CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptgoogle-chromegoogle-chrome-extension
Sloganho
Sloganho

Reputation: 2111

Chrome Extension content scripts not firing code

I'm trying to grab the URL for every new page that is visited by the user. I found a SO answer that said to use content_scripts so I put this in my manifest:

"permissions": [
  "tabs"
],
"content_scripts": [
{
  "matches": ["<all_urls>"],
  "js": ["js/background.js"]
}

I also tried matches like this:

"matches": ["http://*/*", "https://*/*"],

And this is my background.js file:

chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(function(tabId, changeInfo, tab) {
    alert(changeInfo.url);
});

chrome.tabs.onActivated.addListener(function(activeInfo) {
  // how to fetch tab url using activeInfo.tabid
  chrome.tabs.get(activeInfo.tabId, function(tab){
     console.log(tab.url);
  });
});

alert("BACON");

Nothing gets fired off after reloading the extension and then opening up new tabs and going to various websites. Could someone please help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 314

Answers (1)

pespantelis
pespantelis

Reputation: 15372

As per content scripts documentation:

Content scripts have some limitations. They cannot use chrome.* APIs, with the exception of:

  • extension (getURL, inIncognitoContext, lastError, onRequest, sendRequest)
  • i18n
  • runtime (connect, getManifest, getURL, id, onConnect, onMessage, sendMessage)
  • storage

Solution: in order to access chrome.tabs API you should use a background page script.

Also note that according to chrome.tabs API documentation:

You can use most chrome.tabs methods and events without declaring any permissions in the extension's manifest file. However, if you require access to the url, title, or favIconUrl properties of tabs.Tab, you must declare the "tabs" permission in the manifest

manifest.json

...
"permissions": [
  "tabs"
],
"background": {
  "scripts": ["background.js"]
},
...

background.js

chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(function(tabId, changeInfo, tab) {
  if (changeInfo.status==='loading' && changeInfo.url) {
    alert(changeInfo.url);
  }
});

Upvotes: 4

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