As for open an URL upon my extension has been uninstalled, I found the easiest way to do is using chrome.runtime.setUninstallURL, (1) any other good ways?
As for open an URL upon my extension has been first time installed, I don't find something like chrome.runtime.setInstallURL, I implemented the feature with
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function(details){
if (details.reason=="install"){chrome.tabs.create({ url: homePage});}
})
I saw AdBlock opens its options page upon first time installed, but it doesn't even used chrome.runtime.onInstalled, its source code is so much complicated , I cannot figure out how it implement the feature ,(2) how it do it ? any other ways to open an URL or its options page upon the extension has been first time installed?
(3) what are the common ways to do something when an extension has been installed or uninstalled?
SetUninstallURL seems to be specifically designed for your task, so it's certainly the right way.
Regarding the installation page, not sure how AdBlock does it, but if you have a persistent background page, one of the simpler ways would be to show the page on every launch if a certain localStorage key is not set.
// background.html startup, for example DOMContentLoaded handler
if ( !localStorage.getItem('intro_shown') ) {
localStorage.setItem('intro_shown', true);
showIntroPage();
}
Local storage of the extension's background page will be persistent, apart from several corner cases (incognito mode in FF, etc).
Upd by Makyen:
chrome.storage seems to be a much better option specifically designed for extension storage needs. It could also be automatically synced with Chrome sync (using chrome.storage.sync)
Chrome had introduced the use of extensions for WebRTC Screen Sharing. In this, each domain has to have the extension so that people install the extension in order to share the screen using webrtc.
Here is my use case:
During an on-going webrtc video call, if one person needs to do screen sharing and doesn't have the extension then after installing the extension one is required to refresh the page. This interrupts the call and both people need to join the call again.
I want to control the user experience using javascript so that refresh is not required. But if we don't do refresh, html page doesn't recognize the recently installed extension.
I have seen many open source code regarding this but none of them has use case similar to mine. They assume the extension to be installed during the session.
However, I had seen www.uberconference.com and they have similar use case. I tried installing the screen sharing extension during a live call and it did not require the page refresh and did not interrupt the call. It did the screen sharing right after extension was installed.
I could not understand how they did it as uber is not open source. Many people say that refresh is must after installing the extension. Any help in this case will be highly appreciated.
Here is how I install the chrome extension using in-line installation:
$scope.installExtension= function(){
!!navigator.webkitGetUserMedia
&& !!window.chrome
&& !!chrome.webstore
&& !!chrome.webstore.install &&
chrome.webstore.install('https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/<some-id>',
successInstallCallback,
failureInstallCallback
);
};
function successInstallCallback() {
//location.reload();
}
function failureInstallCallback(error) {
alert(error);
}
This is something we recently changed in getScreenMedia. View the pull request to see how we did it:
I wrote about the changes on my blog, so look there for more details, but the important bits are:
Instead of creating a communication channel on chrome.runtime.connect, and messaging directly, we can use external messaging. Instead of posting a message to the window, which gets picked up by the content script and passed to the background script (and vice versa), we can use chrome.runtime.sendMessage(extensionId, options, callback) and, in the background script chrome.runtime.onMessageExternal. This works where the other solution doesn't, because background scripts are loaded immediately upon extension installation, whereas content scripts are injected on page load.
So, basically, the extension uses a different permission:
"externally_connectable": {
"matches": [
"https://example.com/*"
]
}
And a different API:
chrome.runtime.sendMessage combined with chrome.runtime.onMessageExternal
instead of
window.postMessage combined with window.addEventListener('message') and chrome.runtime.connect.
At least two different sites https://apps.mypurecloud.com and https://beta.talky.io do screen sharing with inline extension installation with no reload at all.
This may helps today. If you are running Janus demos on the localhost - just run it over https.
If you will run it over http : the getDisplayMedia function will not be declared (e.g. in Chrome), and then Janus will ask you for plugin install.
If you had installed your own Janus-server: to use https - you must to configure ssl-certificates in Janus server configs:
janus.transport.http.jcfg - if you're using https in server definition
janus.transport.websockets.jcfg - if you're using wss (and don't forget to enable secure web-socket in it)
Have you looked at Chrome Extension Inline Installation ...
https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/inline_installation
I was having the same problems until I put within the html <head> tag ...
