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diff --git a/chrome/common/extensions/docs/static/faq.html b/chrome/common/extensions/docs/static/faq.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0c94d9d --- /dev/null +++ b/chrome/common/extensions/docs/static/faq.html @@ -0,0 +1,391 @@ +<div id="pageData-name" class="pageData">Frequently Asked Questions</div> + + +<!-- <div id="pageData-showTOC" class="pageData">true</div> --> + +<p> +If you don't find an answer to your question here, +try 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/bin/answer.py?answer=113909">gallery 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-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> + <li><a href="#faq-dev-14">How do I determine which version of Google Chrome is deployed to which channel?</a></li> + <li><a href="#faq-dev-15">Can I add a content script to chrome:// URLs?</a></li> + <li><a href="#faq-dev-16">Why do wildcard matches not work for top level domains (TLDs)?</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 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 <b>Extensions</b> from the Tools menu + <img style="vertical-align: middle; margin:0; padding:0" src="images/toolsmenu.gif" /> (or from + the Window menu on Mac) and click <b>Developer Mode</b>. 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. 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-14">How do I determine which version of Google Chrome is deployed to which channel?</h3> +<p> + To determine which version of Google 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,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +cf,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +cf,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +linux,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +linux,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +linux,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +mac,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +mac,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +mac,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +win,canary,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +win,dev,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +win,beta,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.# +win,stable,#.#.###.#,#.#.###.#</pre> + +<p> + Each line represents a different platform and channel combination. The + listed platforms are <code>cf</code> (Google Chrome Frame), + <code>linux</code>, <code>mac</code>, and <code>win</code>. The listed + channels are <code>canary</code>, <code>dev</code>, <code>beta</code>, + and <code>stable</code>. + The two four-part numbers at the end of each line represent the range of + versions of Google Chrome currently deployed to that platform-channel + combination. +</p> + +<h3 id="faq-dev-15">Can I add a content script to 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-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> + +<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 + Google 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>
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