I've been having a look at Chrome extensions and I'd like to create an extension that interacts with a web page using a sidebar. So, user clicks button to launch extension, and the current page splits, with the right hand portion displaying my extension. I tried below, but I see nothing (working or otherwise). I'm not overly surprised it's not working as I do not have a sidebar.html file for one thing. The reason I have that in the manifest is because I saw it in another post in this site. The suggestion there was to use the "sidebar" line in manifest.json, but "sidebar" isn't even mentioned in the documentation as being a valid part of the manifest syntax.
manifest.json:
{
"name": "Test 1",
"version": "1.0",
"description": "Test Extension 1",
"page_action": {
"default_icon": "icon.png",
"default_title": "Testing",
"default_popup": "popup.html"
},
"sidebar" : {},
"permissions": [
"experimental"
]
}
popup.html:
<script>
chrome.experimental.sidebar.show();
chrome.experimental.sidebar.expand();
chrome.experimental.sidebar.navigate({path: "sidebar.html"});
</script>
I've enabled 'experimental'.
Thanks for any help.
The problem is that you are opening, theoretically, the sidebar inside your popup, not in the current page.
You should add a content script in the page, with a function that opens the sidebar. So, in your popup you should just retrieve the current tab then call this function from it.
Also, as Boris Smus said in your question, sidebars will be discontinued in future versions. So I advice you to create your own sidebar frame via content scripts.
Update
To help you, I've made a simple extension that create a sidebar on current page.
#Curtis hosted my sample extension on Github, you can clone it here.
I was looking for a sidebar solution as well and ended up at
Implement chrome.sidebar API thread.
According to the Sidebar PRD, it is already possible to create sidebar by:
injecting a script into the page which edits the HTML of the page to display a sidebar by modifying the DOM to insert an iframe which
loads the contents of the sidebar from a remote server.
the injected script can edit the DOM directly to display a sidebar, the contents of which are passed via message.
However, there are many downsides (explained in the same document) with regard to:
Usability, Performance, Security, Privacy (Extension sniffing as well as Third party cookies) and Accessibility.
You can watch a demo of what they are preparing for future Sidebar Component.
It might help in shipping the feature quicker if you star the thread.
update
Per this comment, Chrome will not get a built-in sidebar component.
Related
With a Manifest v3 Chrome Extension, is it possible to load an extension HTML resource file into a new tab? I was thinking about providing a plugin with a larger, full-page user experience than what the popdown panel could provide. I created a page.html (just simple HTML for now, no JS or CSS) and put it in my extensions folder. I then added this to the manifest.json:
"web_accessible_resources": [
{
"resources": ["page.html"],
"matches": [ "*://*/*" ]
}
]
I reloaded the plugin and then tried navigating to this page in my browser with:
chrome://extensions/MY-EXTENSION-ID-GOES-HERE/page.html
I get an ERR_FAILED and "This site can't be reached" message.
There is no need for a web_accessible_resources in this case in the v3 manifest for this action. Just use something like the following code to open it from the service-worker.js:
chrome.tabs.create({url:chrome.runtime.getURL('page.html'),active:true});
This will automatically open something akin to...
chrome-extension://MY-EXTENSION-ID/page.html
...where MY-EXTENSION-ID is automatically filled in by chrome.runtime.getURL('page.html').
You can then reference remote and local resources in your HTML tags. For local resources, just use relative pathing. For remote resources, keep an eye on Google Chrome Extension developer policies.
Thanks goes to wOxxOm for his assistance.
Recently I am developing an extension which listens to tab change and do some stuff according to it. Now I wrote my main logic in chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener in background.js. I used unpacked version for development. However, to make the extension work, I need to manually go to the extension page and click refresh icon every time when first open a chrome window, otherwise, it will not work. Is there a way to make the background.js run the code without manually click refresh button? I tried onStartup but it doesn't work out.
Although not ideal, you can make the background script run persistently if you modify your manifest.json to...
{
"name": "My extension",
...
"background": {
"scripts": ["background.js"],
"persistent": true
},
...
}
This is not recommended because background scripts can use a lot of resources so you should use something like chromes messaging API to run only on set/specific events.
If you need to look into changing your background script, look at this for more information.
I'm pretty new at chrome extensions and am trying to make a simple one that automatically launches links in my emails. I am going to modify it a bit later on, but for now, this is all I am trying to do. How do I have a chrome extension automatically read the text of the current tab that I am on, or when I open emails if I can get that specific? I have a manifest file set up and currently can make the extension button launch a link, but I'd rather have this happen automatically, as I don't want to hit a button to launch a link when I could just click the link itself.
manifest.json
{
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "MT task launcher",
"description": "This extension launches Task Links in emails",
"version": "1.0",
"background": {
"scripts": ["task.js"]
},
"browser_action": {
"default_icon": "icon.png",
"default_title": "Email Task Launcher"
},
"permissions": [
"activeTab"
]
}
task.js
chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
var action_url = "http://www.reddit.com";
chrome.tabs.create({ url: action_url });
});
Take a look at Official Guide, for your purpose, I think you should use content scripts ( which are injected into current web page), then read the DOM and get all the links. To open the links, you can either call window.open() or by passing message then open them via chrome.tabs.create
There are two options to do that, it's either edit the local copy of the extension or to inject the call to the extension.
Inject code as a Content script, use the matching rules as defines in the manifest file
A background page file use the 'chrome.tabs.onUpdated' event. Also, use the 'chrome.tabs.executeScript' method to inject script.
Ok, so just the other day I learned that you can inspect the devtools if it is in its own window(explained here). I also learned that you can style the devtools with your own css by editing the Custom.css file in your profile on your computer(more on that here).
