Uninstalling the Clickonce Support for Firefox

A couple of years ago we heard clear feedback from folks that they wanted to enable a very clean experience with launching a ClickOnce app from FireFox. James Dobson published FFClickOnce and got very good reviews, but we had many customers that wanted ClickOnce support for Firefox built into the framework… so in .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 we added ClickOnce support for Firefox! This made ClickOnce apps much more accessible to a wide range of customers.

We added this support at the machine level in order to enable the feature for all users on the machine. Seems reasonable right? Well, turns out that enabling this functionality at the machine level, rather than at the user level means that the 'Uninstall' button is grayed out in the Firefox Add-ons menu because standard users are not permitted to uninstall machine-level components.

Clearly this is a bit frustrating for some users that wanted an easy way to uninstall the Clickonce Support for Firefox. But good news! We have a fix in place (enabling each user to uninstall the feature for themselves) and our testing team is making sure that is rock-solid now.. I expect that to be out in the next few weeks. I’ll be sure to post more information on that when I have it.

In the meantime, if you want to disable the Clickonce Support for Firefox here are the steps directly from the dev in charge..

Stop-gap Solution To uninstall the ClickOnce support for Firefox from your machine

1) Delete the registry key for the extension

i. From an account with Administrator permissions, go to the Start Menu, and choose 'Run...' or go to the Start Search box on Windows Vista

ii. Type in 'regedit' and hit Enter or click 'OK' to open Registry Editor

iii. For x86 machines, Go to the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Mozilla > Firefox > Extensions

For x64 machines, Go to the folder HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Wow6432Node > Mozilla > Firefox > Extensions

iv. Delete key name '{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}'

OR alternatively

i. Open a command prompt window (must be 'run as Administrator' on Vista and later)

ii. Copy and paste the appropriate command below and hit 'Enter'

For x86 machines:
reg DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions" /v "{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}" /f

For x64 machines:
reg DELETE "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Mozilla\Firefox\Extensions" /v "{20a82645-c095-46ed-80e3-08825760534b}" /f

2) Reset the changes made to the Firefox user agent

i. Launch Firefox, go to the Firefox address bar and type in 'about:config'

ii. Scroll down or use 'Filter' to find Preference name 'general.useragent.extra.microsoftdotnet'

iii. Right-click on the item and select 'reset'

iv. Restart Firefox

3) Remove the .NET Framework extension files

i. Go to the Start Menu, and choose 'Run...' or go to the Start Search box on Windows Vista

ii. Type in 'explorer' and hit Enter or click 'OK'

ii. Go to '%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\Windows Presentation Foundation\DotNetAssistantExtension\'

iii. Delete the 'DotNetAssistantExtension' folder and all its contents

"

Some Great New Mix09 Sessions Posted

We recently got some great new Mix09 sessions posted. Here are a few that I think are cool as they directly relate to what my team is doing.. if you can make to Vegas, please come by.. if you can’t, don’t worry all the sessions will be on line!

In T40F, I am toying with the idea of doing an all-demo-no-slide talk where I walk through end-to-end building a data-centric Silverlight application.. I’d like to show everything from access data out of a data base, to application logic that spans tiers, to UI navigation, data visualizations, validation, sorting, paging, filtering, grouping of data, etc. What do you think?

In T41F, Nikhil will do a deeper dive into the some of the technology that I use in my talk. You will get a good sense for how this really works and what the successful RIA application patterns are for ASP.NET, AJAX and Silverlight. Here is his own post on the subhect.

In C21F, Corrina who is the lead designer for Silverlight will talk about some UX patterns that are common for business applications. Corrina is responsible for the look, feel and overall UX of the controls in SL3 and she will show you the best application patterns to use and why. This is a great talk for both designers as well as developers that want to know how to get the most out of the platform.

In T69M – Ward, from IdeaBlade will show how to fully leverage Silverlight for business applications. He has been working with early bits for a while and has some great ideas to share.

In T15F, Shawn will talk about the really impressive set of controls we have for SL3 and how to use them to build great applications! This is an important talk to go to in order to make sure you have all the tools in your tool belt.

I am also very excited about T47F and T36F as these sessions will highlighted some shared work we have done across the platform to make it much easier to build business applications and services with a common pattern.

See the full Mix 09 Session list..

MIX09-T40F Building Amazing Business Centric Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3

Wednesday March 18 |2:15 PM-3:30 PM | Lando 4204

By: Brad Abrams Tags: Silverlight

This will be a great Silverlight session, but we won't be able to release any details until after MIX09 Keynotes. Check this abstract after MIX09 Keynotes for a complete session description.

MIX09-T41F Building Data-Driven Applications with Microsoft Silverlight and Microsoft ASP.NET

Wednesday March 18 |4:00 PM-5:15 PM | Lando 4204

By: Nikhil Kothari Tags: Silverlight

This will be a great Silverlight session, but we won't be able to release any details until after MIX09 Keynotes. Check this abstract after MIX09 Keynotes for a complete session description.

