firefox view source code

Question

I noticed that the source code shown in Firefox appears to be incomplete. I have the latest version. When using the Firebug plugin to look at a webpage, I am able to find elements which are simply not recognized by Firefox.

This is for a automated script I am working on.

I am wondering several things:

1. Why is a firefox plugin able to recognize elements Firefox is not?
2. Is there a way to pass the source from Firebug engine to Firefox, or any other viable workaround which would enable Firefox to recognize all of the elements on the page?

My guess is that these "hidden" elements have been created by javascript after the page load, but I'm not really sure.

Answer 1

I'd say Firebug is displaying what's in the DOM (i.e. what is in the page at the instant you are looking at it), while View Source is displaing the source that has been received from the server (i.e. what is in the page at the first instant it's displayed).

If you want to see the "source" from the DOM, maybe the Web Developper Toolbar Extension can help : from what I remember, it provides a "view generated source" option.