Is there a way to detect where a chrome extension installation was referred from. In case you want to rebrand the extension based on where the user came from
Android Apps are capable of this using intent com.android.vending.INSTALL_REFERRER and a referrer=something querystring on their Google Play URL, but I've been unable to find anything similar for Chrome Extensions.
I can probably do a 80% solution with cookies and redirects but it would be nice if this worked as cleanly as in Android INSTALL_REFERRER
It seems that there is no referrer option for Chrome Extensions and it is not listed in the documentation. See the following link for the closest I've found.
https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/runtime#type-OnInstalledReason
A workaround for this would be to pull the data from Google Analytics using the API. Referrals are recorded in Google Analytics for my Chrome Extension:
Related
I have written a simple Chrome extension and tested it using developer mode to load the unpacked extension. It works as expected this way.
Because the extension uses storage.sync API, I would like to undertake further testing with installations of the extension as published in the Chrome Web Store.
The Developer Dashboard for Chrome Web Store provides an option to publish to trusted users only:
Only trusted testers from your developer dashboard can see it.
You can also include members of a Google Group that you own or manage.
When I publish this way the trusted testers listed for my dashboard can reach the extension and install it from the Chrome Web Store. However, the extension is always disabled upon starting Chrome:
This extension is not listed in the Chrome Web Store and may have been added without your knowledge. Learn more
We, my testers and I, have not been able to find any way to enable an extension disabled by Chrome. Is there one? If not, the entire exercise of an "unlisted" publication mode for testing seems pointless.
The only work around I've found to this situation so far is to set the extension to "unlisted" rather than "published to testers" from the Chrome developer dashboard.
This is not at all satisfying, but did allow some real world testing in an unobtrusive way.
Google chrome extension:
I created a Google chrome extension and published it on Google Chrome Store,
but I can't find it while searching on it.
There are a couple steps you can try to diagnose the issue
Try to refine search by extensions.
Try searching your google username.
If neither of these work your extension may not be public and published to everyone (not just testers). Please refer to this guide on how to publish your extension to the world.
https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/publish#world
An issue I had was that I had uploaded the .zip but never hit publish. Make sure in your developer dashboard it doesn't say draft version where it should say published version.
I'm interested in writing a Packaged App that can access data about chrome, namely the chrome.windows.onCreated and chrome.windows.onRemoved events. If I try to add a listener to either of these, I get an error in the console:
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'onRemoved' of undefined
Is there any way around this?
The other answers are correct that this isn't directly possible from a packaged app, but there is a solution that meets your needs: You can write an extension as well as a packaged app and have them communicate with chrome.runtime.sendMessage.
The user will have to install both app and extension, but you can make this easy by directing them to the chrome web store from within your application. You can read about this here: Communicating between a Chrome packaged app and a Chrome extension?
Edit: and as pointed out in a comment on that thread, there is a Chrome App Sample that helps demonstrate this in action: https://github.com/GoogleChrome/chrome-app-samples/tree/master/messaging
The chrome.windows API is a Chrome extension API, not a packaged apps API. It is used by extensions to interact with browser windows.
If you can write your application as an extension, it will be able to use that API. Packaged apps, however, don't have the ability to manipulate other windows besides their own.
One simple typo here: It is chrome.windows.onRemoved not chrome.windows.OnRemoved ;)
Note the lowercase o.
I would like to create an extension or app for the Chrome browser which would require access to a user's Google Calender (for creating new appointments).
I am unsure of which technology to better research and use, Chrome extensions or apps. My "app" wouldn't need much of a GUI, so I'm leaning towards extension — but I don't know if this would pose any difficulties for accessing a user's Google Calender to add an event.
Anyone one have any idea which technology is best for this situation, and why? Thanks!
Either, or... Go with an extension if you'd like.
I assume you've looked at the API reference?
https://developers.google.com/google-apps/calendar/
From there, I'd imagine you'd just need OAuth to authenticate the user. Here's the JS library:
https://code.google.com/p/google-api-javascript-client/
There are pros/cons of each types, apps or extensions.
Apps
If you would like to create a client application of Google Calendar which has many rich GUI components, this type will become a better solution.
In addition, Chrome apps can communicate with many hardware devices and other servers. Of course, your Chrome app can become as a server (that is, your app can open a server socket and accept a request from other client apps).
Chrome apps can be executed not depending on your Chrome Web browser. That is, Chrome apps cannot access to a context of your Chrome Web browser.
Probably, you don't want to get the pros above, I guess...
Extensions
If you would like to create a small UI for posting your schedule to Google Calendar, this type will become a better solution.
In addition, Chrome extensions can access to a context of your Chrome Web browser. That is, your extension can get page contents of each tab and inject your CSS and/or JS code. For example, your extension will get a URL of some opened tab and include it in a body of the posted schedule.
