Chrome Extension Messaging Timeout - google-chrome-extension

Question

I have a tab with, among other stuff, following content:
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0; URL='whatsoever'" />
I also have a plugin running that registers every tab using this technique:
chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(doStuff);
The doStuff-function sends a message to the tab:
function doStuff(tabId, changeInfo, tab){
chrome.tabs.sendMessage(tabId, {'message': 'content'}, function(response){
doOtherStuff(response);
});
}
I have a script registered (not seen here), and in that script, this happens:
function receiveMessage(request, sender, sendResponse){
sendResponse({'content': 'responseData'});
}
chrome.extension.onMessage.addListener(receiveMessage);
My problem is that due to the instantaneous refresh, the response times out, and following error appears in the console:
Could not send response: The chrome.extension.onMessage listener must
return true if you want to send a response after the listener returns
(message was sent by extension XYZ).
Why is that, and how can I circumvent this issue? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

It says, the function receiveMessage should exit with return true;. Only then the message will continue to be send. On false, it is aborted the moment the function returns. So add return true
see:
This function becomes invalid when the event listener returns, unless
you return true from the event listener to indicate you wish to send a
response asynchronously (this will keep the message channel open to
the other end until sendResponse is called).
from the doc:
https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/runtime#event-onMessage
function receiveMessage(request, sender, sendResponse){
sendResponse({'content': 'responseData'});
return true;
}
chrome.extension.onMessage.addListener(receiveMessage);