I have a Firefox OS app where I want a link to open outside of the application (the link is to a different site, and opening it in-application would make the application unusable without a force-quite). How do I do that?
Related bug report
If you don't want to change all the links in the application, you can use WebActivities, e.g. like this:
/*
* Open all external links in the browser
*/
$('a[href^=http]').click(function(e){
e.preventDefault();
var activity = new MozActivity({
name: "view",
data: {
type: "url",
url: $(this).attr("href")
}
});
});
Use target="_blank" on the <a> tag:
<a href='http://different.site/' target='_blank'>Different site</a>
Actually, if you send an app with external links without it to the Marketplace, it should be rejected. so watch out :)
Related
My extension has a lot of options and users can save other data, and all of it is in browser.storage.local. I'd like to provide an option to export the data to a JSON file. From a regular page script, I'd use Blob() and saveAs, but saveAs is undefined in the browser_action context I'm using for my settings page which is the natural home for the option.
My extension uses nativeMessaging so I can send the data to my host-based process and do the save from there, but if I prompt the user for where to save it from the host process, that will cause a switch that they probably wouldn't anticipate. I haven't implemented this, so perhaps that would be OK.
My direction question is: Can the JavaScript for a browser extension's browser_action page save a file to the user's device based on the user clicking a button?
I am targeting Chrome and Firefox only and Windows platform only. I'll add support for Mac later after I port the host process.
Did you try downloads.download()? https://developer.mozilla.org/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/downloads/download For example:
const data = JSON.stringify({ boolean: true }, null, 2);
browser.downloads.download({
url: URL.createObjectURL(new Blob([data], { type: 'application/json' })),
saveAs: true,
filename: 'file.json'
});
Is it possible to open a link like this to be opened in Safari by only changing the contents of the HTML file only?
My WebView loads a local HTML page with this source:
Link to Fanpage
How do I make it so that it opens in Safari? By default it should also open in Facebook app if it was downloaded?
It's annoying that it opens the Facebook page on the same webview and the user won't be able to go back to the previous webpage.
Would I have to face a new approach? Thank you.
I looked at other solutions but I don't know what it means by adding a delegate to the webview?
I think you are trying to get get back-history working with anchors on iOS? I have been dealing with the same issue.
Thanks to inspiration from http://www.bennadel.com/, created the following angular directive that fixes this back-history issue. Basically it overrides the default html anchor behavior.
.directive('anchorOpenInNewWin',function() {
return {
restrict : 'A',
link : function($scope,$element,$attrs) {
$element.bind('click touchstart',function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
e.stopPropagation();
location.href = $attrs.href;
});
}
}
});
<a anchor-open-in-new-win href="http://www.google.com" target="_blank">google</a>
This solution could be easily translated into jquery or whatever you are using. Hope this helps
It seems like the externally_connectable feature that allows a website to communicate with an extension is still in the dev channel and not yet stable. Are there any other ways to allow a specific website to communicate with my extension, while I wait for this feature to become stable? How have chrome extension developers traditionally done it?
Thanks Rob W for pointing me in the direction of HTML5 messaging. For the benefit of other chrome extension developers, I'm writing about the general problem I was trying to solve and the solution that worked in the end.
I am making a chrome extension that can control music playback on a tab via a popup player. When a user clicks on play/pause/etc on the popup player, the extension should be able to convey that message to the webpage and get back a response stating whether the action was accomplished.
My first approach was to inject a content script into the music player page. The problem is, though, that content scripts operate in a "sandbox" and cannot access native javascript on the page. Therefore, the content script was pretty useless (on its own), because while it could receive commands from the extension, it could not effect any change on the webpage itself.
One thing that worked in my favor was that the website where the music was playing belongs to me, so I could put whatever javascript I wanted there and have it be served from the server. That's exactly what I used to my advantage: I created another javascript file that would reside on the website and communicate with the content script mentioned above, via the window object of the page (i.e. HTML5 messaging). This only works because the content script and the javascript file both exist in the same webpage and can share the window object of the page. Thanks Rob W for pointing me to this capability. Here is an example of how the javascript file on the page can initiate a connection with the content script via the window object:
content_script.js (injected by extension into xyz.com):
window.addEventListener("message", function(event) {
if(event.data.secret_key &&
(event.data.secret_key === "my_secret_key") &&
event.data.source === "page"){
if(event.data.type){
switch(event.data.type) {
case 'init':
console.log("received connection request from page");
window.postMessage({source: "content_script", type: 'init',
secret_key: "my_secret_key"}, "*");
break;
}
}
}
}, false);
onpage.js (resides on server and served along with xyz.com):
window.postMessage({source: "page", type: 'init',
secret_key: "my_secret_key"}, "*");
window.addEventListener("message", function(event) {
if(event.data.secret_key &&
(event.data.secret_key === "my_secret_key") &&
event.data.source === "content_script"){
if(event.data.type){
switch(event.data.type) {
case 'init':
console.log("connection established");
break;
}
}
}
}, false);
I check the secret key just to make sure that the message originates from where I expect it to.
That's it! If anything is unclear, or if you have any questions, feel free to follow up!
You could have an extension inject a content script alongside a web page, and use that to pass messages back and forth between the website and the background page of the extension.
It's tedious, though, and externally connectable is a lot nicer.
