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Running executable using UniversalXPConnect

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by cor-el

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Hi I am using following javascript to run windows program but I get error message ->typeerror:netscape.security.privilegemanager is undefined. I am running firefox version 31. Is this outdated in latest versions of firefox ? If yes, can you please tell me the alternatives ?

function runApp() {

  var ua = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase();
               if (ua.indexOf("msie") != -1) {
                   MyObject = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell")
                   MyObject.Run(path);
               } else {
                   netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalXPConnect");
                   var exe = window.Components.classes['@mozilla.org/file/local;1'].createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsILocalFile);
                   exe.initWithPath(path);
                   var run = window.Components.classes['@mozilla.org/process/util;1'].createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsIProcess);
                   run.init(exe);
                   var parameters = ["/c start winword.exe"];
                   run.run(false, parameters, parameters.length);
               }
           } catch (ex) {
               alert(ex.toString());
           }
Hi I am using following javascript to run windows program but I get error message ->typeerror:netscape.security.privilegemanager is undefined. I am running firefox version 31. Is this outdated in latest versions of firefox ? If yes, can you please tell me the alternatives ? function runApp() { var ua = navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase(); if (ua.indexOf("msie") != -1) { MyObject = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell") MyObject.Run(path); } else { netscape.security.PrivilegeManager.enablePrivilege("UniversalXPConnect"); var exe = window.Components.classes['@mozilla.org/file/local;1'].createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsILocalFile); exe.initWithPath(path); var run = window.Components.classes['@mozilla.org/process/util;1'].createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsIProcess); run.init(exe); var parameters = ["/c start winword.exe"]; run.run(false, parameters, parameters.length); } } catch (ex) { alert(ex.toString()); }

All Replies (3)

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Support for UniversalXPConnect has been removed quite some time ago and you can no longer use this method to run privileged code. You would need an extension to run a program.

There are extensions that you can look at.

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What do I need to make the following code work? Do I need any adds on for this ?? [Firefox version 31]

//Components.utils.import("resource://gre/modules/FileUtils.jsm");
           //var env = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/process/environment;1"]
           //                    .getService(Components.interfaces.nsIEnvironment);
           //var shell = new FileUtils.File(env.get("COMSPEC"));
           //var args = ["/c", "ping stackoverflow.org"];
           //var process = Components.classes["@mozilla.org/process/util;1"]
           //                        .createInstance(Components.interfaces.nsIProcess);
           //process.init(shell);
           //process.runAsync(args, args.length);
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See also:

You need to run such code from within an extension to have the proper chrome privileges.