I have a Chrome Packaged Web app (which is required as it needs to access the Serial Port), and I'd like to be able to launch it from my website (with some data) when I click on a link/button on that website.
It'd be even better if it could detect if the user wasn't running chrome or didn't have the web app installed and could direct them to the right place...
Are there any examples? It seems like an obvious thing to want to do, but I'm really struggling to find anything...
To launch an app you can use url_handlers, a new feature recently landed (should make Chrome 31). You can pass data in the URL.
You can check if an app is already installed, and initiate the install if not, by using the chrome web store's inline install functionality.
Found a better solution to this problem.
In #Vincent Scheib solution you have to redirect the user to /some/url, or open a new window (that can be actually blocked as popup). All of this it's not so good from an UX aproach.
My solution is to create the app and configure the externally_connectable. You have to pass the url domain of the web site that will try to open the app. For example:
"externally_connectable": {
"matches": ["*://developer.chrome.com/*"]
}
Then, in your packaged app in your background script, you can do something like this:
chrome.runtime.onMessageExternal.addListener(function(message) {
if(message.launch){ //This parameter will be passed in sendMessage method below
chrome.app.window.create("main.html");
}
});
Finally, to trigger the app open you have to send a message using your packaged app id. For example:
chrome.runtime.sendMessage("mdoedhlejmepngilmgoenbhmipoclckb", { launch: true });
Related
I'm developing a chrome packaged app and chrome extension, both of them communicate with one another, and i want to lunch my packaged app from a chrome extension, is there any way to do it?
Note:
I've tried using the launchApp method of chrome management api, but for some unknown reason the chrome.management is undefined in my chrome extension JS code, although i have specified management permission in my manifest file like so:
"permissions": ["management"]
Does anyone have a idea what is the problem, or there are any other way i can do it ?
Thanks for help:)
There are 2 possible reasons for not being able to use chrome.management.
You have not reloaded your extension properly
You are trying to call this from a content script; you can't do that, since a content script has very restricted access to Chrome API. You need to message a background page to do this for you.
That said, there is a better way to do it if you write both your extension and your app. "management" permission is a big hammer and will generate a warning to the user on installation.
Instead, you can send a cross-extension message to your app. It will wake it up and you can launch your main window from there. See this answer for details.
I am building a packaged chrome app (It is needed as I want to access chrome.socket). I have a website from which I would like to call my app (if installed or ask the user to install it) by clicking a link. Is this possible ? Not able to find any easy way for this workflow.
The url_handlers might be the best way to achieve this.
You can also use the externally_connectable manifest property to declare that your website can connect to your app, then call chrome.runtime.sendMessage or chrome.runtime.connect from your webpage and handle it in an chrome.runtime.onMessage handler in the app.
Which one is better suited depends on your needs. The url_handlers is an easier way, but it will permanently assign the URL on your link to your app, so you won't be able to use it for anything else if the app is installed. The externally_connectable is a harder way, but it enables a much more elaborate bidirectional communication between your website and the app.
You can even use a combination of the two approaches, if you need: launch the app using the url_handlers feature, then establish a communication channel back to the website once the app is up and running.
Apps can now (as of Chrome 31 I believe) register to handle urls by adding url_handlers in their manifest and detecting the url causing the app to launch in the chrome.app.runtime.onLaunched event. If the app doesn't launch, your hosted web site will be loaded an can present an inline installation with chrome.webstore.install.
All of the examples I've seen show apps launching in their own windows. This may be great an all for chromebook/chrome os, but is there still an option to launch in a browser tab?
No, there is no way to do that. Chrome Packaged Apps are not supposed to run inside a browser. You can, however, open URLs in a browser tab using window.open. But you won't have control of that tab after you issue the command.
If you need some sort of integration/control between your Chrome Packaged App and the browser, you can create an extension and make a communication pipe between the extension and the app - as long as both are running, using the chrome.runtime.sendMessage API.
See this sample for a simple code that does exactly that (two apps and one extension exchanging messages directly, without any server component).
chrome.app.window.create will create a new Window for an App.
If you want window manipulation, you should switch to chrome.tabs API and look for an extension instead of an App.
Reference
chrome.tabs
chrome.app.window
I have a chrome app which displays data pulled from website A.
If a user has the app installed, and is on website A, how can I make the chrome app detect that the user is on website A and then prompt the user to open website A in the chrome app?
I'm trying to mimic how Android does this if you try to open a Google Play Store URL for example.
Thanks in advance,
Dimitry
Your app needs to define a webRequest (part of permissions) in the manifest file. You might use the blocking response to then handle all the stuff yourself.
i know that the index.html page (the PhoneGap startup page) needs to reside on the device. but if we want to create an app who uses third party user authentication before proceeding to core application, so then what we have to do?
Thanks in advance
On android you can change the starting page in the main activity or you can make a redirect in index.html
Well, you don't say if you are platform specific..
And there are lots of third party auth options..
But I can offer two solutions (admittedly my own code etc),
both of them use PhoneGap for Android and PhoneGap Plugins. The key piece of code for me has been the onLocationChange callback feature of the ChildBrowser plugin. Your app can take the user to other sites for auth or whatever, but still get control back.
Tutorial on Using Twitter REST API (OAuth 1, ChildBrowser, jsOAuth plugin)
Free Android App + Source on github : AppLaud App (OpenID, ChildBrowser, custom server)
For authentication, you can have a form in your index.html (maybe under login div) to do a post to an actual webserver.
Then, fetch the data returned from the webserver to let your user access the functionality of your native phonegap application.
You can have the functionality disabled until you receive the successful login from the webserver. If you post via ajax, the webview won't even blink, but you will still get the successful login response from webserver and simply enable functionality on your app after this.
Let me know if this is confusing and I'll try to explain more clearly and
I hope this helps.