Missing methods: dir, dirxml, markTimeline, timeStamp, timeline, timelineEnd, exception

[domenic]

These seem to exist in a few different browsers.

[terinjokes]

What benefit do dir and dirxml have over format specifiers?

@paulirish had mentioned at one point that markTimeline, timeStamp, timeline, and timelineEnd (and simpler) were going to be removed from Chrome, and with the uncertainty I didn't include them. This decision seems to have been reversed, as they still exist.

I haven't previously considered exception.

[domenic]

I doubt they have any benefit, but they're implemented, so we gotta spec 'em.

exception is not in Chrome but is in Edge and Firefox.

[paulirish]

timeline and timelineEnd are deprecated and nonfunctional in Chrome. they were unique to us. i would exclude from the spec.

markTimeline is deprecated, but functional. it's equivalent to timeStamp. this was also unique to chrome.

timestamp we do use, and Edge does as well.

[domenic]

Hmm Firefox supports timeline and timelineEnd. I wonder if we'll need to spec them as no-ops to avoid crashy pages.

markTimeline is also in Firefox.

Found http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/source/dom/webidl/Console.webidl ... it looks like markTimeline, timeline, and timelineEnd are specifically no-ops there.

[paulirish]

dir and dirxml are useful when logging DOM/SVG/XML elements. dir will log the object representation (like a JS object). dirxml will log a tree like what you see in the DOM/Elements panel.

[terinjokes]

@paulirish and we have formatters in the spec for both behaviors already.

3.2. Formatting specifiers that require a complex UI

Specifier	Function	Type Conversion
%o	Displays as expandable DOM element	n/a
%O	Displays as expandable JS Object	n/a

[domenic]

Sure but console.dir(o) is nicer than console.log("%O", o). Anyways it doesn't really matter; browsers support it so it needs to be specced.

[paulirish]

@paulirish and we have formatters in the spec for both behaviors already.

@terinjokes our implementation right now is:

EDIT: moved this discussion of %o and %O into #36

[terinjokes]

since everybody really just wants the dir(elem) behavior when they log an element.

Is this simply because they don't know that %O exists? There are many cases where I want the %o (aka dirxml) behavior, and other cases where I want %o (aka dir).

[terinjokes]

@domenic To clarify, markTimeline, timeline and timelineEnd should be in this spec as noops? Is it feasible to follow the HTML and JS specifications and have them in an annex?

[domenic]

I don't really think there's any point in having an annex. HTML's separation is largely about what authors should use vs. what implementers should implement, and ES's separation is just dumb. (It's in theory "non-browser implementations don't have to do this," except they actually do, because code expects it to exist.)

[MylesBorins]

If people are open to helping me through the process I'd be interested in taking on console.dir( ).

Are there any CONTRIBUTING docs?