I am trying to write an extension that adds functionality to the Chrome devtools.
According to the devtools documentation, it says that the pages in devtools support very limited apis. Any API that is not supported can be access by accessing it through the background page, just as what contentscripts does.
Here is the relevant documentation snippet:
The tabId property provides the tab identifier that you can use with the chrome.tabs.* API calls. However, please note that chrome.tabs.* API is not exposed to the Developer Tools extension pages due to security considerations — you will need to pass the tab ID to the background page and invoke the chrome.tabs.* API functions from there.
Here is the source url: http://developer.chrome.com/extensions/devtools.inspectedWindow.html
However, when I try to do that, I get the following error in the console:
uncaught Error: "getBackgroundPage" can only be used in extension processes. See the content scripts documentation for more details.
Here is my code in my devtools.js script:
chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage().getLocation();
What am I doing wrong?
EDIT
I should describe my scenario first, and show how I am implementing it.
What I want to do is to display extra data in a devtools panel related to a webpage. In order to get that data, I will need to send a HTTP request in the same session as the page being debugged, because it requires authentication.
Use Case:
User browses to a particular URL. He is authenticated to the site. He then invokes devtools. The devtools panel opens up and a new panel shows up that has extra data related to the page.
Implementation:
1) DevTools script finds out the url of the page being inspected. If the url matches the site base hostname, then it opens a panel. In the callback of the panel creation, it sends a message to a background page, asking it to download a JSON payload from a debug endpoint on the same site, and then sends it to the devtools extension, wh ich then displays it.
Problems:
1) The background page gets the request, and downloads the URL. However the download is not using the same session as the user, so the download request fails.
2) From devtools window, I got the tabId of the inspected window. I send this tabId to the background page so that it can parse some stuff out of the url. However, chrome.tabs.get(tabId) does not return the tab.
To summarize, I need to
1) Get the background page to download data in the same session as the user's tab that is being debugged.
2) I need to have the background page be able to get access to the user's tab.
The APIs available to extension pages within the Developer Tools window include all devtools modules listed above and chrome.extension API. Other extension APIs are not available to the Developer Tools pages, but you may invoke them by sending a request to the background page of your extension, similarly to how it's done in the content scripts.
I guess the documentation is little ambiguous, By chrome.extension API they mean the Supported API's for content scripts.
So, you can use long lived communication for communication between inspected page and background page
Demonstration:
The following code illustrate scenario where a devtools page need some information from background page, it uses messages for communication.
manifest.json
Ensured permissions are all available in manifest file
{
"name":"Inspected Windows Demo",
"description":"This demonstrates Inspected window API",
"devtools_page":"devtools.html",
"manifest_version":2,
"version":"2",
"permissions":["experimental"],
"background":{
"scripts" : ["background.js"]
}
}
devtools.html
A trivial HTML File
<html>
<head>
<script src="devtools.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
devtools.js
Used Long lived Communication API's
var port = chrome.extension.connect({
name: "Sample Communication"
});
port.postMessage("Request Tab Data");
port.onMessage.addListener(function (msg) {
console.log("Tab Data recieved is " + msg);
});
background.js
Responded to communication request and passed trivial information using tab API()'s
chrome.extension.onConnect.addListener(function (port) {
port.onMessage.addListener(function (message) {
chrome.tabs.query({
"status": "complete",
"currentWindow": true,
"active": true
}, function (tabs) {
port.postMessage(tabs[0].id);
});
console.log("Message recived is "+message);
});
});
Sample Output received for trivial devtools.js here
Let me know if you need more information
EDIT 1)
For your question 1)
Can you make you call(s) from browser extension HTML Page\Content Script so same session is shared, i have tried both the ways in a sample and it is working form me, instead of code in background page- make the code in content script or browser action HTML Page.
Let me know if you are still facing problems.
For your question 2)
The following code always fetches current window user is browsing
manifest.json
Ensure you have tabs permission in your manifest.
{
"name":"Inspected Windows Demo",
"description":"This demonstrates Inspected window API",
"manifest_version":2,
"version":"2",
"permissions":["tabs"],
"background":{
"scripts" : ["background.js"]
}
}
background.js
chrome.tabs.query({
"status": "complete", // Window load is completed
"currentWindow": true, // It is in current window
"active": true //Window user is browsing
}, function (tabs) {
for (tab in tabs) { // It returns array so used a loop to iterate over items
console.log(tabs[tab].id); // Catch tab id
}
});
Let me know if you are still unable to get tab id of current window.
i wonder if and how it is possible to open a website inside a panel or in an external browser window of the mobile safari! I tried to open a website inside a panel but due to crossdomain problems only the htm without the css was loaded.
any ideas?
thnx!
edit: let's say, we use phoneGap
As far as I know, cross-domain issues do block you from IFRAME solutions for displaying external links inside your app.
Best solution currently is to have links include target="_blank" to force a new browser window to open.
#Stevanicus #Dalar It does open a new window in Mobile Safari if you use Phonegap and allowed domains using phonegap.plist whitelist property, but if you do somthing like
var rateMsg = Ext.Msg.confirm('Title', 'Some message', function(e) {
if(e == 'yes')//If user confirms yes
{
window.open("http://www.example.com", "_blank");//We open a link with _blank to use mobile safari and not your webview
}
});
It does not work.