Hi—I'm not a student or a programmer by trade, but I'm trying to knock up a quick prototype to get an idea across. I've cobbled together some code from other StackOverflow questions, and I've almost got what I need, but I'm having trouble with one thing: the extension will run exactly once, but no more, until I refresh the extension via chrome://extensions. I'm guessing there's something wrong with the element of this program that listens for a new URL, but I can't figure out how to keep that element listening constantly. This code runs in background.js right now, though I've also tried it in background.html.
Basically, I'd like the extension to check the URL of a tab any time the user visits a new page (either by typing the URL herself or clicking through to one), and, if the URL appears in the plugin's internal URL list, to pop up a short notification. I have this so far:
// Called when the url of a tab changes.
// So we can notify users
var notification = webkitNotifications.createNotification(
'48.png',
'Alert!'
);
// Called when the url of a tab changes.
function checkForValidUrl(tab) {
// Compare with a the URL
if (tab.url.match(/google/)) {
//then
notification.show();
}
};
// Listen for any changes to the URL of any tab.
chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(function(tabId, changeInfo, tab){
if(changeInfo.status == "loading") {
checkForValidUrl(tab);
}
});
chrome.tabs.onSelectionChanged.addListener(function(tabId, selectInfo){
chrome.tabs.getSelected(null, function(tab){
checkForValidUrl(tab);
});
});
I fixed this after hacking it around a little bit -- I don't really have the vocabulary to explain what I did but I thought I'd post the code in case someone else has the same (simple) problem later.
function checkForValidUrl(tabId, changeInfo, tab) {
var notification = webkitNotifications.createNotification(
'48.png',
'Alert!',
'Watch out for your privacy!'
);
// Compare with the URL
if (tab.url.match(/google/)) {
//then
notification.show();
}
};
chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(function(tabId, changeInfo, tab){
if(changeInfo.status == "loading") {
checkForValidUrl(tabId, changeInfo, tab);
}
});
Related
I know hat it is possible, but I am not quite sure how to do it the 'right' way, as to ensure there are no conflicts.
I came across this question: Cannot call functions to content scripts by clicking on image . But it is so convoluted with random comments that it's hard to understand what the corrected way was.
Use case:
Html pages have a div on the page where they expect anyone using the Chrome extension to inject a picture. When users click on he picture, I want to somehow notify an event script. So I know I need to register a listener so the code inserted messages the event script.
Can I get some indication on what code to inject through the content script? I saw that sometimes injecting jquery directly is advised.
I am trying to avoid having the html page to post a message to itself so it can be intercepted. Thanks
With the help of Jquery something like this would capture the image onclick event and allow you to pass a message to a background page in the Chrome Extension:
$("img").click(function(){
var imageSrc = $(this).attr("src");
//Post to a background page in the Chrome Extension
chrome.extension.sendMessage({ cmd: "postImage", data: { imgSrc: imageSrc } }, function (response) {
return response;
});
});
Then in your background.js create a listener for the message:
chrome.extension.onMessage.addListener(
function (request, sender, sendResponse) {
if (request.cmd == "postImage") {
var imageSrc = request.data.imgSrc;
}
});
I face a problem. Through message passing I transferred DOM data from content script to background page. What i would like to know is how you can establish a communication channel between Options page and background page. The API chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage() is not useful. Nor is traditional message passing through sendRequest and addlistener working . How do i transfer this data from background page to the options page? Could someone provide a tested snippet to explain?
this is what i have been trying .
In my contentscript.js
<script>
var selected_Text ="";
window.addEventListener("dblclick",function(event){
selected_Text = String(window.getSelection());
chrome.extension.sendRequest({greeting: "maprender",name:selected_Text}, function(response) {
alert("reached here")
console.log(response.farewell);
});
//i am to then load options.html on DOM like this
var Div = document.createElement("iframe");
Div.setAttribute('src', chrome.extension.getURL('options.html'));
Div.setAttribute("style","width:130px;height:80px;position:absolute;left:10px;");
Div.setAttribute("id","xyz");
document.body.appendChild(Div);
</script>
I retreive the selected_Text at background.html like this
<script>
var Addr_details={
place:null
};
chrome.extension.onRequest.addListener(
function(request, sender, sendResponse) {
if (request.greeting == "maprender")
{
alert("reached here sendin resp"+request.name);
Addr_details.place = request.name;
sendResponse({farewell: "goodbye"});
}
else
sendResponse({}); // snub them.
