chrome.devtools.panels

Description

Use the chrome.devtools.panels API to integrate your extension into Developer Tools window UI: create your own panels, access existing panels, and add sidebars.

Each extension panel and sidebar is displayed as a separate HTML page. All extension pages displayed in the Developer Tools window have access to all parts of the chrome.devtools API, as well as all other extension APIs.

You can use the devtools.panels.setOpenResourceHandler method to install a callback function that handles user requests to open a resource (typically, a click a resource link in the Developer Tools window). At most one of the installed handlers gets called; users can specify (using the Developer Tools Settings dialog) either the default behavior or an extension to handle resource open requests. If an extension calls setOpenResourceHandler() multiple times, only the last handler is retained.

See DevTools APIs summary for general introduction to using Developer Tools APIs.

Manifest

The following keys must be declared in the manifest to use this API.

"devtools_page"

Example

The following code adds a panel contained in Panel.html, represented by FontPicker.png on the Developer Tools toolbar and labeled as Font Picker:

chrome.devtools.panels.create("Font Picker",
                              "FontPicker.png",
                              "Panel.html",
                              function(panel) { ... });

The following code adds a sidebar pane contained in Sidebar.html and titled Font Properties to the Elements panel, then sets its height to 8ex:

chrome.devtools.panels.elements.createSidebarPane("Font Properties",
  function(sidebar) {
    sidebar.setPage("Sidebar.html");
    sidebar.setHeight("8ex");
  }
);

The screenshot illustrates the effect this example would have on Developer Tools window:

Extension icon panel on DevTools toolbar
Extension icon panel on DevTools toolbar.

To try this API, install the devtools panels API example from the chrome-extension-samples repository.

Types

Button

A button created by the extension.

Properties

  • onClicked

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when the button is clicked.

    The onClicked.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • update

    void

    Updates the attributes of the button. If some of the arguments are omitted or null, the corresponding attributes are not updated.

    The update function looks like: 

    (iconPath?: string, tooltipText?: string, disabled?: boolean) => {...}

    • iconPath

      string optional

      Path to the new icon of the button.

    • tooltipText

      string optional

      Text shown as a tooltip when user hovers the mouse over the button.

    • disabled

      boolean optional

      Whether the button is disabled.

ElementsPanel

Represents the Elements panel.

Properties

  • onSelectionChanged

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when an object is selected in the panel.

    The onSelectionChanged.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • createSidebarPane

    void

    Creates a pane within panel's sidebar.

    The createSidebarPane function looks like: 

    (title: string, callback?: function) => {...}

    • title

      string

      Text that is displayed in sidebar caption.

    • callback

      function optional

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      (result: ExtensionSidebarPane) => void

ExtensionPanel

Represents a panel created by an extension.

Properties

  • onHidden

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when the user switches away from the panel.

    The onHidden.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • onSearch

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired upon a search action (start of a new search, search result navigation, or search being canceled).

    The onSearch.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      (action: string, queryString?: string) => void

      • action

        string

      • queryString

        string optional

  • onShown

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when the user switches to the panel.

    The onShown.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      (window: Window) => void

      • window

        Window

  • createStatusBarButton

    void

    Appends a button to the status bar of the panel.

    The createStatusBarButton function looks like: 

    (iconPath: string, tooltipText: string, disabled: boolean) => {...}

    • iconPath

      string

      Path to the icon of the button. The file should contain a 64x24-pixel image composed of two 32x24 icons. The left icon is used when the button is inactive; the right icon is displayed when the button is pressed.

    • tooltipText

      string

      Text shown as a tooltip when user hovers the mouse over the button.

    • disabled

      boolean

      Whether the button is disabled.

  • show

    void

    Chrome 140+

    Shows the panel by activating the corresponding tab.

    The show function looks like: 

    () => {...}

ExtensionSidebarPane

A sidebar created by the extension.

Properties

  • onHidden

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when the sidebar pane becomes hidden as a result of the user switching away from the panel that hosts the sidebar pane.

    The onHidden.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • onShown

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when the sidebar pane becomes visible as a result of user switching to the panel that hosts it.

    The onShown.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      (window: Window) => void

      • window

        Window

  • setExpression

    void

    Sets an expression that is evaluated within the inspected page. The result is displayed in the sidebar pane.

    The setExpression function looks like: 

    (expression: string, rootTitle?: string, callback?: function) => {...}

    • expression

      string

      An expression to be evaluated in context of the inspected page. JavaScript objects and DOM nodes are displayed in an expandable tree similar to the console/watch.

    • rootTitle

      string optional

      An optional title for the root of the expression tree.

    • callback

      function optional

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • setHeight

    void

    Sets the height of the sidebar.

    The setHeight function looks like: 

    (height: string) => {...}

    • height

      string

      A CSS-like size specification, such as '100px' or '12ex'.

  • setObject

    void

    Sets a JSON-compliant object to be displayed in the sidebar pane.

    The setObject function looks like: 

    (jsonObject: string, rootTitle?: string, callback?: function) => {...}

    • jsonObject

      string

      An object to be displayed in context of the inspected page. Evaluated in the context of the caller (API client).

    • rootTitle

      string optional

      An optional title for the root of the expression tree.

    • callback

      function optional

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • setPage

    void

    Sets an HTML page to be displayed in the sidebar pane.

    The setPage function looks like: 

    (path: string) => {...}

    • path

      string

      Relative path of an extension page to display within the sidebar.

SourcesPanel

Represents the Sources panel.

Properties

  • onSelectionChanged

    Event<functionvoidvoid>

    Fired when an object is selected in the panel.

    The onSelectionChanged.addListener function looks like: 

    (callback: function) => {...}

    • callback

      function

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      () => void

  • createSidebarPane

    void

    Creates a pane within panel's sidebar.

    The createSidebarPane function looks like: 

    (title: string, callback?: function) => {...}

    • title

      string

      Text that is displayed in sidebar caption.

    • callback

      function optional

      The callback parameter looks like: 

      (result: ExtensionSidebarPane) => void

Properties

elements

Elements panel.

Type

ElementsPanel

sources

Sources panel.

Type

SourcesPanel

themeName

Chrome 59+

The name of the color theme set in user's DevTools settings. Possible values: default (the default) and dark.

Type

string

Methods

create()

chrome.devtools.panels.create(
  title: string,
  iconPath: string,
  pagePath: string,
  callback?: function,
): void

Creates an extension panel.

Parameters

  • title

    string

    Title that is displayed next to the extension icon in the Developer Tools toolbar.

  • iconPath

    string

    Path of the panel's icon relative to the extension directory.

  • pagePath

    string

    Path of the panel's HTML page relative to the extension directory.

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (panel: ExtensionPanel) => void

    • An ExtensionPanel object representing the created panel.

openResource()

chrome.devtools.panels.openResource(
  url: string,
  lineNumber: number,
  columnNumber?: number,
  callback?: function,
): void

Requests DevTools to open a URL in a Developer Tools panel.

Parameters

  • url

    string

    The URL of the resource to open.

  • lineNumber

    number

    Specifies the line number to scroll to when the resource is loaded.

  • columnNumber

    number optional

    Chrome 114+

    Specifies the column number to scroll to when the resource is loaded.

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    () => void

setOpenResourceHandler()

chrome.devtools.panels.setOpenResourceHandler(
  callback?: function,
): void

Specifies the function to be called when the user clicks a resource link in the Developer Tools window. To unset the handler, either call the method with no parameters or pass null as the parameter.

Parameters

  • callback

    function optional

    The callback parameter looks like: 

    (resource: Resource, lineNumber: number) => void