Text is hidden when page is a JSON file

xtal256 · Unread post by **xtal256** » 2024-07-17, 01:41

When I go to a web page that is a plain JSON file (i.e. not HTML rendering JSON but the content is served as JSON), it just displays a blank page. When I look at the styles in dev tools I can see that there is an explicit CSS rule to hide it, for some reason.
The CSS is coming from resource://devtools/client/jsonview/css/general.css. Here is the contents of that file:

At first I thought it was probably a problem with my own custom theme, but I cannot find any matching text in my theme files.
I then tried switching to the default theme and running in safe mode and the problem still happens.

Operating system: Windows 10
Browser version: 33.2.1
32-bit or 64-bit browser?: 32 bit
Problem URL: Any .json url
Browser theme (if not default): Happens with default theme
Installed add-ons: Happens in safe mode (i.e. add-ons disabled)

xtal256 · Unread post by **xtal256** » 2024-07-17, 01:44

I also have the JSONovich add-in which works for .json files that are on my local computer (e.g. file:// protocol) but for some reason it does not work for json files on the web. Not sure if that's by design or a bug in that add-in. However, as mentioned above, the problem does not seem to be caused by any add-in.

Unread post by **moonbat** » 2024-07-17, 02:08

Could have to do with whether the server is sending the correct MIME header, ie application/json or similar.

Unread post by **jobbautista9** » 2024-07-17, 02:50

Please include troubleshooting information from about:support. Devtools is supposed to be fired by default when navigating to a json file and display the json in a pretty manner, which is why the CSS exists.

xtal256 · Unread post by **xtal256** » 2024-07-17, 04:36

@moonbat: The server is sending Content-Type:"application/json;charset=UTF-8" so no problem there.

@jobbautista9: You are saying that the devtools should open when browsing to a json file? Or that there is some code in devtools that is supposed to render the json pretty? In that case I don't believe there should be CSS to hide it, the code that runs to prettify it should handle hiding/removing the plain text. That way there is a nice fallback for if that doesn't work.

Anyway, as requested here is my troubleshooting information:

xtal256 · Unread post by **xtal256** » 2024-07-17, 04:41

Hmm, maybe it does have something to do with the content-type. When I go to https://httpbin.org/get it works as expected. It's content type is just ""application/json" (no charset).

Unread post by **Moonchild** » 2024-07-17, 05:56

Your addon might conflict with the internal json viewer, both wanting to style/present json content. You can disable the latter with the preference devtools.jsonview.enabled

Unread post by **jobbautista9** » 2024-07-17, 06:55

xtal256 wrote: ↑
2024-07-17, 04:36
You are saying that the devtools should open when browsing to a json file? Or that there is some code in devtools that is supposed to render the json pretty?

The internal json viewer is a part of devtools itself, it's just that it opens to the main viewport of the browser instead of its own.

But yeah you can try toggling the about:config pref Moonchild mentioned, it should always show the JSON as plaintext when disabled.

xtal256 · Unread post by **xtal256** » 2024-07-22, 00:53

I uninstalled JSONovich now that I know there is a built-in JSON viewer (I actually already had it disabled on one machine) yet the issue persists.

I set devtools.jsonview.enabled to false and I can see the text, so it definitely is a problem with that jsonview tool.
By the way, is that jsonview this thing? Or is that a separate add-in? Because I remember using that a long time ago and my extensions.enabledItems pref contains jsonview@brh.numbera.com, yet it does not appear in the list of extensions in the GUI.

Even if an add-in is conflicting, the CSS to hide the text is in the original source code. Can that line at least be removed so that the text will show even if the JSON viewer does not load properly?

Unread post by **RealityRipple** » 2024-07-22, 01:09

There is no item with the ID "json" in the built-in JSON viewer.

xtal256 · Unread post by **xtal256** » 2024-07-22, 03:41

RealityRipple wrote: ↑
2024-07-22, 01:09
There is no item with the ID "json" in the built-in JSON viewer.

There's not? This is the HTML I see when I open a JSON file:

Code: Select all

<html platform="win" class="theme-light" dir="ltr">
    <head>
        <base href="resource://devtools/client/jsonview/">
        <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="css/main.css">
        <script src="lib/require.js" data-main="viewer-config" defer=""></script>
    </head>
    <body>
        <div id="content">
            <plaintext id="json">
                ###  Actual JSON contents here  ###
            </plaintext>
        </div>
    </body>
</html>

It's that <plaintext> element that's getting hidden by the CSS rule.

Oh right but the json viewer is not loading, so I guess this is like a fallback page or something.

Unread post by **RealityRipple** » 2024-07-22, 05:09

I believe that's the scaffold upon which the JSON viewer is built. Created by /devtools/client/jsonview/converter-child.js around line 200. You don't have anything like NoScript installed, do you?

Unread post by **jobbautista9** » 2024-07-22, 10:02

RealityRipple wrote: ↑
2024-07-22, 05:09
You don't have anything like NoScript installed, do you?

OP included troubleshooting info earlier which doesn't include NoScript in the list of add-ons, so probably not.

Unread post by **RealityRipple** » 2024-08-16, 03:59

Now running into the same problem with a custom AVX2 build. However, creating a new blank profile (palemoon -P) yielded a successful render. Seeing if I can narrow it down.

Edit: ScriptBlock was the culprit for me.

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Text is hidden when page is a JSON file

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