CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptgoogle-chromebrowsergoogle-chrome-extensionbrowser-history
rer
rer

Reputation: 1268

How to delete a specific browser history item based on URL and time range

I'm trying to use chrome.history to delete some specific visits that my extension is automatically visiting in a background window.

I found that there are at least a couple ways to do this:

  1. chrome.history.deleteUrl(url): which requires a URL and deletes all occurrences of it.

  2. chrome.history.deleteRange(range): which requires a startTime and endTime and deletes all URLs in that range.

How can I combine the two to delete a browser history visit with a specific URL and time range?

Or is there another, perhaps better, way to approach this entirely. Such as proactively setting a listener to delete URLs while automatically surfing them with some combination of the above functions and chrome.history.onVisited.addListener.

Thanks!

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1402

Answers (2)

rer
rer

Reputation: 1268

Here's what I came up with that you can run in a background console to test. It sets a listener, opens up a new tab, and the listener checks for a url match, then deletes the new history item. Lastly, it does a history search to confirm the item was removed:

var url = 'http://stackoverflow.com'

// Get current window
chrome.windows.getCurrent(function(win) { 

    // Add temporary listener for new history visits
    chrome.history.onVisited.addListener(function listener(historyItem) {

        // Check if new history item matches URL
        if (historyItem.url.indexOf(url) > -1) {

            console.log('Found matching new history item', historyItem)
            var visit_time = historyItem.lastVisitTime

            // Delete range 0.5ms before and after history item
            chrome.history.deleteRange({
                startTime: visit_time - 0.5, 
                endTime: visit_time + 0.5
            }, function() { 
                console.log('Removed Visit', historyItem)

                // Get history with URL and see if last item is listed
                chrome.history.search(
                    {text:'stackoverflow'}, 
                    function(result) { 
                        console.log('Show History is deleted:', result) 
                    } )

            });
            chrome.history.onVisited.removeListener(listener)
        }
    });

    // Create new tab
    chrome.tabs.create({ 
        windowId: win.id,
        url: url,
        active: false
    }, function(tab) {
        console.log('Created tab')
    }) 
});

Using only visit_time as both the startTime and endTime didn't work for me. Seems highly unlikely that this would delete more than the new entry though.

Upvotes: 0

AJ_
AJ_

Reputation: 1485

The Chrome API doesn't provide a method that removes history items by URL and date. You only have access to the history through chrome.history or chrome. browsingData and neither is equipped for querying history items that way.

I think your best bet is using the chrome.history.onVisited.addListener method like you mentioned. Since your extension is visiting the websites, you know which urls to check for. Assuming you only need to remove history items created while your extension is running, you could use something like...

chrome.history.onVisited.addListener((res) => {
    if (res.url === 'someurl') {
        const t = res.lastTimeVisisted;

        // You might need to play with the end time
        chrome.history.deleteRange({
            startTime: t,
            endTime: t
        });
    }
})

Upvotes: 2

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