});
</script>
Now to access the value of this text at the options page options.html i tried 2 methods
One was to use chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage() like this:
<script>
function init(){
var bkg = chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage();
alert("the selected text is "+bkg.Addr_details.place);
}
</script>
init is onload of options.html .This does not give me the value . infact it just terminates at initialization of chrome.extension.backgroundPage.
Another approach i tried was to create a similar request(like the one already present at contentscript.js) from contentscript.js with a different greeting and add a listener to it at options.html .That doesnt seem to work either at the receiver side(options page) because i get the callback at the contentscript after the request.I am surely doing something wrong , amnt I ?Please help.
It makes sense for the second approach not work. Options.html is not "alive" all of the time, only when the options page is up. Hence, it cannot listen to requests from the content script.
That's exactly what "background" is for.
As for the first approach (using getBackgroundPage()), I never used this method myself, but it seems to bring back only the DOM of the background page, and therefore you cannot access the variables in the background js.
Your best shot should be to send a request from the options page to the background page, asking for this value, e.g.:
Content script:
chrome.extension.sendRequest({greeting: "retrieveAddr"}, function(response) {
// do something with response.addr...
});
Background page:
chrome.extension.onRequest.addListener(
function(request, sender, sendResponse) {
switch (request.greeting) {
case "maprender"):
alert("reached here sendin resp"+request.name);
Addr_details.place = request.name;
sendResponse({farewell: "goodbye"});
break;
case "retrieveAddr":
sendResponse({addr: Addr_details});
default:
sendResponse({}); // snub them.
});
});
Another, easier but hackier solution is to use localStorage to pass info between the options and background pages, as they both share the same one.
I am new to Chrome extension. I have a question about how to make the extension to open a "Help" page automatically after installation. Currently, I am able to check whether the extension is running the first time or not by saving a value into localStorage. But this checking is only carried out when using click the icon on the tool bar. Just wondering if there is a way that likes FF extension which uses the javascript in to open a help page after the installation. Thanks.
Edit:
Thanks for the answer from davgothic. I have solved this problem.
I have another question about the popup. My extension checks the url of current tab,
if OK(url){
//open a tab and do something
}
else{
//display popup
}
Is it possible to show the popup in this way?
Check this updated and most reliable solution provided by Chrome: chrome.runtime Event
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function (object) {
let externalUrl = "http://yoursite.com/";
let internalUrl = chrome.runtime.getURL("views/onboarding.html");
if (object.reason === chrome.runtime.OnInstalledReason.INSTALL) {
chrome.tabs.create({ url: externalUrl }, function (tab) {
console.log("New tab launched with http://yoursite.com/");
});
}
});
Add this to your background.js I mean the the page you defined on manifest like following,
....
"background": {
"scripts": ["background.js"],
"persistent": false
}
...
UPDATE: This method is no longer recommended. Please see Nuhil's more recent answer below.
I believe what you need to do is put something like this into a script in the <head> section of your extension's background page, e.g. background.html
function install_notice() {
if (localStorage.getItem('install_time'))
return;
var now = new Date().getTime();
localStorage.setItem('install_time', now);
chrome.tabs.create({url: "installed.html"});
}
install_notice();
As of now (Aug 2022) the right way to execute code on first install or update of an extension using Manifest V3 is by using the runtime.onInstalled event.
This event is documented here: https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/runtime#event-onInstalled
There is one example for this exact case in the docs now:
https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/tabs/#opening-an-extension-page-in-a-new-tab
Note: This example above is wrong as the callback function parameter is Object with the key reason and not reason directly.
