1&1 - Updated Script needed?

Hello,

I've used X-Notifier for a while now -- which is quite good. However ...

In the past, my 1&1 mailbox was supported by X-Notifier. I would see that new mail had arrived, and -- when I clicked the link, I would be brought to my mailbox.

Recently, however, 1&1 changed (I believe) -- so, now, when I see new mail has arrived, clicking the link brings me to a login page (despite the fact that my login information is already in X-Notifier). I suspect the existing script needs to be updated to fully bypass the login screen and open the mailbox itself? 

Thanks so much!

milleniumprince's picture

mail.com (1&1) There is a problem

joewalsh's picture

There is also an issue with the chrome browser.

Thanks

Rainy's picture

Yes, this will be an issue for Chrome, FF and Opera.

1&1, GMX, mail.com and whatever else they own have changed how the login request is handled. If the script isn't updated, x-notifier won't work on any of their services anymore.

Gmail, Yahoo and hotmail all seem to be working fine, though.

Yes - hotmail and Gmail still work fine ....

Are we able to update the script ourselves (I don't even know the first thing; but I'm happy to learn) - or, does someone from x-notifier have to do that?

Rainy's picture

Everybody can write scripts for X-notifier. They're written in java and a very kind person fixed the one for gmx.net back in December. He posted it on github. (https://github.com/stranac/x-notifier-scripts) Unfortunately, he's not been reading the forums, since there has been radio silence.

However, if you follow the link, you can see how the script needs to look.

jeroen's picture

You mean JavaScript, Rainy (Java-inspired developed by Netscape as a clientside scripting language). Java started as OO language for clientside applets and stand-alone applications, independed from the used platform because it operates in "bytecode" in its own JRE (Java Runtime Environment). That platform independance  made it conquer ground as serverside language (f.i. webserver applications and serverside scripting - JSP).
And no, not anyone can write scripts for X-notifier. And the desired skill level depends on the targeted account (fixing GMX was an easy task).

Rainy's picture

Yes, you're completely right. Oversight on my part, sorry.

What I meant to say was that anybody can write a (java)script for X-Notifier, as long as he or she possesses enough knowledge of the programming language. Unfortunately, I do not, otherwise I would have put up a fix for all of those 1&1 family of accounts. :-/

jeroen's picture

To explain further, the real challenge is replicating the login scenario to establish a session with the webserver. Mail providers come up with security measures making this more and more difficult.
So, the way to unravel the login process is to inspect the network traffic using a tool like Firebug. But sometimes it is hard to find all the variables the webserver expects to receive back in order to grant access. It might be hidden in complex ways (f.i. by a javascript calculation that's available, but hard to find).

jeroen's picture

Well, I've read this phrase: "Everybody can write scripts for X-notifier" more times on this forum. With supporting criticism addressed at the developer. So I had to react...

In fact, I am glad you unintentionally drove me into this mode, Rainy. There seem to be some people around that have to ventilate indiscriminate, unqualified statements about the developer at this forum. They only prove to me to be totally ignorant in more than one way:

  1. They don't know the developer and his personal circumstances
  2. They don't understand the full scope of the X-notifier solution and all the implications  that come with this solution. They are consumers in a consumers world. The beauty of internet and its freedom (of development) is lost on them.

So, for what it's worth, I ventilated my opinion.
Not addressed at you, Rainy. But thank you for triggering me ;-).
It was long overdue, I guess...

Rainy's picture

Well, glad to be of service. :-)

 

Just my two cents on the topic of scripts/extensions and attitudes:

 

It takes a lot of time and effort to write and extension or javascripts for x-notifier. Generally speaking, the creators of extensions do so in their free time. An unfortunate side effect is, that a lot of end users take them for granted. A lot of those users then feel that the developers need to update their extensions right away.

 

Personally, I think we can consider ourselves lucky that someone was nice enough to create an extension (no matter which one or how useful) and maintains it. And I completely agree with you that everybody should respect the developers and their lives, because nobody knows what's going on there.

 

If I knew how to write scripts and/or extensions, I probably would put one or two out myself. Unfortunately, this type of programming is not my forte and I have to rely on others.

 

jeroen's picture

That is exactly what I mean, Rainy!

I definitely don't have the knowledge, but I'd like to not be ignorant.

Is there a better place to ask for the script to be updated? And, am I right in assuming that the fix needs to be on the X-notifier side and *not* on the side of 1&1?

