browserAction

If you specify a popup, it will be shown — and the content will be loaded — when the user clicks the icon. If you do not specify a popup, then when the user clicks the icon an event is dispatched to your extension.

You can define most of a browser action's properties declaratively using the browser_action key in the manifest.json.

With the browserAction API, you can:

• use browserAction.onClicked to listen for clicks on the icon.
• get and set the icon's properties — icon, title, popup, and so on. You can get and set these globally across all tabs, or for a specific tab by passing the tab ID as an additional argument.

See also the section on browser actions in User interface components.

Types

browserAction.ColorArray

An array of four integers in the range 0-255 defining an RGBA color.

browserAction.ImageDataType

Pixel data for an image. Must be an ImageData object (for example, from a <canvas> element).

Functions

browserAction.setTitle()

Sets the browser action's title. This will be displayed in a tooltip.

browserAction.getTitle()

Gets the browser action's title.

browserAction.setIcon()

Sets the browser action's icon.

browserAction.setPopup()

Sets the HTML document to be opened as a popup when the user clicks on the browser action's icon.

browserAction.getPopup()

Gets the HTML document set as the browser action's popup.

browserAction.setBadgeText()

Sets the browser action's badge text. The badge is displayed on top of the icon.

browserAction.getBadgeText()

Gets the browser action's badge text.

browserAction.setBadgeBackgroundColor()

Sets the badge's background color.

browserAction.getBadgeBackgroundColor()

Gets the badge's background color.

browserAction.enable()

Enables the browser action for a tab. By default, browser actions are enabled for all tabs.

browserAction.disable()

Disables the browser action for a tab, meaning that it cannot be clicked when that tab is active.

Events

browserAction.onClicked

Fired when a browser action icon is clicked. This event will not fire if the browser action has a popup.

Browser compatibility

Edge incompatibilities

Promises are not supported in Edge. Use callbacks instead.

Chrome incompatibilities

None.

Example add-ons

• bookmark-it
• favourite-colour
• native-messaging
• open-my-page-button

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