<link rel="chrome-webstore-item" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/[your-chrome-extension-id]" >
Your extension manifest also needs to include the domain that this head tag is on.
I have successfully compiled and created npapi dll in MS based on mozilla npruntime project. Reference from: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Compiling_The_npruntime_Sample_Plugin_in_Visual_Studio.
Starting mozilla and open about:plugins shows the plugin. But when I open "test.html" the plugin does'nt come up.
I have tested the dll by making a separate test app, where i can access the entry point functions through
NP_INIT l_pInit= (NP_INIT)GetProcAddress(hModule, "NP_Initialize");
and i am able to step into my plugin dll function.
But with mozilla it doesn't work. Please suggest.
You can debug directly the mozilla process. Just attach to the process. However, modern browsers uses separate process for loading the third party plugins, so you will have to attach to that process. Than you can set breakpoints to loading routine (NP_GetEntryPoints, NP_Initialize) and see what is happening in there.
Also, if you have trouble with attaching to the process, you can simply show debug dialogs from your code and narrow the problem area.
UPDATE 1:
It seems like the browser does nto know that it should use the plugin. Did you specify the MIME type of hwat your plugin is for? If so, run the following script in an HTML page:
<embed type="application/x-my-extension" id="pluginId">
<script>
var plugin = document.getElementById("pluginId");
var result = plugin.myPluginMethod(); // call a method in your plugin
console.log("my plugin returned: " + result);
</script>
x-my-extensionreplace with your extension which you used in NP_GetMimeDescription. You shoudl check in about:plugins if the browser registered your plugin correctly for correct MIME type.
Sounds like there is most likely something wrong in your plugin initialization; you might try using FireBreath to create a npapi plugin, as it will be a lot less work and work on IE as well. If you don't like that idea, you could look at other npapi plugins (including FireBreath) to make sure you're doing things correctly. Add logging (of whichever type you like) to the main entrypoints and see which point it fails at.
Another trick is to go to about:config and find the plugins ipc settings and disable them; then you can attach to the main firefox process and it should hit your breakpoints if they are being called.
See the FireBreath Debugging Plugins page for other ideas.
Thanks guyz. Finally i am able to load and access the functionality of my plugin in the browser. Following are the findings:-
1. Even though my plugin's MIME type in resource file was 'application/mozilla-npruntime-scriptable-plugin'. But i need to access it from javascript embed element through 'application/x-npruntime-scriptable-plugin'. After this step the debugger started breaking on my plugin's break points.
2. The check of size of NPPluginFuncs and NPNetscapeFuncs was failing, may be because of different version of NPAPI implemented in my firefox.
At the end i got startup and thank you all for your support.
I'm trying to use the new chrome inline install feature for extensions (see here: http://code.google.com/chrome/webstore/docs/inline_installation.html).
I can't get it to work unfortunately, and have very little clues to go by. I've added the link element to the head element
<link rel="chrome-webstore-item" href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/pnnfemgpilpdaojpnkjdgfgbnnjojfik">
and I call
chrome.webstore.install();
in a jquery event handler. I've also verified my domain, however, I'm testing this on a local machine but have a subdomain pointed to my localhost (i.e. testing on dev.getbentobox.com which is mapped to localhost in my hosts file if that makes a difference).
When stepping through my js using the chrome debugger, chrome.webstore.install() is getting called and the function is defined. However, nothing happens - no install, no javascript exception, no console printing, nothing.
any ideas?
Your Chrome Web Store item doesn't show the verified site. If you compare it to the "We Heart It" extension, which can be inline installed from http://weheartit.com/heart-button, it has a green check saying "from weheartit.com". You'll need to edit your Web Store item, and associate your verified site with the item.
As of December 2018 (Chrome version 71), Google has disabled this feature. The workaround is to send the user to your extension in the Chrome Web Store.
Source: https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/inline_faq#change_dec18
What will change in M71 (Dec 2018)?
Beginning in M71, Chrome will no longer support the chrome.webstore.install() method and calling it will fail, resulting in a broken installation flow on your site. At this point calls to the API will throw a JavaScript TypeError. You should remove any calls to the API method before this date.
I'm writing a web app to be used offline on iOS. I've created a manifest, am serving it up as text/cache-manifest, and it usually works fine, when running inside Safari.