Chrome extensions completely depend on your Chrome Web browser. That is, your extension cannot execute independently.
Also, generally, high cost will be needed to develop Chrome apps than Chrome extensions. As the result, you should choose Chrome extensions, I believe.
I am trying to create a web page, which embeds several Google Docs in it. My problem is that when this page is viewed on an android device, then the user is presented with the terrible web based Google Docs editor. Therefore, I would like to have a link on my page, which opens the native Google Drive app on the users phone, so he/she can edit the document there. After searching for two hours, I am unable to figure out how to make a link, which automatically opens the document in the native app.
I succeeded with viewing the Google Drive app in google market using the following link:
market://details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs
I also experimented with
googledrive://no-idea-what-to-write-here
But that did not succeed either.
Is this possible at all, or does this only work on iOS?
There does not seem to be a good way to do what you want (at least according to my testing with Android 4.0.4; maybe the situation is different with other versions).
Using http: or https: links intercepted by an app
In theory, just using the https://docs.google.com/... link for the document should work for you. According to this answer on StackOverflow, intercepting http: or https: URLs is the proper way to start an app when opening a link from the Android browser. The Google Drive app does exactly this — it registers intent filters for https://drive.google.com, https://docs.google.com, https://spreadsheets.google.com and a bunch of similar URLs (including http: with the same host names). And this actually works — when using the stock Android browser, attempting to open a link pointing to https://drive.google.com results in the chooser popup with the Google Drive app included in the list (together with all installed browsers); selecting Google Drive results in opening the document in the Google Drive editor, as you want.
But the problem is that such intercepted HTTP[S] URLs work only in the stock Android browser — I have not been able to find any third-party browser which could show the app chooser when following such links. I tested Chrome, Dolphin, Firefox, Light Browser, Opera (including Classic and Mini), UC Browser, and all of them just opened the link internally instead of offering to pass it to the Google Drive app.
Using the intent: URI scheme
There is another way to make a link which starts an Android app — use the intent: URI scheme. I have not been able to find proper documentation for the intent: URI format; of course, the source code for the function which generates such URIs is available.
For your test document:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zSzDnV-90Ke3dzCCJ2CZ6iQ3JQ3F1hL1udGDqbNwwbY/edit?usp=sharing
the corresponding intent: link which opens it in the Google Drive app will be:
intent://docs.google.com/document/d/1zSzDnV-90Ke3dzCCJ2CZ6iQ3JQ3F1hL1udGDqbNwwbY/edit?usp=sharing#Intent;scheme=https;action=android.intent.action.VIEW;category=android.intent.category.DEFAULT;category=android.intent.category.BROWSABLE;package=com.google.android.apps.docs;end
A test link with this URI is on a separate page (it is not possible to make an actual link pointing to such URI here).
The process of conversion is as follows:
Replace starting https: with intent:.
Append intent parameters:
#Intent;scheme=https;action=android.intent.action.VIEW;category=android.intent.category.DEFAULT;category=android.intent.category.BROWSABLE;package=com.google.android.apps.docs;end
Here scheme=https correspond to https: in the original URL, so if you want to convert a plainhttp: URL, this field should be scheme=http. And package=com.google.android.apps.docs is the package name of the app which should handle the link.
Now, when such link is followed, the browser should open the Google Drive app directly (without showing the app chooser). However, if the app is not installed, Android will open the Market app instead, and perform a search for the specified package name, so that the user could install the required app.
It is also possible to make the intent: link without the package parameter:
intent://docs.google.com/document/d/1zSzDnV-90Ke3dzCCJ2CZ6iQ3JQ3F1hL1udGDqbNwwbY/edit?usp=sharing#Intent;scheme=https;action=android.intent.action.VIEW;category=android.intent.category.DEFAULT;category=android.intent.category.BROWSABLE;end
In this case the behavior should be the same as when the intercepted https: link is followed in the stock Android browser — the app chooser with the Google Drive app and all browser apps will be displayed, and if the Google Drive app is not installed, the user will not be redirected to install it from Market.
Unlike intercepted http: and https: links, intent: links work in a wider range of Android browser apps; unfortunately, some browsers do not support them. Results of my testing:
Works: stock Android 4.0.4 browser, Chrome, Light Browser, Opera, Opera Classic.
Does not work: Dolphin, Firefox (feature request is pending), UC Browser.
And, obviously, non-Android browsers would not support such links at all, so you will need to use some kind of browser sniffing if your pages also must be usable for other clients.
Using a custom URI scheme
Some apps use completely nonstandard URI schemes, which might also work from third-party browsers. However, the Google Drive app does not do that, therefore this solution is not suitable for it (unless someone creates a “bridge” app which just passes requests to the Google Drive app).
Some browsers could also disallow nonstandard URI schemes except some whitelisted ones (such as market:) due to security concerns; I did not try to test this.