CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptgoogle-chromegoogle-chrome-extensiontabs
EasilyBaffled
EasilyBaffled

Reputation: 3882

closing the current tab in a chrome extention

I am writing a chrome extension that when clicked, will close the current tab after a given amount of time.
I am sending a message with the time, from popup.js to background.js. But the tab won't close. The alert works when I uncomment it, so it seems to be just the remove line. I assume it's something about tab.id.

chrome.extension.onMessage.addListener(
    function message(request, sender, callback) {
        var ctr = 0;
        ctr = parseInt(request.text, 10);
        setTimeout(function() {
            chrome.tabs.getCurrent(function(tab) {
                //window.alert("Working?");
                chrome.tabs.remove(tab.id, function(){});
            });
        }, ctr);
    }
);

Upvotes: 1

Views: 3081

Answers (1)

gkalpak
gkalpak

Reputation: 48212

1.
chrome.extension has no onMessage event. I assume you mean the correct chrome.runtime.onMessage

2.
You have probably misunderstood(*) the purpose of chrome.tabs.getCurrent:

Gets the tab that this script call is being made from. May be undefined if called from a non-tab context (for example: a background page or popup view).

Since, you are calling it from a non-tab context (namely the background page), tab will be undefined.

(*): "misunderstood" as in "not bother to read the manual"...

3.
It is not clear if you want to close the active tab at the moment the timer is set or at the moment it is triggered. (In your code, you are attempting to do the latter, although the former would make more sense to me.)

The correct way to do it:

chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener(function message(msg) {
    var ctr = 0;
    ctr = parseInt(msg.text, 10);
    setTimeout(function() {
        chrome.tabs.query({ active: true }, function(tabs) {
             chrome.tabs.remove(tabs[0].id);
        });
    }, ctr);
});

Also, note that using functions like setTimeout and setInteval will only work reliably in persistent background pages (but not in event pages). If possible, you are advised to migrate to event pages (which are more "resource-friendly"), in which case you will also have to switch to the alarms API.

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions