Decode a chrome app or extension - google-chrome

I found a chrome app for photography effects which works offline perfectly. But it is having limited features. I have some ideas to add for my use. But I'll require to develop complete app. That'll take more time.
Is there any way so I can modify the app for my personal use?

Well!! I got to know that all chrome extensions/apps are made in HTML & JS. So I can easily decode them by using some chrome crx file downloader or directly from its extension folder.

Related

How to convert my Chrome app to extension

I have created a Chrome app, but I found that uploading it to Chrome Web Store is problematic, as they declare it is only compatible with Chrome OS.
There is a tutorial by Google how to move to web applications, but I find it unusable.
I would like to publish it as an extension, so the sensible move I think is using a Chrome extension, not a Chrome app. Still, I am not sure what what's the best next step.
Thanks

Browser plugin/extension to track search string

I need to develop some sort of browser plugin/extension to track search string on some search engine web site, ex: google.com, bing.com.
From the research, for chrome extension, I saw somebody suggest content js is the way to go. Is it true? Is there a cross-browser approach?
You can use Content.JS or any other JS library you like for developing an extension but with only JS library you cannot develop an extension.
There is a specific way for each browser. It contains at least 4 files.
(1) Manifest file (2) HTML file (3) JS file (4) CSS file
You also need to refer browsers object model.
You can refer links below may help you to get more information.
(1) Creating a Microsoft Edge extension
(2) Getting Started Tutorial to create an extension for Chrome
(3) Your first extension for FireFox
To support cross browser functionality, You can try to port your chrome extension to Firefox or MS Edge. To get more information on porting an extension, you can refer links below.
(1) Porting an extension from Chrome to Microsoft Edge
(2) Porting a Google Chrome extension
Note:- You also need to refer policy of each browser to access browsing data of users. It can be possible that all browser has some difference in their policies.

HTML Service - PWA

Sorry for a noob question - as I've just started with web development half a year ago..
I need your help regarding setting my GAS app into a PWA. Is there such a possibility? I struggle to find any really helpful resources on how to create a service workers and manifest files to work correctly. It'd be extremely helpful for me to get trained on the topic.
Thanks.
Having a valid manifest.json will enable your application to add to home screen of Android, iOS - Safari only, Chrome - All desktop OS.
You can use this link to generate manifest.json for your application and keep in the root of your project and link it using index.html like below,
You can use Workbox to generate service worker for your application.
I don't know what your GAS app is but if it is based on HTML/JS/CSS you can try www.pwabuilder.com for this purpose. It will give you the manifest and the service worker to put in your code.
You can also try the Lighthouse extension in Chrome and activate it when you are on your site. It will tell you if you app is PWA compatible and what needs work.

Any good replacment for chrome apps?

Since chrome apps will retire this year, is there any good replacement for it? I have a webclient which runs locally inside a chrome app with support of a cardreader for login to the webserver. Since all the hardware related things are managed inside the chrome app manifest and within the chrome api it is difficult to find a good replacement for this, any idea?

Interacting with firefox using an external program

I am looking for a way to interact with a web page and enter data to certain fields in it using an external program that interact with Firefox (or Chromium) web browser. The best I could find is the console commands for the browser, but they only let you go to a certain URL and not interact with the pages' content. I have also tried looking for some extension to do the job but I could not find any. Any suggestions?
You could create Chrome extension that communicates with your application via Chrome Native Messaging API: https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/messaging.html#native-messaging
Take a look at Selenium and the tools mentioned at Selenium alternatives?.