Script doesn't work without TamperMonkey

Question

I'm working on a user script, and I noticed that it worked when it was set up with TamperMonkey, but not when it was manually added to the Chrome extensions.

I wish I knew what it was due? What TamperMonkey has more to run my script?

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Rainbow DDB
// @namespace   Rainbow DDB
// @description Change la couleur du "!" lorsqu'une DDB est en cours.
// @include     http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/3-*
// @include     http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/1-*
// ==/UserScript==

$ = unsafeWindow.$;
var dates = document.querySelectorAll(".date");
i=0;

function ddb(j) {
url = dates[j].getElementsByTagName("a")[0].href;
   $.get(
   url, 
   function(data) {
   if (data.indexOf("Signalement déjà fait") >= 0) {
   dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = "http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/17/1367080939-14agd2.png";
   } else if (data.indexOf("Vous êtes à l'origine") >= 0) {
   dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = "http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/17/1367081255-14aig2.png";
   } else if (data.indexOf("effectué un boost") >= 0) {
   dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = "http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/17/1367073914-149xe2.png";
   } else if (data.indexOf("Autosignalement déjà effectué") >= 0) {
   dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = "http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/17/1367082905-14atu2.png";
   }
   });
}


while (i<dates.length) {
   ddb(i);
   i++;
  }

As you can see it is a very simple script. Is $.get a problem ? I tried without the $ = unsafeWindow.$; but it does not work neither.

Answer 1

Tampermonkey supports a proper unsafeWindow, while Chrome userscripts have a stripped-down, mostly useless, object by that name. See "Why is window (and unsafeWindow) not the same from a userscript as from a tag?".

I recommend just supporting Tampermonkey and not bothering with straight Chrome userscripts. This offers several advantages:

1. Almost complete support for the powerful Greasemonkey API.

2. This means that almost all Greasemonkey scripts will work, as-is, in Tampermonkey and there are a lot of pre-built scripts out there.

3. It's vastly easier to install, create, edit, update and maintain Tampermonkey scripts. Especially, now that Chrome has its "Install from our $tore, or else!" policy for userscripts and full-fledged extensions.

4. Automatic and easy synching between machines if you use Chrome's synching features.

---

---

If you insist on supporting naked Chrome, you will have to inject the code. Like so:

// ==UserScript==
// @name        Rainbow DDB
// @namespace   Rainbow DDB
// @description Change la couleur du "!" lorsqu'une DDB est en cours.
// @include     http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/3-*
// @include     http://www.jeuxvideo.com/forums/1-*
// ==/UserScript==

function GM_scriptMain ($) {
    var dates   = document.querySelectorAll (".date");
    var urlBase = "http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2013/17/";

    function ddb (j) {
        var url = dates[j].getElementsByTagName("a")[0].href;
        $.get (
            url, function (data) {
            if (data.indexOf("Signalement déjà fait") >= 0) {
                dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = urlBase + "1367080939-14agd2.png";
            } else if (data.indexOf("Vous êtes à l'origine") >= 0) {
                dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = urlBase + "1367081255-14aig2.png";
            } else if (data.indexOf("effectué un boost") >= 0) {
                dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = urlBase + "1367073914-149xe2.png";
            } else if (data.indexOf("Autosignalement déjà effectué") >= 0) {
                dates[j].querySelector("a img").src = urlBase + "1367082905-14atu2.png";
            }
        } );
    }

    for (var k = 0, L = dates.length;  k < L;  ++k) {
        ddb (k);
    }
}

withPages_jQuery (GM_scriptMain);

function withPages_jQuery (NAMED_FunctionToRun) {
    //--- Use named functions for clarity and debugging...
    var funcText        = NAMED_FunctionToRun.toString ();
    var funcName        = funcText.replace (/^function\s+(\w+)\s*\((.|\n|\r)+$/, "$1");
    var script          = document.createElement ("script");
    script.textContent  = funcText + "\n\n";
    script.textContent += 'jQuery(document).ready(function() {'+funcName+'(jQuery);});';
    document.body.appendChild (script);
};