V 1.10 corrected error in code for fading highlight

21/12/2011 version 1.9.0.0

can now open Transmitter with no parameters specified (by default, it will be identified with the extension and its js file name) and will pick up the appropriate pane-icon, if any.

hover over any line in the log; a popup show the extension and file which logged the line

15.12.2011 Version 1.8.0.0

can now select which transmitters to monitor in any receiver from drop-down;
opening text for transmitter objects instantiated with no text specified (2nd parameter) defaults to extn and js file name;
icon defaults to 'pane-icon' in skin under chrome name for code;

BUT I haven't tested the new version status options
and there are now no messages when new transmitters are instantiated (hey-ho!)

14/12/2011
Fix error when clicking to reveal detail on lines which don't have detail
Removed 'X' (=close receiver) icon as I will not be implementing this feature.

Version 1.6 - minor change to suppress a warning message being logged to the error console.

Version 1.5

Runs on the latest nightly builds,
and max-version increased to 2.0.0a

Version 1.4.0.0.
Shows display of methods on 1st run only.
Separate panes for service_pane and content area showing 'channel_1' and 'channel_2' respectively.

Supports multi-column updatable logging:

Define a log entry via
log.updatable(IdForLine,text,column list)

(Column list is comma separated string of names for the columns you want.)

you can then issue:

log.update(icon,IdForLine,column name,detail,text)

the initial item will be updated with the appropriate icon in the named column. Handy for a quick status monitor! Any .png in birdWatcher/skin can be used as a icon. (BirdWatcher skin (now) includes pngs for 'debug','warn','error', 'tick', 'cross', 0-9, ?, etc.) Any detail is shown when that icon is clicked (each icon has its own detail). Any text will overwrite original line description

Made all supporting functions private; Birdatcher now introduces only 3 objects: 'Transmitter', 'Receiver' and 'receiver' (which I will make anonymous, in a future release).

Each transmitter can show its own image. Optional 3rd (string) parameter to 'new Transmitter'. If the 4th character from the end is '.', the whole string is used as a file name, otherwise BirdWatcher uses:

    chrome://extName/skin/pane-icon.png for the image file.

Close transmitter button Closes all transmitters which had any of the words entered in the 'text' (2nd parameter) when they were instantiated.

Supports multiple transmitter objects sending to the same receiver from any js module.

'new Receiver' takes an element or element id to import BirdWatcher.xul under.

To do:
control opening and closing Transmitters by extension name

Added:
ability to inspect objects by logging them as detail; BirdWatcher shows them as tree structures with property names and values. Arrays are shown as hash objects (indices and values) but the main text view shows them as a comma-separated values)

Changed pane.css so Birdatcher panes are displayed with black background and white text (avoiding complication from skins).

Still to do (when I need the functionality!):
0) show icon of add on running code in main window, at least
1) non-modal display of detail (long text and objects)
2) 'Close receiver' and 'quit transmitter' methods
3) Multiple transmitter objects sending to the same receiver from a single pane cause messages to be repeated (not sure why anyone would want to do this, but it would be nice to see it fixed!)
5)'new Receiver' to take an element or id to import BirdWatcher.xul under

1st release is Version 1.1.0.0

To do:
0) show icon of addon running code in main window
1) better (non-modal) display of detail of long text messages
2) 'Close receiver' and 'quit transmitter' methods
3) Multiple transmitter objects sending to the same receiver from a single pane cause messages to be repeated (not sure why anyone would want to do this, but it would be nice to see it fixed!)
4)'new Receiver' could take an element or id to insert BirdWatcher.xul under