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+<h1>Frequently Asked Questions</h1> |
+ |
+ |
+<!-- --> |
+ |
+<p> |
+If you don't find an answer to your question here, |
+try the |
+<a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/webstore/faq.html">Chrome Web Store FAQ</a>, the |
+<a href="http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/google-chrome-extension">[google-chrome-extension] tag on Stack Overflow</a>, the |
+<a href="http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-extensions">group</a>, or the |
+<a href="http://www.google.com/support/chrome_webstore/">store help</a>. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<div id="faq-TOC"> |
+ <h4>General</h4> |
+ <ul> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-gen-01">What are Google Chrome Extensions?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-01">How can I set up Chrome for extension development?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-gen-02">What technologies are used to write extensions for Chrome?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-gen-03">Are extensions fetched from the web every time the browser is loaded?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-14">How do I determine which version of Chrome is deployed to which channel?</a></li> |
+ </ul> |
+ <h4>Capabilities</h4> |
+ <ul> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-02">Can extensions make cross-domain Ajax requests?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-03">Can extensions use 3rd party web services?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-07">Can extensions encode/decode JSON data?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-08">Can extensions store data locally?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-04">Can extensions use OAuth?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-06">Can extensions load DLLs?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-05">Can extensions create UI outside of the rendered web page?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-interact-chrome">Can extensions listen to clicks on Chrome tabs and navigation buttons?</a> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-11">Can two extensions communicate with each other?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-13">Can extensions use Google Analytics?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-15">Can extensions modify chrome:// URLs?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-open-popups">Can extensions open browser/page action popups without user interaction?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-persist-popups">Can extensions keep popups open after the user clicks away from them?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-lifecycle-events">Can extensions be notified when they are installed/uninstalled?</a></li> |
+ </ul> |
+ <h4>Development</h4> |
+ <ul> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-building-ui">How do I build a UI for my extension?</a> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-09">How much data can I store in localStorage?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-10">How do I create an options menu for my application?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-12">What debugging tools are available to extension developers?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-dev-16">Why do wildcard matches not work for top level domains (TLDs)?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-management">Why does the management API not fire events when my extension is installed/uninstalled?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-firstrun">How can an extension determine whether it is running for the first time?</a></li> |
+ </ul> |
+ <h4>Features and bugs</h4> |
+ <ul> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-fea-01">I think I've found a bug! How do I make sure it gets fixed?</a></li> |
+ <li><a href="#faq-fea-02">I have a feature request! How can I report it?</a></li> |
+ </ul> |
+</div> |
+ |
+<h2>General</h2> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-gen-01">What are Google Chrome Extensions?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Google Chrome Extensions are applications that run inside the |
+ Chrome browser and provide additional functionality, integration with third |
+ party websites or services, and customized browsing experiences. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-01">How can I set up Chrome for extension development?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ As long as you are using a version of Chrome that supports |
+ extensions, you already have everything you need to start writing an |
+ extension of your own. |
+ You can start by turning on Developer mode. |
+ </p> |
+ |
+ <p> |
+ Click the wrench icon |
+ <img src="{{static}}/images/toolsmenu.gif" height="29" width="29" alt="" |
+ class="nomargin" /> |
+ and select <b>Extensions</b> from the <b>Tools</b> menu. |
+ If there's a "+" next to "Developer mode", |
+ click the "+" so it turns into a "-". |
+ Now you can reload extensions, |
+ load an unpacked directory of files as if it were a packaged extension, |
+ and more. For a complete tutorial, see |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/getstarted.html">Getting Started</a>. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-gen-02">What technologies are used to write extensions for Chrome?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Extensions are written using the same standard web |
+ technologies that developers use to create websites. HTML is used as a |
+ content markup language, CSS is used for styling, and JavaScript for |
+ scripting. Because Chrome supports HTML5 and CSS3, developers can |
+ use the latest open web technologies such as canvas and CSS animations in |
+ their extensions. Extensions also have access to several |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/api_other.html">JavaScript APIs</a> |
+ that help perform functions like JSON encoding and interacting with the |
+ browser. |
+</p> |
+ |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-gen-03">Are extensions fetched from the web every time the browser is loaded?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Extensions are downloaded by the Chrome browser upon install, and |
