i wanted to build a custom browser install that would fit the following specs, i found ways to do it using enterprise deployement, but my intent is to distribute it to friends and family without having to go through the enterprise distribution.
Can be sourced from Firefox or Chromium (or even other as webkit)
Should be easy to customize (ideally no C++ coding)
Should be able to embed extension or hard code the extension within the browser. (i've coded a custom adblock that is lighter and faster than the ones on FF or Chrome store and would also like to embed TOR connection extension)
Remove the ability to install other extensions (i want to ensure this browser cannot be victim of bloatware extensions installs)
Customize UI
Protect the browser against Search engine / HP / New tab settings change.
If you could point me to the right direction it would be awesome and i'll make sure to share this browser's link here once done.
I just saw this in the corner of my eye and figured I'd share this question/answer to possibly help you:
Standard way to build a Chrome extension into Chromium
Related
We have a Chrome extension that can be used to open a page into our website. From there the user then continues onto the next page which has a custom NPAPI plug-in embedded in it. This has always worked fine. However, since the version 32 update the plug-in loads and runs (it's a video conferencing plug-in and is clearly running as the other side can see video) however it doesn't show up on the page. Examining the DOM everything looks fine. Grabbing the border and re-sizing the browser will cause the plug-in to suddenly render correctly. I've tried all manner of javascript/css tricks to try and mimic this behavior as a workaround but nothing works. Tabs opened manually (not using chrome.tabs.create) work fine.
This worked up till 32.
Any ideas around this?
Chrome 32 is phasing out NPAPI, read the announcement here.
There is a deprecation guide that you can read here.
It seems like Google wants you to use it's Native Client tech to run native compiled code on user's machines. It is cool stuff...but so far I've found it difficult/more limiting to work with when compared to NPAPI (but there are obvious upsides, security for instance).
You could also build a native app and use native message passing to communicate from extension -> app. Once downside to this is that there is currently no way to bundle a native app into an extension install, so the user will need to download and install your app separately.
I'm using Rubymine 5.4 for Windows and it's overall amazing, and 95% as good as Visual Studio as an HTML / CSS Editor with a few exceptions... the main one being a lack of a live preview /WYSIWYG ability, i.e. as I type I can see the resulting preview live (in addition to VS, DreamWeaver also has this feature). I can't seem to find anything like it in the IDE, help, or any Google/Stack searches.
To be clear, what I am looking for is a way to have a split screen view in RubyMine where I can be editing my HTML / CSS in one pane/tab and be seeing the Live Preview of what it would look like in a browser in another tab/pane.
Ideally, this would be:
in RubyMine itself (using native panes/tabs as described above)
the user could configure whatever browser rendering engine (Chrome, FF, IE, etc...) they wanted to view the preview in...
...however, I could live with any variation of the two above, e.g. simply integrated with RubyMine using external windows/browsers, or maybe, the preview only available with limited rendering engines (only Chrome let's say).
Thanks to #CrazyCoder & #LazyOne for the pointers...
After a bit more research, I've confirmed and gotten more detail:
The solution is to use the Official Jetbrains (maker of RubyMine) LiveEdit plugin which you can find here: http://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/?id=7007
Detailed Instructions
Download the JetBrains LiveEdit plugin from here: http://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/?id=7007
Run Rubymine > Settings > Plugins (type "plugins" in the search
box in settings)
Click the Install Plugin from disk button at the bottom of the list
Navigate to where you downloaded the plugin and select/open it
Activate by checking it on the plugin list
(You will likely have to) restart RubyMine
Once restarted, go to the menubar > View > LiveEdit (which will then be checked)
Download the JetBrains IDE browser Extension for Chrome here: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jetbrains-ide-support/hmhgeddbohgjknpmjagkdomcpobmllji?utm_source=chrome-ntp-icon
The Chrome extension supports both WYSIWYG/real-time "LiveEdit" outside the IDE, in an external Chrome window and JavaScript debugging inside the actual RubyMine IDE
I believe there is also an extension for FireFox, which I believe ALSO DOES support
Javascript debugging through the IDE. BUt, I'm not sure if it supports LiveEdit like the Chrome extension
(Launch) Debug your project
Edit as you normally would
Observations/Opinions
The plugin pretty much works seamlessly. I've found it cuts development time significantly by not having to constantly MANUALLY reload the page, i.e. use your mouse or keyboard to bring focus to the browser window and hit refresh... this time adds up especially if you are doing a lot of HTML/CSS and want to check your changes often.
However, I'd suggest turning it off if you're going to do any major back-end/Rails or Javascript as the reload might be slightly longer due to code interpretation/processing and you hit errors as you are mid-statement and the LiveEdit decides to refresh while variables aren't defined or have improper values. In this case, the time you save by not having to manually refresh, may be lost (more than 1x fold) b/c of how often and how long it takes for content to be created/rendered on the server-side or in JS on the client.
for example, growl flashes a message in the upper right corner regardless of which application is running. Skype makes the icon in the dock have a little red dot with a number of new messages. Is there anyway to write a chrome extension to have this type of functionality? that is, I want to write a chat system that works in the browser but also notifies users when they have closed my site's tab, or even when chrome is not running.
I could write a native client in addition to my browser based client, but that's double the work. (Tripple the work if you bother with a native window's client vs. just OSX but who would do that?)
Chrome can create "Desktop Notifications" See the Documentation
It's also possible to have the notifications visible when chrome is closed providing you create a "background process". this question/answer might point you in the right direction.
Chrome supports the text-only version of the W3C desktop notification standard. Chrome deprecated the HTML version about a year ago and will stop supporting it very soon. Any webpage viewed in Chrome and any Chrome extension can use this API.
