a local brokerage firm. I also got an M.Sc. with distinction from the local university last year. I'm one of the few Open Source developers in Trinidad (that I know of) so I hope my work helps put our small island more on the map.
Question:
Why are you unemployed?
Answer:
I'm not now. Say hooray for salary! (Oh and company parties. Heh.)