Question

I have an issue with Greasemonkey, it doesn’t update my script automatically (probably because we don’t want to add it to its UserScripts root, and it seems in this case it doesn’t update it)…

anyway, I was adding a piece of code (main idea from here) to my script to check the script version inside the script and let user know if there is a new version available, and as if user wants to update it, if so it should open a new window/tab for script url (that it should trigger Greasemonkey to install it)… this is my senario, and it works perfect up to the point that it should open a new window/tab…

here you can see the function I’m using:

function checkForUpdate(in_vid){

    var plugin_url = 'https://MyWebSiteURL/MonaTest.user.js?'+new Date().getTime();

    if ((parseInt(GM_getValue('SUC_last_update', '0')) + 86400000 <= (new Date().getTime()))){
        try {
            GM_xmlhttpRequest( {
                method: 'GET',
                url: plugin_url,
                headers: {'Cache-Control': 'no-cache'},
                onload: function(resp){
                    var local_version, remote_version, rt, script_name;

                    rt=resp.responseText;
                    GM_setValue('SUC_last_update', new Date().getTime()+'');
                    remote_version = parseFloat(/@version\s*(.*?)\s*$/m.exec(rt)[1]);
                    local_version = parseFloat(GM_getValue('SUC_current_version', '-1'));

                    if(local_version!=-1){
                        script_name = (/@name\s*(.*?)\s*$/m.exec(rt))[1];
                        GM_setValue('SUC_target_script_name', script_name);

                        if (remote_version > local_version){

                            if(confirm('There is an update available for the Greasemonkey script "'+script_name+'."\nWould you like to install it now?')){
                    ------->    GM_openInTab(plugin_url);
                                //window.open(plugin_url,'_blank')
                                //location.assign(plugin_url);
                                GM_setValue('SUC_current_version', remote_version);
                            }
                        }
                        else{
                            GM_log('No update is available for "'+script_name+'"');
                        }
                    }
                    else{
                        GM_setValue('SUC_current_version', remote_version+'');
                    }
                }
            });
        }
        catch (err){
            GM_log('An error occurred while checking for updates:\n'+err);
        }
    }
}

I tried to use GM_openInTab, but it returns this error in the console:

Timestamp: 9/27/12 9:55:33 AM
Error: ReferenceError: GM_openInTab is not defined
Source File: file:///Users/Mona/Library/Application%20Support/Firefox/Profiles/tonwb5lg.default/gm_scripts/MonaTest/MonaTest.user.js
Line: 97

I couldn’t find any reference to indicate that GM_openInTab doesn’t support anymore!

I tried other solutions, using window.open and location.assign… both of them doesn’t work because they shows the script source codes without triggering Greasemonkey to install it…

I don’t know if there is a way to update script using this method…
I would appreciate if you share your knowledge and help me with my problem.

Thanks for your time!

P.S. My firefox version is 15.0.1, Greasemonkey version is 1.1

Answer 1

don’t forget to @grant.

---

correct me if im wrong, but your script does not end with js.

var plugin_url = 'https://MyWebSiteURL/MonaTest.user.js?'+new Date().getTime();

try forcing the .js extension.
when i added the date to my script, GM stopped installing it.
remove the date at the end and give it a try.

one last thing: you’re basing your script on a script from 2009. take a look at a new one, like this from 2011.