+ are subsequently run off of the local disk in order to speed up |
+ performance. However, if a new version of the extension is pushed online, |
+ it will be automatically downloaded in the background to any users who |
+ have the extension installed. Extensions may also make requests for remote |
+ content at any time, in order to interact with a web service or pull new |
+ content from the web. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-14">How do I determine which version of Chrome is deployed to which channel?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ To determine which version of Chrome is currently available on each |
+ of the different platforms, visit |
+ <a href="http://omahaproxy.appspot.com">omahaproxy.appspot.com</a>. On that |
+ site you will see data in a format similar to: |
+</p> |
+ |
+<pre>cf,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+cf,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+cf,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+linux,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+linux,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+linux,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+mac,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+mac,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+mac,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+win,canary,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+win,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+win,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+win,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+cros,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,##### |
+cros,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#,mm/dd/yy,mm/dd/yy,#####,#####,#####</pre> |
+ |
+<p> |
+ Each line represents information about a different platform and channel |
+ combination. The |
+ listed platforms are <code>cf</code> (Google Chrome Frame), |
+ <code>linux</code>, <code>mac</code>, <code>win</code>, and |
+ <code>cros</code> (Google Chrome OS). The listed |
+ channels are <code>canary</code>, <code>dev</code>, <code>beta</code>, |
+ and <code>stable</code>. |
+ The two four-part numbers after the channel represent the current and previous |
+ versions of Chrome deployed to that platform-channel |
+ combination. The rest of the information is metadata about when the releases |
+ were first pushed, as well as revision numbers associated with each build. |
+</p> |
+ |
+ |
+<h2>Capabilities</h2> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-02">Can extensions make cross-domain Ajax requests?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes. Extensions can make cross-domain requests. See |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/xhr.html">this page</a> |
+ for more information. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-03">Can extensions use 3rd party web services?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes. Extensions are capable of making cross-domain Ajax |
+ requests, so they can call remote APIs directly. APIs that provide data |
+ in JSON format are particularly easy to use. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-07">Can extensions encode/decode JSON data?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, because V8 (Chrome's JavaScript engine) supports |
+ JSON.stringify and JSON.parse natively, you may use these functions in your |
+ extensions |
+ <a href="http://json.org/js.html">as described here</a> without including |
+ any additional JSON libraries in your code. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-08">Can extensions store data locally?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, extensions can use <a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/webstorage/">localStorage</a> |
+ to store string data permanently. Using Chrome's built-in JSON |
+ functions, you can store complex data structures in localStorage. For |
+ extensions that need to execute SQL queries on their stored data, |
+ Chrome implements |
+ <a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/webdatabase/">client side SQL databases</a>, |
+ which may be used as well. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-04">Can extensions use OAuth?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, there are extensions that use OAuth to access remote data |
+ APIs. Most developers find it convenient to use a |
+ <a href="http://unitedheroes.net/OAuthSimple/js/OAuthSimple.js">JavaScript OAuth library</a> |
+ in order to simplify the process of signing OAuth requests. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-06">Can extensions load DLLs?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, using the <a href="npapi.html">NPAPI interface</a>. |
+ Because of the possibility for abuse, though, we will review your extension |
+ before hosting it in the Chrome Web Store. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-05">Can extensions create UI outside of the rendered web page?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, your extension may add buttons to the Chrome browser's user interface. |
+ See <a href="browserAction.html">browser actions</a> and |
+ <a href="pageAction.html">page actions</a> for more information. |
+</p> |
+<p> |
+ An extension may also create popup notifications, which exist outside of the |
+ browser window. See the <a href="notifications.html">desktop |
+ notifications</a> documentation for more details. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-interact-chrome">Can extensions listen to clicks on Chrome tabs and |
+ navigation buttons?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ No. Extensions are limited to listening to the events described in the <a |
+ href="api_index.html">API documentation</a>. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-11">Can two extensions communicate with each other?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, extensions may pass messages to other extensions. See the |
+ <a href="messaging.html#external">message passing documentation</a> |
+ for more information. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-13">Can extensions use Google Analytics?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Yes, since extensions are built just like websites, they can use |
+ <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a> to track |
+ usage. However, we strongly advise you to modify the tracking code to pull |
+ an HTTPS version of the Google Analytics library. See |
+ <a href="tut_analytics.html">this tutorial</a> for more information on doing |
+ this. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-15">Can extensions modify chrome:// URLs?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ No. The extensions APIs have been designed to minimize backwards |
+ compatibility issues that can arise when new versions of the browser are |
+ pushed. Allowing content scripts on <code>chrome://</code> |
+ URLs would mean that developers would begin to rely on the DOM, CSS, and |
+ JavaScript of these pages to stay the same. In the best case, these pages |
+ could not be updated as quickly as they are being updated right now. |
+ In the worst case, it could mean that an update to one |
+ of these pages could cause an extension to break, causing key parts of the |
+ browser to stop working for users of that extension. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<p> |
+ The reason that <a href="override.html">replacing the content</a> |
+ hosted at these URLs entirely is |
+ allowed is because it forces an extension developer to implement all of the |
+ functionality they want without depending on the browser's internal implementation |
+ to stay the same. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-open-popups">Can extensions open browser/page action popups without |
+ user interaction?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ No, popups can only be opened if the user clicks on the corresponding page or |
+ browser action. An extension cannot open its popup programatically. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-persist-popups">Can extensions keep popups open after the user |
+ clicks away from them?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ No, popups automatically close when the user focuses on some portion of the |
+ browser outside of the popup. There is no way to keep the popup open after |
+ the user has clicked away. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-lifecycle-events">Can extensions be notified when they are |
+ installed/uninstalled?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ No, there are no events an extension can listen to in order to determine |
+ whether it has been installed or uninstalled. However, an extension can |
+ determine when it has been run for the first time. See <a |
+ href="#faq-firstrun">this FAQ entry</a> for information. |
+</p> |
+ |
+ |
+<h2>Development</h2> |
+ |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-building-ui">How do I build a UI for my extension?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Extensions use HTML and CSS to define their user interfaces, so you can use |
+ standard form controls to build your UI, or style the interface with CSS, |
+ as you would a web page. Additionally, extensions can add |
+ <a href="#faq-dev-05">some limited UI elements to Chrome itself.</a> |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-09">How much data can I store in localStorage?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Extensions can store up to 5MB of data in localStorage. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-10">How do I create an options menu for my application?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ You can let users set options for your extension by creating an |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/trunk/options.html">options page</a>, |
+ which is a simple HTML page that will be loaded when a user clicks the |
+ "options" button for your extension. This page can read and write settings |
+ to localStorage, or even send options to a web server so that they can be |
+ persisted across browsers. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-12">What debugging tools are available to extension developers?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ Chrome's built-in developer tools can be used to debug extensions |
+ as well as web pages. See this |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/tut_debugging.html ">tutorial on debugging extensions</a> |
+ for more information. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-dev-16">Why do wildcard matches not work for top level domains |
+ (TLDs)?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ You cannot use wildcard match patterns like <code>http://google.*/*</code> |
+ to match TLDs (like <code>http://google.es</code> and |
+ <code>http://google.fr</code>) due to the |
+ complexity of actually restricting such a match to only the desired domains. |
+</p> |
+<p> |
+ For the example of <code>http://google.*/*</code>, the Google domains would |
+ be matched, but so would <code>http://google.someotherdomain.com</code>. |
+ Additionally, many sites do not own all of the TLDs for their |
+ domain. For an example, assume you want to use |
+ <code>http://example.*/*</code> to match <code>http://example.com</code> and |
+ <code>http://example.es</code>, but <code>http://example.net</code> is a |
+ hostile site. If your extension has a bug, the hostile site could potentially |
+ attack your extension in order to get access to your extension's increased |
+ privileges. |
+</p> |
+<p> |
+ You should explicitly enumerate the TLDs that you wish to run |
+ your extension on. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-management">Why does the management API not fire events when my |
+ extension is installed/uninstalled?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ The <a href="management.html">management API</a> was intended to help create |
+ new tab page replacement extensions. It was not intended to fire |
+ install/uninstall events for the current extension. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-firstrun">How can an extension determine whether it is running for |
+ the first time?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ An extension can check to see whether it is running for the first time by |
+ checking for the presence of a value in localStorage, and writing the value if |
+ it does not exist. For example: |
+</p> |
+ |
+<pre>var firstRun = (localStorage['firstRun'] == 'true'); |
+if (!firstRun) { |
+ localStorage['firstRun'] = 'true'; |
+}</pre> |
+ |
+<p> |
+ Note that this check should be run in a background page, not a content script. |
+</p> |
+ |
+ |
+<h2>Features and bugs</h2> |
+ |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-fea-01">I think I've found a bug! How do I make sure it gets |
+ fixed?</h3> |
+<p> |
+ While developing an extension, you may find behavior that does not |
+ match the extensions documentation and may be the result of a bug in |
+ Chrome. The best thing to do is to make sure an appropriate issue |
+ report is filed, and the Chromium team has enough information to reproduce |
+ the behavior. |
+</p> |
+ |
+<p>The steps you should follow to ensure this are:</p> |
+ |
+<ol> |
+ <li> |
+ Come up with a <em>minimal</em> test extension that demonstrates the issue |
+ you wish to report. This extension should have as little code as possible |
+ to demonstrate the bug—generally this should be 100 lines of |
+ code or less. Many times, developers find that they cannot reproduce their |
+ issues this way, which is a good indicator that the bug is in their own |
+ code. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ Search the issue tracker at |
+ <a href="http://www.crbug.com">http://www.crbug.com</a> to see whether |
+ someone has reported a similar issue. Most issues related to |
+ extensions are filed under <strong>Feature=Extensions</strong>, so to |
+ look for an extension bug related to the |
+ chrome.tabs.executeScript function (for example), search for |
+ "<code>Feature=Extensions Type=Bug chrome.tabs.executeScript</code>", |
+ which will give you |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/list?can=2&q=Feature%3DExtensions+Type%3DBug+chrome.tabs.executeScript&colspec=ID+Stars+Pri+Area+Feature+Type+Status+Summary+Modified+Owner+Mstone+OS&x=mstone&y=area&cells=tiles"> |
+ this list of results</a>. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ If you find a bug that describes your issue, click the star icon to be |
+ notified when the bug receives an update. <em>Do not respond to the |
+ bug to say "me too" or ask "when will this be fixed?"</em>; such updates |
+ can cause hundreds of emails to be sent. Add a comment only if you have |
+ information (such as a better test case or a suggested fix) that is likely |
+ to be helpful. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ If you found no appropriate bug to star, file a new issue report at |
+ <a href="http://new.crbug.com">http://new.crbug.com</a>. Be as explicit |
+ as possible when filling out this form: choose a descriptive title, |
+ explain the steps to reproduce the bug, and describe the expected and |
+ actual behavior. Attach your test example to the report and add |
+ screenshots if appropriate. The easier your report makes it for others |
+ to reproduce your issue, the greater chance that your bug will be fixed |
+ promptly. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ Wait for the bug to be updated. Most new bugs are triaged within a week, |
+ although it can sometimes take longer for an update. <em>Do not reply |
+ to the bug to ask when the issue will be fixed.</em> If your bug has not |
+ been modified after two weeks, please post a message to the |
+ <a href="http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-extensions/topics"> |
+ discussion group</a> with a link back to your bug. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ If you originally reported your bug on the discussion group and were |
+ directed to this FAQ entry, reply to your original thread with a link |
+ to the bug you starred or reported. This will make it easier for others |
+ experiencing the same issue to find the correct bug. |
+ </li> |
+</ol> |
+ |
+<h3 id="faq-fea-02">I have a feature request! How can I report it?</h3> |
+ |
+<p>If you identify a feature (especially if it's related to an experimental |
+ API) that could be added to improve the extension development experience, |
+ make sure an appropriate request is filed in the issue tracker.</p> |
+ |
+<p>The steps you should follow to ensure this are:</p> |
+ |
+<ol> |
+ <li> |
+ Search the issue tracker at |
+ <a href="http://www.crbug.com">http://www.crbug.com</a> to see whether |
+ someone has requested a similar feature. Most requests related to |
+ extensions are filed under <strong>Feature=Extensions</strong>, so to |
+ look for an extension feature request related to keyboard shortcuts |
+ (for example), search |
+ for "<code>Feature=Extensions Type=Feature shortcuts</code>", |
+ which will give you |
+ <a href="http://code.google.com/p/chromium/issues/list?can=2&q=Feature%3DExtensions+Type%3DFeature+shortcuts&colspec=ID+Stars+Pri+Area+Feature+Type+Status+Summary+Modified+Owner+Mstone+OS&x=mstone&y=area&cells=tiles"> |
+ this list of results</a>. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ If you find a ticket that matches your request, click the star icon to be |
+ notified when the bug receives an update. <em>Do not respond to the |
+ bug to say "me too" or ask "when will this be implemented?"</em>; such |
+ updates can cause hundreds of emails to be sent. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ If you found no appropriate ticket to star, file a new request at |
+ <a href="http://new.crbug.com">http://new.crbug.com</a>. Be as detailed |
+ as possible when filling out this form: choose a descriptive title |
+ and explain exactly what feature you would like and how you plan to use it. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ Wait for the ticket to be updated. Most new requests are triaged within a |
+ week, although it can sometimes take longer for an update. <em>Do not reply |
+ to the ticket to ask when the feature will be added.</em> If your |
+ ticket has not been modified after two weeks, please post a message to the |
+ <a href="http://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-extensions/topics"> |
+ discussion group</a> with a link back to your request. |
+ </li> |
+ <li> |
+ If you originally reported your request on the discussion group and were |
+ directed to this FAQ entry, reply to your original thread with a link |
+ to the ticket you starred or opened. This will make it easier for others |
+ with the same request to find the correct ticket. |
+ </li> |
+</ol> |