1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
|
<div id="pageData-name" class="pageData">Frequently Asked Questions</div>
<!-- <div id="pageData-showTOC" class="pageData">true</div> -->
<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-gen-02">What technologies are used to write extensions for Google Chrome?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-gen-03">Are extensions fetched from the web every time the browser is loaded?</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>Development</h4>
<ul>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-01">How can I set up Google Chrome for extension development?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-02">Can I make cross-domain Ajax requests in an extension?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-03">Can I use 3rd party web services in my extension?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-04">Can I use OAuth in my extensions?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-05">What UI controls can I create for my extension?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-06">Can I load DLLs in my extension?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-07">Can Google Chrome Extensions encode/decode JSON data?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-08">Can I store data locally in my extension?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-09">How much data can I store in localStorage?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-10">Can I create an options menu for my application?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-11">Can two extensions communicate with each other?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-12">What debugging tools are available to extension developers?</a></li>
<li><a href="#faq-dev-13">Can extensions use Google Analytics?</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 Google
Chrome browser and provide additional functionality, integration with third
party websites or services, and customized browsing experiences.
</p>
<h3 id="faq-gen-02">What technologies are used to write extensions for Google Chrome?</h3>
<p>
Google Chrome 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 Google 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 Google 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>
<h2>Development</h2>
<h3 id="faq-dev-01">How can I set up Google Chrome for extension development?</h3>
<p>
As long as you are using a version of Google Chrome that supports
extensions, you already have everything you need to start writing an
extension of your own. Select "Extensions" from the Tools menu
<img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="images/toolsmenu.gif" /> (or from
the window menu on Mac) and click "Developer Mode". From there, you can load
an unpacked directory of files as if it were a packaged extension, reload
extensions, and more. For a complete tutorial, please view
<a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/getstarted.html">this getting started guide</a>.
</p>
<h3 id="faq-dev-02">Can I make cross-domain Ajax requests in an extension?</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 I use 3rd party web services in my extension?</h3>
<p>
Yes. Google Chrome Extensions are capable of making cross-domain Ajax
requests, so they can call remote APIs directly. APIs which provide data
in JSON format are particularly easy to use.
</p>
<h3 id="faq-dev-04">Can I use OAuth in my extensions?</h3>
<p>
Absolutely, there are extensions which 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-05">What UI controls can I create 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, your extension may add buttons
to the Google Chrome browser itself. See
<a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/browserAction.html">browser actions</a>
and
<a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/pageAction.html">page actions</a>
for more information.
</p>
<h3 id="faq-dev-06">Can I load DLLs in my extension?</h3>
<p>
Yes, using the
<a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/trunk/npapi.html">NPAPI interface</a>.
Because of the possibility for abuse, though, we will review your extension
before hosting it in the Google Chrome Extensions gallery.
</p>
<h3 id="faq-dev-07">Can Google Chrome Extensions encode/decode JSON data?</h3>
<p>
Yes, because V8 (Google 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 I store data locally in my extension?</h3>
<p>
Yes, extensions can use <a href="http://dev.w3.org/html5/webstorage/">localStorage</a>
to store string data permanently. Using Google Chrome's built-in JSON
functions, you can store complex data structures in localStorage. For
extensions which have the need to execute SQL queries on their stored data,
Google 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-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">Can 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-11">Can two extensions communicate with each other?</h3>
<p>
Extensions may pass messages to other extensions. See the
<a href="http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/trunk/messaging.html#external">message passing documentation</a>
for more information.
</p>
<h3 id="faq-dev-12">What debugging tools are available to extension developers?</h3>
<p>
Google 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-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.
</p>
|