If I add it as an app to my home screen, then turn on Airplane mode, it can't open the app at all -- I get an error and it offers to close the app. (I thought this was the entire purpose of an offline app!)
When I load the app a first time when online, I can see in my logs that it's requesting every page listed in the manifest.
If I turn off Airplane mode, and load the app, I can see the first file it's requesting is my main.html file (which is both listed in the manifest, and has the manifest=... attribute). It then requests the manifest, and all my other files, getting 200's for all (and 304's for anything requested a second time during this load).
When I load the page in Chrome, and click around, the logs show the only thing it's trying to reach on the server is "/favicon.ico" (which is a 404, and which I don't think iOS Safari tries to load, anyway). All of the files listed in the manifest are valid and served without error.
The Chrome inspector lists, under "APPLICATION CACHE", all the cached files I've listed which I expect. The entire set of files is about 50 KB, way under any limit on offline resources that I've found.
Is this supposed to work, i.e., am I supposed to be able to create an offline iOS app using only HTML/CSS/JS? And where do I go about figuring out why it's failing to work offline?
(Related but doesn't sound quite the same to me, since it's about Safari and not a standalone app: "Can't get a web app to work offline on iPod")
I confirm that name 'cache.manifest' solved the offline caching problem in IOS 4.3. Other name simply did not work.
I found debugging HTML5 offline apps to be a pain. I found the code from this article helped me figure out what was wrong with my app:
http://jonathanstark.com/blog/2009/09/27/debugging-html-5-offline-application-cache/
Debugging HTML 5 Offline Application Cache
by Jonathan Stark
If you are looking to provide offline access to your web app, the Offline Application Cache available in HTML5 is killer. However, it’s a giant PITA to debug, especially if you’re still trying to get your head around it.
If you are struggling with the cache manifest, add the following JavaScript to your main HTML page and view the output in the console using Firebug in Firefox or Debug > Show Error Console in Safari.
If you have any questions, PLMK in the comments.
HTH,
j
var cacheStatusValues = [];
cacheStatusValues[0] = 'uncached';
cacheStatusValues[1] = 'idle';
cacheStatusValues[2] = 'checking';
cacheStatusValues[3] = 'downloading';
cacheStatusValues[4] = 'updateready';
cacheStatusValues[5] = 'obsolete';
var cache = window.applicationCache;
cache.addEventListener('cached', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('checking', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('downloading', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('error', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('noupdate', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('obsolete', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('progress', logEvent, false);
cache.addEventListener('updateready', logEvent, false);
function logEvent(e) {
var online, status, type, message;
online = (navigator.onLine) ? 'yes' : 'no';
status = cacheStatusValues[cache.status];
type = e.type;
message = 'online: ' + online;
message+= ', event: ' + type;
message+= ', status: ' + status;
if (type == 'error' && navigator.onLine) {
message+= ' (prolly a syntax error in manifest)';
}
console.log(message);
}
window.applicationCache.addEventListener(
'updateready',
function(){
window.applicationCache.swapCache();
console.log('swap cache has been called');
},
false
);
setInterval(function(){cache.update()}, 10000);
Sometimes an application cache group gets into a bad state in MobileSafari — it downloads every item in the cache and then fires a generic cache error event at the end. An application cache group, as per the spec, is based on the absolute URL of the manifest. I've found that when this error occurs, changing the path to the manifest (eg, cache2.manifest, etc) gives you a fresh cache group and circumvents the problem. I can vouch that all of our web apps work offline in full-screen with 4.2 and 4.3.
No offline web app (as of iOS 4.2) can run without an internet connection (which means Airplane mode, too) when using <meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" /> in the html head section. I have verified this with every example I've seen and the ones that use Safari to render the site work fine, but when you throw in that meta tag, it won't work. Try your app without it and you'll see what I mean.
I have found that clearing the Safari cache after enabling Airplane mode to be an effective way of testing whether the app is really functioning offline.
I have sometimes been fooled into thinking that the application cache was working when it wasn't.
I had struggled with this iOS 4.3 "no offline cache" problem since I updated my iPad to 4.3.1 from 4.2. I saw in another post in this site that it was working again in 4.3.2. So I updated by iPad again, now to iOS 4.3.3. But still couldn't get the offline caching to work until I renamed my manifest file to "cache.manifest". Then the caching started working again and I could run my HTML5 offline app from the Home Screen. I did not need to put the favicon.ico in to the cache manifest. And I also had full screen going (setting the "apple-mobile-web-app-capable" to "yes").
