Question

I noticed something in Chrome the other day- I had opened Developer Tools, and then hit view source and was initially surprised to notice that apparently the developer tools window is coded in HTML and JavaScript- you can see that by putting the following into the Chrome address bar:

view-source:chrome://devtools/devtools.html

Two things struck me- first, the codes copyright belongs to Apple (considering their backing of WebKit, thats not too surprising), and secondly, it appears that you cannot access the JavaScript, CSS or Image files directly through Chrome by clicking on links in the source code.

So two questions:

Where are the DevTools assets stored on my computer or how can I otherwise access them? Or even better, can someone identify the library that is used and let me know how its licensed? I’m always on the look out for a well implemented UI toolkit- and Devtools looks great.

Answer 1

On a Mac the Web Inspector is located at:
/System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/WebCore.framework/Resources/inspector/

The inspector is entirely self contained code, no external libraries were used. When you know your code is only going to be run in one web browser…

The license for WebKit is generally LGPL and BSD however the Web Inspector files all have differing copyright owners (Apple, Google, Nokia, etc) and the following license:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
met:

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name of Apple Computer, Inc. (“Apple”) nor the names of
   its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
   from this software without specific prior written permission.

   THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
   MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
   IN NO EVENT SHALL APPLE OR ITS CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT,
   INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
   (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR
   SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
   HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT,
   STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING
   IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
   POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

Since it is open source you can extent and contribute to the project, see http://webkit.org