And another example here (this one is correct but does not open a tab):
https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/runtime/#example-uninstall-url
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener((details) => {
if (details.reason === chrome.runtime.OnInstalledReason.INSTALL) {
// Code to be executed on first install
// eg. open a tab with a url
chrome.tabs.create({
url: "https://google.com"
});
} else if (details.reason === chrome.runtime.OnInstalledReason.UPDATE) {
// When extension is updated
} else if (details.reason === chrome.runtime.OnInstalledReason.CHROME_UPDATE) {
// When browser is updated
} else if (details.reason === chrome.runtime.OnInstalledReason.SHARED_MODULE_UPDATE) {
// When a shared module is updated
}
});
This code can be added to a background service worker: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/mv3/migrating_to_service_workers/
It would be better to place a "version" number so you can know when an extension is updated or installed.
It has been answered here:
Detect Chrome extension first run / update
All you need to do is adding the snippet below to your background.js file
chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function (object) {
chrome.tabs.create({url: `chrome-extension://${chrome.runtime.id}/options.html`}, function (tab) {
console.log("options page opened");
});
});
I want to write a small chrome extension which shall take an information from webpage A (current webpage), update the tab to webpage B and then inject code into webpage B. unfortunaetelly the following code is updating the webpage to B but injecting the code to webpage A. The code in background.html is:
chrome.tabs.update(tab.id,{url: "http://B.com"});
chrome.tabs.executeScript(tab.id, {file: "inject_into_B.com.js"}); /* injections goes misleadingly to webpage A*/
You want something like this:
chrome.tabs.update(tab.id, {url: request.url, active: true}, function(tab1) {
// add listener so callback executes only if page loaded. otherwise calls instantly
var listener = function(tabId, changeInfo, tab) {
if (tabId == tab1.id && changeInfo.status === 'complete') {
// remove listener, so only run once
chrome.tabs.onUpdated.removeListener(listener);
// do stuff
}
}
chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(listener);
});
chrome.tabs.update is asynchronous call (like pretty much all others), so if you want to run those commands in order you need to use a callback function:
chrome.tabs.update(tab.id,{url: "http://B.com"}, function(tab) {
chrome.tabs.executeScript(tab.id, {file: "inject_into_B.com.js"});
});
In my extension, when a button named mybuttonl in popup.html is
clicked, it sends a message "getvar" to contentscript.js, which in turn sends a message "I want var1" to background.html to get an object named var1. (A button named mybutton2 is set up likewise, except it gets the var2 object when clicked).
How should I implement this?
What's more, I am a little confused about the chrome.extension.onRequest.addListener and chrome.extension.sendRequest methods. Could someone please explain?
onRequest.addListener and sendRequest is part of Chrome's extension Messaging. Which is located here http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/messaging.html
Basically, you listen for a request using "onRequest.addListener" that someone sent from triggering a "sendRequest".
In your case, you put a "onRequest.addListener" in your content script to listen for requests coming from the Popup (using sendRequest). And from your content script, you can return a response back to your popup to handle what is happening. In your popup, you have direct access to the background page using chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage().
If you want your content script to communicate to your background page as well (which is not needed since your making stuff more complicated), you can add a "onRequest.addListener" to your background page which only listens for requests coming from the content script. To do that, Message Passing explains it perfectly. "sender.tab" if true, is a content script.
The example below (untested) shows what I mean about message passing. Remember, try to keep stuff simple, not complex.
Example
Popup.html
chrome.tabs.getSelected(null, function(tab) {
chrome.tabs.sendRequest(tab.id, {method: "fromPopup", tabid: tab.id}, function(response) {
console.log(response.data);
});
});
ContentScript.js
chrome.extension.onRequest.addListener(function(request, sender, sendResponse) {
if (request.method == "fromPopup") {
// Send JSON data back to Popup.
sendResponse({data: "from Content Script to Popup"});
// Send JSON data to background page.
chrome.extension.sendRequest({method: "fromContentScript"}, function(response) {
console.log(response.data);
});
} else {
sendResponse({}); // snub them.
}
});
BackgroundPage.html
chrome.extension.onRequest.addListener(function(request, sender, sendResponse) {
// From content script.
if (sender.tab) {
if (request.method == "fromContentScript")
sendResponse({data: "Response from Background Page"});
else
sendResponse({}); // snub them.
}
});