I have several working offline and on/offline web apps.
When I turn off airport mode, I get a request for the manifest and some other files.
I don't get requests for images, JavaScript, CSS or cached AJAX files.
If you see requests for your resources, IOS doesn't have them cached.
Safari in general is more picky with manifests.
I suggest you try Safari on your computer.
I have run into the same problem today on iOS 4.3. I was able to fix the problem by adding a favicon.ico file and also adding it to the manifest.
I've written an offline app that still seems to work in 4.2 and 4.2.1; the post is a little dusty, but the code still runs:
http://kentbrewster.com/backchannel/
Remy Sharp has a newer post with code that also works, here:
http://remysharp.com/2011/01/31/simple-offline-application/
His app:
http://rem.im/boggle/
After days of messing with getting offline web apps to work on an iPhone/iPod Touch using the Webserver's HTTP authentication, I discovered these useful nuggets:
Make sure Safari is at the URL root of the web app when tapping "Add to Home Screen". I used jQuery Mobile and was sometimes adding the link with"/#pageId". Caused trouble.
Run your Ajax calls in serial. This might only be important if your web app is using HTTP authentication, but my app was firing a whole slew of Ajax calls on page load in parallel and it caused the app to hang on the "apple-touch-startup-image".
Ajax calls are "successful" when offline (at least using Prototype.js). Test for an actual piece of data in the Ajax response, not just on the HTTP status. I used this to test for displaying cached (SQL) or live data.
In the manifest use "NETWORK:\n*\n". From what I could muster, this is a catch-all statement for anything not explicit in the "CACHE:" section. Use Chrome to make sure your manifest is correct. Look at Chrome's console for errors.
Not directly related, but tripped me up for a bit, openDatabase.transaction() calls are ASYNCHRONOUS! Meaning, the line of JS code after transaction (execute(), error(), success()) will execute BEFORE the success() function.
Good luck!
I found this solution that seemed to work for me, since I also ran into this problem during my development. This fix has worked fine for me so far and also for other people that I've asked to test it with, and I'm able to get it running offline (in airplane mode) and off the home screen after caching and whatnot. I've written a post about it on my site:
http://www.offlinewebapp.com/solved-apple-mobile-web-app-capable-manifest-error/
Delete your current web app icon on the home screen.
Go to settings and clear your Safari browser cache.
Double tap your home button to open the multitasking bar. Find the Safari one, hold your
finger down on it, and exit it.
Please let me know if this works for you also! Good luck!
I've written an app and it works fine through the mobile browser, but when adding the desktop... Doesnt work. I guess apple have given up on IOS4 and all efforts are now on OS5. Shame :(
I have one potential workaround for this - it seems a bit crazy, but here goes... I work with the cache.manifest and full screen apps a lot (here's a test if you need: http://www.mrspeaker.net/2010/07/12/argy-bargy/ - add to home screen then turn on flight mode and it launches - at least, as of iOS 4.2.1)
One weird thing I found is that sometimes it seems that some kind of "meta" information in files can mess them up from being cached - Have you ever noticed that in bash that if you do a "ls" some files (depending on your colour settings) are highlighted for no apparent reason? Files can have meta data that the operating system (I think) adds automagically - and there are ways to remove it... I can't remember why but here's some more details: Strip metadata from files in Snow Leopard
After tearing my hair out one day - and refusing to give up because I knew it SHOULD have worked... Chrome was saying it loaded all the files, but ended with a generic error. In the end I recreated the project structure with blank files and copy/pasted the contents over. It worked - started caching as it was supposed to!
When I looked at the files I noticed there was some meta info. I tried scrubbing this info and the original project worked again. I'm not sure this was the reason it worked again - perhaps it was just a coincidence.
Because it worked, I didn't think too much about it. The same problem happened again some months later and the copy/paste trick worked again. I was busy, so I didn't investigate further - but vowed I would get to the bottom of it the next time it happened.... but I haven't had to yet.
Phew. Anyway, glad I got to write that down somewhere...
[UPDATE: months and months later - I've not been able to reproduce this, so I don't think it's the metadata]