What I want to do is not only add css, but also javascript, via a chrome extension. I am very aware of devtools pages, but those do not do what I want. Pretty much I want to get a content script to run on the devtools inspector itself. I found one extension that does exactly this, but for the life of me I have not been able to replicate it(even when copy-pasting the code!!). The extension is the "Discover DevTools Companion extension" from Code School(on the webstore). They even explain how it works, but I still have had no luck. That was the only extension I have found that does what I want. So I guess what I'm really asking is if its just me that cannot get it to work or if others that try are having trouble also.
Usually, you cannot create a Chrome extension which injects code in a devtools page.
The "Discover DevTools Companion" extension from now on, referred to as DDC is allowed to do this, because this extension is whitelisted in the source code of Chromium: (this is no longer the case)
// Whitelist "Discover DevTools Companion" extension from Google that
// needs the ability to script DevTools pages. Companion will assist
// online courses and will be needed while the online educational programs
// are in place.
scripting_whitelist_.push_back("angkfkebojeancgemegoedelbnjgcgme");
If you want to publish an extension in the Chrome Web Store with these capabilities, give up.
If you want to create such an extension for personal / internal use, read further.
Method 1: Impersonate the DDC a whitelisted extension
The easiest way to create an extension with such permissions is to create an extension with the extension ID of a whitelisted extension (e.g. ChromeVox). This is achieved by copying the "key" key of its manifest file to your extension's manifest (see also: How to get the key?). This is a minimal example:
manifest.json
{
// WARNING: Do NOT load this extension if you use ChromeVox!
// WARNING: Do NOT load this extension if you use ChromeVox!
// WARNING: This is a REALLY BIG HAMMER.
"content_scripts": [{
"js": [ "run_as_devtools.js" ],
"matches": [ "<all_urls>" ]
}],
// This is the key for kgejglhpjiefppelpmljglcjbhoiplfn (ChromeVox)
"key": "MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDEGBi/oD7Yl/Y16w3+gee/95/EUpRZ2U6c+8orV5ei+3CRsBsoXI/DPGBauZ3rWQ47aQnfoG00sXigFdJA2NhNK9OgmRA2evnsRRbjYm2BG1twpaLsgQPPus3PyczbDCvhFu8k24wzFyEtxLrfxAGBseBPb9QrCz7B4k2QgxD/CwIDAQAB",
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "Elevated Devtools extension",
"version": "1.0"
}
run_as_devtools.js
if (location.protocol === 'chrome-devtools:') (function() {
'use strict';
// Whatever you want to do with the devtools.
})();
Note: This method is truly a hack. Since the extension shares the same ID as ChromeVox, both extensions cannot co-exist. And if Chrome decides to remove the whitelisted extension, then your permissions will evaporate.
Instead of filtering via the content script, you can also use the include_globs key to restrict the content script to devtools only.
Method 2: Modify resources.pak
I suggest to go with method 1 if possible. When method 1 fails (e.g. because the extension is no longer whitelisted), use the next method.
Get paktools.py, unpack.py and pack.py from DennisKehrig/patch_devtools (on Github).
Locate your Chrome directory containing resources.pak.
Run python2 unpack.py resources.pak, which creates a directory resources containing all files (all file names are numbers).
Locate the file containing a script which runs in the context of the developer tools. Add your desired code there.
Remove resources.pak
Run python2 pack.py resources to create the new resources.pak file.
Note: resources.pak may be replaced when Chrome is updated, so I suggest to create a script which automates my described algorithm. That shouldn't be too difficult.
If you're interested, you can look up the .pak file format in ui/base/resource/data_pack_literal.cc (description in human language).
For those googlers who end up at this page (as I did) looking for something else, this page answers the question of manipulating DevTools ITSELF - not adding jQuery to DevTools, or injecting javaScript onto a web page. For those, see here instead:
Inject jQuery into DevTools (Chrome or Firefox):
Firefox DevTools: Automatically injecting jQuery
Inject your own javascript/css onto any web page:
How to edit a website's background colors
I am working on my first extension and am trying to create a simple extension to inject a draggable div on a page. That works nicely, but I want to preserve the location of the div on the background page (I'm also trying out local storage, but want to understand why this isn't working).
I do not need a button so have not created a popup.html file, which, I believe, is entirely optional. It certainly has worked so far just injecting javascript files.
However, I now get the following error thrown when executing chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage():
Uncaught Error: chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage can only be used in extension processes. See the content scripts documentation for more details.
The content scripts documentation did not seem to identify anything wrong with my approach: http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/content_scripts.html
Here is a redacted manifest I am using:
{
"name": "My helper",
"version": "1.0",
"description": "Tastes great",
"background_page": "background.html",
"content_scripts": [
{
"matches":["https://page.of.interest/*"],
"run_at":"document_idle",
"js":[ "jquery.js", "jquery-ui-1.8.17.custom.min.js", "my_content_script.js"],
"css": [ "my_content_script.css" ]
}
],
"permissions": [
"background"
]
}
So I am running this statement inside "my_content_script.js". Is this NOT considered part of the extension process? Can I only run this on a popup.html (or other possibly?) file?
If this is the case, then maybe it is easier to just use localstorage rather than trying to communicate through the dom with the extension process.
Hope I've been clear despite my ignorance about some of these concepts.
I don't think the docs explicitly say you can't use chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage() from a content_script but because the content_script has permissions more oriented with the page it is being run on it isn't allowed access. The docs do mention a few methods you can use however.
Unlike the other chrome.* APIs, parts of chrome.extension can be used by content scripts:
You will have to use message passing to communicate between the background_page and the content_script.
You have to use the chrome.cookies.get() in background.html, and then do the communication between your content script and background.html for exchanging cookie data.