xanzion / fx_cast

Implementation of the Chrome Sender API (Chromecast) within Firefox

fx_cast

Very WIP! Not ready for release. Expect many bugs. Please don't sign builds on AMO with current ID.

Credit:

• electron-chromecast
• node-castv2
• chrome-native-messaging

Supported platforms

• Linux
• macOS
• Windows (TODO)

Only tested on Linux and macOS. mDNS library issue to be fixed. mdns only works on Windows, mdns-js only works on Linux.

Building

Requirements

• NodeJS
• node binary in path
• Bonjour SDK (Windows)

Instructions

git clone https://github.com/hensm/caster.git
npm install
npm run build
npm run install-manifest

Testing

Testing requires geckodriver (or chromedriver for Chrome parity testing). See selenium-webdriver installation instructions (ignore npm install).

Chrome doesn't load the media router in a temporary selenium profile, so there's a bundled profile (test/ChromeProfile.zip). Extract the folder within as test/ChromeProfile/.

npm run build
npm test
SELENIUM_BROWSER=chrome npm test

Usage

Extension can be loaded from about:debugging as a temporary extension.

Most sites won't load the cast API unless the browser presents itself as Chrome. The extension includes a method of spoofing the user agent string, sites can be whitelisted via the options page. Whitelist entries are specified as match patterns. To whitelist all sites, add <all_urls> to the whitelist, though this could cause breakage on random sites.

HTML5 media elements have a "Cast..." context menu item that triggers a sender application. Only works on remote (non-local) media that isn't DRM-encumbered.

Cast-enabled websites will load the sender API shim and display a cast button as in Chrome, provided there are no bugs/incompatibilities with the shim.

Video Demos

Netflix / HTML5: