Instant Data Scraper - Firefox Compatible Version

A cross-browser extension for extracting data from web pages, optimized for Firefox compatibility.

Features

• Cross-browser compatibility - Works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and other Chromium-based browsers
• Intelligent table detection - Automatically finds and analyzes tables on any webpage
• Multiple export formats - Download data as CSV or copy to clipboard
• Multi-page scraping - Crawl through multiple pages with pagination support
• Firefox optimized - Special compatibility layer for Firefox with enhanced security compliance
• No registration required - Works instantly on any website

Installation

Manual Installation (Development)

Firefox

1. Download or clone this repository
2. Open Firefox and navigate to about:debugging
3. Click "This Firefox"
4. Click "Load Temporary Add-on"
5. Select the manifest.json file

Firefox Installation

From Developer Mode (For Development/Testing)

1. Open Firefox and navigate to about:debugging
2. Click "This Firefox" tab
3. Click "Load Temporary Add-on"
4. Navigate to the extension directory and select manifest.json
5. The extension will be loaded temporarily (until Firefox restart)

Creating Firefox Extension Package (.xpi)

To create a proper Firefox extension package that passes validation:

1. Exclude problematic files - The following files should NOT be included in the Firefox package:

   • .git/ directory (causes validation warnings)
   • README.md (development file)
   • validation_report.html (development file)
   • .gitignore (development file)
   • .cursor/ directory (development files)
   • js/sha256.min.js (not needed, replaced with safer hash function)
   • js/handsontable.full.min.js (not needed in Firefox version)
   • js/handsontable.full.min-new.js (not needed in Firefox version)
   • js/xlsx.full.min.js (not supported in Firefox version)

2. Create clean package directory:

   mkdir firefox_package
   cp manifest.json firefox_package/
   cp background.js firefox_package/
   cp popup.html firefox_package/
   cp popup.js firefox_package/
   cp popup.css firefox_package/
   cp onload.js firefox_package/
   cp onload.css firefox_package/
   cp *.png firefox_package/
   cp -r css firefox_package/
   cp -r fonts firefox_package/
   mkdir firefox_package/js
   cp js/jquery-3.1.1.min.js firefox_package/js/
   cp js/bootstrap.min.js firefox_package/js/
   cp js/papaparse.min.js firefox_package/js/
   cp js/FileSaver.js firefox_package/js/

3. Create .xpi file:

   cd firefox_package
   zip -r ../instant_data_scraper_firefox.xpi *

Usage

1. Navigate to any webpage with tabular data
2. Click the extension icon in your browser toolbar
3. Wait for analysis - The extension will automatically detect tables
4. Preview the data - Review the extracted information
5. Export your data - Download as CSV or copy to clipboard
6. Multi-page scraping (optional) - Click "Locate Next" to crawl multiple pages

Supported Websites

• Wikipedia tables
• E-commerce product listings
• News websites with data tables
• Government data portals
• Academic research sites
• And many more!

Firefox Compatibility

This extension includes special compatibility enhancements for Firefox:

• Enhanced content script injection with multiple fallback methods
• Alternative table detection algorithms for stricter security environments
• Cross-browser API normalization
• Graceful degradation when content security policies are restrictive

Technical Features

• Cross-browser APIs - Uses both browser.* and chrome.* namespaces
• Content Security Policy compliant - Works within Firefox's strict security model
• jQuery integration - Includes fallbacks for jQuery loading
• Error resilience - Multiple detection and extraction methods
• Privacy focused - All processing happens locally, no data sent to external servers

File Structure

Core Files (Required)

• manifest.json - Extension configuration
• background.js - Background script
• popup.html - Extension popup interface
• popup.js - Main popup logic
• popup.css - Popup styling
• onload.js - Content script for table detection
• onload.css - Content script styling
• pokeball*.png - Extension icons

JavaScript Dependencies

• js/jquery-3.1.1.min.js - DOM manipulation
• js/bootstrap.min.js - UI components
• js/papaparse.min.js - CSV parsing
• js/FileSaver.js - File download functionality

Optional Assets

• css/ - Additional styling
• fonts/ - Font files
• webrobots_logo.png - Branding image

Validation Notes

This version has been optimized to pass Firefox Add-on validation:

• No eval() usage
• Safe DOM manipulation
• Proper manifest format
• No flagged file types
• Security compliance
• No git files included

Key Firefox Compatibility Features

Security Improvements

• Replaced innerHTML assignments with safe DOM manipulation
• Removed eval()-based libraries (sha256, handsontable)
• Implemented custom hash function for content comparison
• Fixed Content Security Policy compliance

Manifest Changes

• Uses browser_specific_settings instead of deprecated applications
• Removed unsupported incognito: "split" setting
• Updated minimum Firefox version to 79.0 for proper browser_action support
• Removed problematic library dependencies

Functional Differences from Chrome Version

• No Handsontable: Uses simple HTML table for preview instead
• No XLSX Export: Only CSV export available (uses PapaParse)
• Simplified UI: Reduced external dependencies for better compatibility
• Enhanced Error Handling: Better handling of Firefox-specific APIs

Development

Cross-Browser API Usage

The extension uses a compatibility pattern:

const browserAPI = (typeof browser !== 'undefined') ? browser : chrome;

This ensures the extension works in both Firefox (which uses browser API) and Chrome (which uses chrome API).

Testing

1. Test in Firefox Developer Edition for latest features
2. Test in regular Firefox for compatibility
3. Verify all table detection and extraction features work
4. Test multi-page scraping functionality
5. Verify CSV export works correctly

Privacy Policy

This extension:

• Processes data locally - All table extraction and processing happens in your browser
• Does not collect personal information - No tracking, analytics, or data collection
• Does not transmit data - No network requests to external servers
• Requires minimal permissions - Only requests access to active tabs when needed

Support

For issues, feature requests, or questions:

• Create an issue in this repository
• Check existing issues for solutions
• Review the browser console for error messages

License

This project is provided as-is for educational and personal use.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Make your changes
4. Test across browsers
5. Submit a pull request

---

Instant Data Scraper - Making web data extraction simple and accessible for everyone.