Ultimately, though; yes - I'm a consumer in a consumer world. Once I do find something that works, I get spoiled  :/

 

Rainy's picture

Yes, I'm right there with you. :-)

Webservices like 1&1 change occasionally the way the login is performed. Most of the times, this is for security reasons and they want to make their services stronger against hacker attacks. When such a change cocurs, it sometimes breaks the script in x-notifier. From what I understand, sometimes the fix is as simple as changing a line in the script, other times its much more involved and probably a new script needs to be written.

As an aside, I have noticed that there is an addon just for GMX sites, which may or may not work on 1&1 sites as well. The downside is, that you would have to run two addons.

jeroen's picture

I stand corrected: You are allowed to be a spoiled consumer, lemur21.
The point I was making is about respect.

Yes, this is the place to ask, but I don't know the personal circumstances of the developer.
I got some 2nd-hand info that he might be moving residence.
And Firefox add-ons are most likely demanded to get rewritten without the use of XUL (addressing add-on additions to the browser interface) for security reasons by Mozilla. That forms a headache and a restriction for add-on developers and will make the X-notifier Firefox version more like the Chrome version.

Yes, X-notifier is by design forced to follow the provider, 1&1 in your case. It logs in to the webmail (the often difficult part) and then extracts the number of new received emails from the webpage html. Sometimes this number is present in the html title, but nowadays it is more likely to be found in the javascript, while the update is accomplished by a partial page update instead of a whole page update. This technique is called AJAX = Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. It means a JavaScript function in the webpage html (clientside on your computer) contacts a serverside app to send a small XML file (eXtended htML) over the internet that contains the update. The JavaScript then updates a small part of the page that you see with this received data.

Ok, possibly to much info... but since you didn't want to be totally ignorant... ;-0

Well, that's good.

I don't know if I know any other way to be than a spoiled consumer. I'm way too old to start redoing my whole life! :)

Interestingly, I'm having a similar experience with my website -- I had used  Simple Machine Forums (an open source program) -- and, 10 years ago, support was abundant. Now, not so much, and I'm in a bind :)

Insofar as the 1&1 script -- it's been araound for 5 years or so. Up until recently, it worked PERFECTLY ... it showed the number of unread messages, and clicking on it would bring you RIGHT into the inbox, easy as pie.

Now, 1&1 has chaged its interface -- so .... it still shows the unread messages, but clicking brings you to a login screen (instead of directly into the mailbox). It's a small inconvenience; but it's a frustrating one. My suspcicion is -- as Rainy said, probably one line or *part* of one line has to be updated.

But, if I'm understanding you correclt, jeroen ... the script is the "property" of the original designer? In other words, no one else can go in and tweak it for the community?

jeroen's picture

When you have a look at the scripts page (click on Author to sort), you can see about 38 scripts got contributed by 22 people other than the developer of X-notifier (tobwithu).

I have contributed 2 easy scripts in the past that got outdated: Hyves.nl (gone) and Tele2.nl (I wasn't able to finish the script for the new Tele2 webserver without help from the developer).
I did a view simple fixes for the developer, also challenging myself to gain skill (reddit and LinkedIn).
I offered a temporary fix for Gmail (lots of work) and tweaked LinkedIn and Zoho.
You can find all of these matters back in this forum.

No. The fact that X-notifier still shows you the 1&1 unread messages, means it logs in successfully and does extract the unread number from the html.
I suspect 1&1  added the security measure to its webserver to end session with the client (your browser) after each contact or to receive the session id on each post (making sure there is a time-out for client connections). The script has to be adapted to handle this. This probably involves storing a session id cookie and handling logout/login for each call.

And, does that need to be done by the original developer? Or, can anyone pick up and adjust that script (i.e., are they "community-owned?" or are they still the property of the original developer?

jeroen's picture

Anyone can pick it up: It is a client application. You need to register an account for 1&1 of course. And you need programming skills and handle regular expressions for extracting the required data from the html (I found a tool that makes this easy). And above all you need to understand client-server logic to establish and keep session. And be prepared to get frustrated and still not give up ;-) (as was the case for me with the failing web.de script some weeks ago, missing one obvious variable that will allow logging X-notifier in, but I did give up eventually)

When someone is able to fix a script, you send it to the developer so he can make the update available on the scripts page (or include it in next release when it concerns an included script like Gmail). The developer will thank you for it, but might find a better solution himself. It might also point him in the right direction, as was the case with one of my fixes. But I didn't have contact past 2 months. I guess I should resend the small LinkedIn fix concerning the correct ViewURL and I didn't send him the Zoho fix yet.

jeroen's picture

Correction: I didn't give up and just solved the web.de script :-)

And yes: I know I am reporting it in the wrong place!!

Oh - it won't be me :) I don't have that level of programming knowledge.