MIX09-C21F User Experience Design Patterns for Business Applications with Microsoft Silverlight 3

Thursday March 19 |4:15 PM-5:30 PM | Delfino 4101

By: Corrina Black Tags: Silverlight

Come hear how creating great user experiences for business applications can result in both improved productivity and significant support cost savings. Learn how to use proven user experience patterns in cost effective ways with Silverlight 3, including rich data display, data input and advanced data validation, and application navigation.

MIX09-T69M Microsoft Silverlight Is Ready for Business

Thursday March 19 |4:40 PM-5:00 PM | San Polo 3401

By: Ward Bell Tags: Silverlight

Come learn how to build a Silverlight business application today with the new UI features including DataGrid, DataForm, validation and navigation. Also see an example of how to connect to services using a LINQ enabled, Entity Framework-backed, data management solution.

MIX09-T15F High-Speed RIA Development with the Microsoft Silverlight Toolkit

Friday March 20 |12:30 PM-1:45 PM | San Polo 3504

By: Shawn Oster Tags: Silverlight

Come learn how the Silverlight Toolkit can help jumpstart development of stunning Web experiences, and learn how to use the latest controls to create more immersive, more manageable user experiences.. Using Microsoft Visual Studio and Microsoft Expression Blend, explore advanced debugging and unit testing techniques for building components that work across Silverlight and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).

MIX09-T47F Microsoft ASP.NET 4.0 Data Access: Patterns for Success with Web Forms

Friday March 20 |9:00 AM-10:15 AM | Delfino 4001

By: David Ebbo Tags: ASP.NET

Come learn about some cool new data access features for ASP.NET 4.0 Web Forms and beyond. Hear how a new Domain Data Source makes it easy to cleanly change your application's architecture from 2-tier to 3-tier and how a new query block lets you unleash the power of LINQ. Also hear about new Dynamic Data features like richer support for LINQ to Entities as well as how to use the ASP.NET data stack to target Windows Azure.

MIX09-T36F Modeling RESTful Data Services: Present and Future

Friday March 20 |12:30 PM-1:45 PM | Lando 4204

By: Pablo Castro Tags: REST

Learn how use ADO.NET Data Services framework to approach the modeling of application behavior in terms that match the architectural style proposed by REST. Hear how to address common application needs such as authentication and authorization, and hear about the future direction of ADO.NET Data Services framework upcoming features.

Framework Design Guidelines: LINQ Support

Continuing in our weekly blog post series that highlights a few of the new additions to the Framework Design Guidelines 2^nd edition.. This content is found in the LINQ section of Chapter 9: Common Design Patterns.

Supporting LINQ through IEnumerable<T>

DO implement IEnumerable<T> to enable basic LINQ support.

Such basic support should be sufficient for most in-memory data sets. The basic LINQ support will use the extension methods on IEnumerable<T> provided in the .NET Framework. For example, simply defineing as follows:

public class RangeOfInt32s : IEnumerable<int> {
public IEnumerator<int> GetEnumerator() {…}
IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() {…}
}

Doing so Allows for the following code, despite the fact that RangeOfInt32s did not implement a Where method:.

var a = new RangeOfInt32s();
var b = a.Where(x => x>10);

RICO MARIANI

Keeping in mind that you’ll get your same enumeration semantics, and putting a Linq façade on them does not make them execute any faster or use less memory.

The Knowledge Chamber: Silverlight 3 for Great Business Apps

It was great fun to be interviewed on The Knowledge Chamber by Robert Hess… It certainly brought back the good old times on the .NET Show!

I had a chance to show a sneak-peak at some of the cool new stuff coming in Silverlight 3 for Business Applications. Check out the Video and your voice to the thread!

Brad Abrams - Silverlight 3.0 for Great Business Apps

Mix09: Silverlight for Business Apps and .NET RIA Services talks posted

The amazing tech folks here at Mix09 have already gotten a good number of talks published.

.NET RIA Services Talk

Building Business Apps with SL3

Silverlight 3 Overview, Silverlight Out Of Browser

See the full session list: http://sessions.visitmix.com/MIX09/

Silverlight 3: Activity Control

In my Mix09 talk I used a brand new Activity control that we are working on. I had a number of folks ask me for the control (which is not yet in the Silverlight toolkit). Check out David’s post for the control, the source and more information: Displaying background activity in a Silverlight RIA application

ScottGu’s Mix09 Silverlight for Business Applications Demo

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Some folks that could not make it to Mix have asked about Scott’s coding demo this year. You can watch the full keynote to find it or, I clipped out just the coding bit..

As you can see we have added a lot of great support to Silverlight with Silverlight 3’s , Navigation, DataGrid, DataPager, DataForm, Charting (all from the Silverlight toolkit) and the .NET RIA Services support for great N-Tier data access.

Enjoy!i