The Rich Notifications API is available to Chrome extensions and packaged apps. As of today, it's dev-channel only and is iterating rapidly. It has implementations on ChromeOS and Windows, with Mac on the way. Linux currently delegates to the W3C implementation. The API is not a 1:1 replacement of W3C HTML desktop notifications, but it does provide many layout options for common use cases.
When I visit some websites, on top of the browser it promotes me to install Chrome Extension by saying "This website now has Google Chrome Extension... Install".
Anyone knows how to do this? Does Google already provide scripts to do this?
Example: Visit the following site using Chrome:
http://www.independent.co.uk
Now, it's possible to do what you need. Just follow this link, that explains how to use "inline" installation once you've published your app or extension at Chrome Webstore.
PS. Inline installation only works in Chrome 15+
Paul Kinlan's Badgemator is a good resource for this sort of thing. It creates a JavaScript snippet that you can put on your site in order to direct users to the webstore entry.
It doesn't attempt to mimic Chrome's infobar in the same way that The Independent does, but I personally think that's a good thing. Pretending to be part of the browser is a good way to confuse users, and isn't something I'd recommend (especially now that the infobar extends outside the browser window into Chrome's own UI).
What you're seeing is not built into Chrome, and not provided by Google.
The site will have some code that detects your browser agent (either via Javascript or a server-side script), sees that it's Chrome, and then adds some extra HTML/CSS/Javascript to make a mock UI element to grab your attention. Inspect the element to see what's really happening.
Another example is http://page2rss.com/page?url=www.stackoverflow.com/
Also, see Alerting website visitors that a chrome extension is available - how?
I wrote a jQuery extension that does just that: http://blog.dreasgrech.com/2012/01/promoting-your-chrome-extension-with.html
The simplest way to use it is to simply pass the ID of your Chrome extension:
$.fn.extInfobar({
id: 'nbilgjjflfiiijecdjpnbganoiafneph'
});
That generates the following:
From Chrome 15 there is API for this.
Just ask Chrome if your extension is installed.
You need to publish your extension in Google Chrome Extensions site, then you'll be able to publish it in your site.
You'll need to pay a one-time fee ($5) in order to get registered as a developer.
As of 06/12/2018, inline installation is deprecated. For more information, read our Chromium Blog post and Migration FAQ.
From: https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/inline_installation
What is the difference between Chrome Apps and Extensions?
What can you do with apps that you can't do with extensions or vice versa?
Quoting from https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/apps_vs_extensions:
We’ve already had the concept of “web apps” in the browser for a few years, as something more rich and interactive than a website, but less cumbersome and monolithic than a desktop application. Examples include games, photo editors, and video players; all of these categories are viable as tightly focused apps running inside the browser. Google Chrome is just formalizing the web app concept in a way that will be familiar to anyone who’s used apps on a smartphone.
Extensions ... extend the functionality of Google Chrome and the websites being viewed in it. For example, they can extend Google Chrome by adding a new button to the address bar, such as an ever-present currency converter. Buttons like this can also apply to the current website being viewed—for example, click the currency converter button to convert all prices on the website you’re viewing. Similarly, you can introduce new items to the context menu, change the behavior of the omnibox (the input field on the address bar), access the user’s browsing history (with consent), and much more. You can alter web pages too—for example, embed a “mail this” button next to every link in every page, or customize the layout of your favorite website.
Compared to apps, extensions cut across websites and web apps; they are usually in effect across all websites (though some are site-specific). Apps don’t combine with other apps in this way; they run standalone, like any regular website.
(emphasis added)
From what I can tell, Chrome apps are just web applications that are registered with Chrome's Web Store (Gmail, e.g.). They're basically just glorified bookmarks. Google seems to have introduced them in order to make their browser more "operating system"-like, in preparation for tablets running Chrome OS. Since Chrome OS won't have any native applications apart from Chrome, they need some way for you to be able to "install" applications... even if those applications are just websites.
Extensions can actually affect the way that the browser behaves (ad blocking, e.g.). They can add buttons to Chrome's toolbars, intercept web requests, change the DOM, etc.
Here is an excellent resource from the Google Chrome team explaining the differences in detail.
It also contains a decision tree flow chart shown below.
Please refer to the following link:
(chrome app vs extension).
It basically says that there are two kinds of apps: hosted and packaged. Hosted apps are glorified bookmarks. But packaged apps provide you with a somewhat best of both worlds features- of both extensions and apps.
Extensions of course extend the core browser functionality providing little or no additional UI apart from what is already provided by chrome.
There are three Chrome distribution channels for developers.
In order of increasing functionality they are:
Chrome extensions — little to no UI
Chrome hosted apps
Chrome packaged apps
More information and fuller discussion is contained in this video.
quoting from http://www.chromeplugins.org/extensions/chrome-web-apps-extensions-spot-the-difference/
(as the explanation is very good)
Major Differences Between Chrome Extension and Chrome Web Apps
One of the major differences between Chrome extensions and web
applications is their location. Majority of the Chrome extensions can
be downloaded from Chrome Extensions Gallery whereas Chrome Web Apps
can be installed from Chrome Web Store.
Another major difference between Chrome extensions and web apps is the
fact that while extensions are used to enhance the functionality of
the Chrome Browser, web apps run within the browser having a different
user interface. Unlike web applications, extensions have little or
sometimes no UI component.
From a technical perspective the major difference between Chrome Apps
and extensions is the presence of “launch” parameter in apps which
indicates Chrome to show when user starts an application installed by
him/her.