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<h1>Packaged Apps</h1>
<p class="warning">
<b>Warning: </b>
All content in this doc refers to the legacy version of packaged apps.
Legacy packaged apps are discontinued, and Chrome will <strong>stop loading them
</strong> in June 2015.
Check out the new version of <a href="../apps/about_apps">Chrome Apps</a> or
read the <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/migrating">migration
tutorial for legacy packaged apps</a>.
</p>
<p>
This page talks about legacy packaged apps — how
you implement them,
and how they're different from
extensions and ordinary web apps.
</p>
<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2>
<p>
A legacy packaged app is a web app that's bundled into a <code>.crx</code> file.
In the past, legacy packaged apps could use most of the extension APIs, but
<a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2012/11/restricting-extension-apis-in-legacy.html">
since November 2012</a>, the feature set of legacy packaged apps was reduced.
And in June 2014, discontinuation of legacy packaged apps
<a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2014/06/migrate-your-legacy-packaged-apps-to.html">
was announced</a>; support for them will be removed from Chrome in June 2015.
</p>
<p>
The term "packaged app" used to refer to the "legacy packaged app" as described
in this document, but
<a href="https://blog.chromium.org/2012/08/the-evolution-of-chrome-packaged-apps.html">
since the introduction of Chrome Apps in August 2012</a>, the term "packaged
app" is also used to refer to <a href="../apps/about_apps">Chrome Apps</a>.
Keep this in mind when you read about "packaged apps" in online resources.
</p>
<p>
A close alternative to legacy packaged apps are
<a href="https://developers.google.com/chrome/apps/docs/developers_guide">hosted
apps</a>, which are ordinary web apps with a bit of additional metadata.
To learn more about extensions, packaged apps, and hosted apps, read
<a href="https://developer.chrome.com/webstore/choosing">Choosing an App Type</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="manifest">The manifest</h2>
<p>
A packaged app's manifest can have any field
that's available to extensions,
except for "browser_action" and "page_action".
In addition, a packaged app's manifest <b>must</b>
have an "app" field.
Here is a typical manifest for a packaged app:
</p>
<pre data-filename="manifest.json">
{
"name": "My Awesome Racing Game",
"description": "Enter a world where a Vanagon can beat a Maserati",
"version": "1",
<b>"app": {
"launch": {
"local_path": "main.html"
}
},</b>
"icons": {
"16": "icon_16.png",
"128": "icon_128.png"
}
}
</pre>
<p>
The "app" field has one subfield, "launch",
which specifies the <em>launch page</em> for the app—the
page (HTML file bundled into the <code>.crx</code> file)
that the browser goes to when the user clicks the app's icon
in the New Tab page.
The "launch" field can contain the following:
</p>
<dl>
<dt>local_path:</dt>
<dd><em>Required.</em>
Specifies the launch page
as a relative path referring to a file
in the <code>.crx</code> package.
</dd>
<dt>container:</dt>
<dd> The value "panel" makes the app appear
in an app panel.
By default, or when you specify "tab",
the app appears in a tab.
<!-- PENDING: In the overview
(or somewhere else before here)
we should show and define both app panels and tabs.
We should link to that place from here. -->
</dd>
<dt>height:</dt>
<dd>
If the container is set to "panel",
this integer specifies the height
of the panel in pixels.
For example, you might specify
<code>"height":400</code>.
Note that you don't use quotation marks in the value.
This field specifies the height of the area
to display contents in;
window decorations add a few more pixels to the total height.
If the container isn't a panel, this field is ignored.
</dd>
<dt>width:</dt>
<dd>
Similar to "height",
but specifies the width of the panel.
</dd>
</dd>
</dl>
<p>
Packaged apps usually provide a 16x16 icon
to be used as the favicon for
tabs that contain app's pages.
They also should provide a 128x128 icon,
but not a 48x48 icon.
See the manifest documentation for the
<a href="manifest/icons">"icons" field</a>
for more information.
</p>
<p>
For further details on what a packaged app's manifest can contain, see the
<a href="manifest">manifest documentation</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="next">What next?</h2>
<p>
Read the <a href="overview">Overview</a> to learn
basic concepts about extensions.
</p>
<p class="backtotop"><a href="#top">Back to top</a></p>
|