I just didn't know if it needed to be the original developer of the script; or if *anyone* could pick it up and work on it. Let's hope someone else uses 1&1 and is equally frustrated (AND has the knowledge to make the fix)!

but how does a lowly computer user get gmx.com and mail.com to check mail again?  Both are red.  Ran great before.  Have latest scripts .. I think.  Running on Chrome and various Windows OSses.

"Lowly" users email/ask the developer at xndevel@gmail.com (oftentimes providing a test account username/password), or... post an open call in the forum for someone with the necessary skills ...to look at the existing script and try to fix it; then the fixed script can be posted as an update to the Scripts page, for everyone to download.  Someone with the necessary skills, and honesty, can create a fix and email it to the developer, or... post it somewhere online for others to try, if they trust that skilled person. Scripts emailed to the developer will most likely be checked by the developer before being posted to the Scripts page. 
    What makes for a truly 'lowly' user is when that user posts angry demands in the forum, as they don't understand the secondary, charitable nature of these shareware/donationware addons, oftentimes created by people with real lives and jobs, besides addons.
    Anyway, that's not a dig at you, just a note about some impatient, belligerent users out there.

Hello -- I am having similar issue as lemur21,with Gmail,on X-Notifier.I get sent to login page.I don't have this,when I use Gmail Checker.I don't have this problem with X-Notifier,when I go to my Yahoo mail;it goes directly to the email page.I don't know about the Mail.com,because my mail.com script hasn't worked for a couple of weeks now. Thank you for time.

neil's picture

Hi guys. I'm just a non-technical user like both of you.  From what I've read in this forum thread, I created my first mail.com account about two days after it stopped working with X-notifier.

This thread also mentions that the X-notifier add-on is a <strong>volunteer</strong> effort by its creator, tobwithu, that we don't really know what his personal circumstances are, and we're all waiting for him to come back and help us, although for starters we just hope he's ok.

There are a couple of threads on this forum started by people having trouble with email.com / GMX / 1&1, including this thread, including an explanation of why these problems pop up and what it takes to fix them.  For a little more information, feel free to read and see where we're at.

Thank you for your support.

New scripts/fixes are available on the Scripts page... for mail.com, web.de, and gmx  (apparently NOT gmx.com, that is a separate script).

If you want yours fixed, report the broken script (AND provide a test account username/password) to xndevel@gmail.com

That's what I did for mail.com

 

Well, as the person who started the whole thing -- I'd love to see a 1&1 script updated .........

jeroen's picture

As RpD mentioned, a test account is needed to get the script fixed.

I adapted the script to the new login form up to the stage were one needs login/password... (and sent the unfinished script to admin)
I didn't find a way to register a free account and you cannot expect admin to have an account for all available scripts. Giving the fact there are only 108 1&1 users, I would be a bit more pro-active in providing the necessary...

I don't even know how to set up a test account (?) ... how was it done the first time?

I think - way back when - I just said "a script was needed" and *boom* it was done. It was quite lovely :)

But - as it is, it does tell me that there are unread messages; I'm just navigated to the sign-in screen. It's a minor inconvenience.

 

 

 

 

 

There are two ways to get an account to the developer for testing... as we don't expect him to sign up to everything (and sometimes  you can't).... either just set up another account simply to provide the developer a working account (username/password) for him to test scripts with... or you can temporarily loan the developer access to your own account... you can change your password before/after you provide  your username/password to the developer.  In the past, I have provided the developer with one of my secondary accounts for him to work with... for example, to fix the mail.com script.   gmx and 1&1 and mail.com are all related now, but whether they follow the same login procedure, I wouldn't know... I don't have gmx or 1&1 accounts.

Heh - and I FINALLY got around to doing this ... just today. I'd had this page bookmarked and just kept pushing it back further and further.

Hopefully, this gets a quick resolution! :)

So far - I've heard *nothing* back.

I provided my own access to the developer; but I've never received anything ....  :(

Apparently, this is now *really* broken in Chrome (I was using FF, switched to Chrome).

Clicking on it brings you to a page-not-found ... from there, I have to manually delete the end of the URL, at which point it redirects ... and THEN, I can log in.

Very, very cumbersome ....

Since it's now been more than 9 months since I initially posted, I think I can assume this isn't a solveable issue. Is anyone aware of any other extension for Chrome that checks the 1&1 mail effectively?

 

Jack78's picture

I thank the developper for his work. I think he has practically lost the battle against the webmails programmers. It is probably too difficult to follow them and perhaps he does not have  enough time ! I think we will have no more X-notifier as we had before. From now on, we will have to read our messages all together using an e-mail client. That's my opinion !