It is possible to open .html file located in add on resource (data directory)?

Question

I want to have something like a 'result page' for an add-on, an own page of the add-on that will be open and display annotations and other result things. Ideally I would use an .html file located in the data directory of the add-on.

Does the window module provide the ability to open extension's own files?

Answer 1

Usually you will want to open a new tab, not a window. There is no problem opening pages from your data directory, you simply have to use the URL returned by self.data.url():

var tabs = require("sdk/tabs");
var self = require("sdk/self");
tabs.open({
  url: self.data.url("result-page.html"),
  inBackground: false,  // This can also be: inNewWindow: true
});

This page won't have any special privileges however. In particular, it won't have any access to your add-on's data and it won't be able to exchange messages with your add-on. For that you need to inject a content script into the newly open tab:

tabs.open({
  url: self.data.url("result-page.html"),
  inBackground: false,
  onReady: function(tab)
  {
    tab.attach({
      contentScriptFile: self.data.url("result-page.js"),
      onMessage: function(message)
      {
        // Message from content script, send a response?
      }
    });
  }
});

See tab.attach() and Communicating with content scripts.