chrome.pageAction

Description
Use the chrome.pageAction API to put icons in the main Google Chrome toolbar, to the right of the address bar. Page actions represent actions that can be taken on the current page, but that aren't applicable to all pages. Page actions appear grayed out when inactive.

Some examples:

Subscribe to this page's RSS feed
Make a slideshow out of this page's photos

The RSS icon in the following screenshot represents a page action that lets you subscribe to the RSS feed for the current page.

Hidden page actions appear grayed out. For example, the RSS feed below is grayed out, as you can't subscribe to the feed for the current page:

Please consider using a browser action instead, so that users can always interact with your extension.

Manifest #

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "page_action": {
    "default_icon": {                    // optional
      "16": "images/icon16.png",           // optional
      "24": "images/icon24.png",           // optional
      "32": "images/icon32.png"            // optional
    },
    "default_title": "Google Mail",      // optional; shown in tooltip
    "default_popup": "popup.html"        // optional
  },
  ...
}

Since devices with less-common scale factors like 1.5x or 1.2x are becoming more common, you are encouraged to provide multiple sizes for your icons. Chrome will select the closest one and scale it to fill the 16-dip space. This also ensures that if the icon display size is ever changed, you don't need to do any more work to provide different icons! However, if the size difference is too extreme, this scaling can cause the icon to lose detail or look fuzzy.

The old syntax for registering the default icon is still supported:

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "page_action": {
    ...
    "default_icon": "images/icon32.png"  // optional
    // equivalent to "default_icon": { "32": "images/icon32.png" }
  },
  ...
}

Parts of the UI #

Like browser actions, page actions can have an icon, a tooltip, and popup; they can't have badges, however. In addition, page actions can be grayed out. You can find information about icons, tooltips, and popups by reading about the browser action UI.

You make a page action appear and be grayed out using the pageAction.show and pageAction.hide methods, respectively. By default, a page action appears grayed out. When you show it, you specify the tab in which the icon should appear. The icon remains visible until the tab is closed or starts displaying a different URL (because the user clicks a link, for example).

Tips #

For the best visual impact, follow these guidelines:

Do use page actions for features that make sense for only a few pages.
Don't use page actions for features that make sense for most pages. Use browser actions instead.
Don't constantly animate your icon. That's just annoying.

Examples #

You can find simple examples of using page actions in the examples/api/pageAction directory. For other examples and for help in viewing the source code, see Samples.

Summary

Types
TabDetails
ImageDataType
Methods
getPopup
chrome.pageAction.getPopup(details: TabDetails, callback: function)
getTitle
chrome.pageAction.getTitle(details: TabDetails, callback: function)
hide
chrome.pageAction.hide(tabId: number, callback: function)
setIcon
chrome.pageAction.setIcon(details: object, callback: function)
setPopup
chrome.pageAction.setPopup(details: object, callback: function)
setTitle
chrome.pageAction.setTitle(details: object, callback: function)
show
chrome.pageAction.show(tabId: number, callback: function)
Events
onClicked

Types

TabDetails

Properties

tabId
number optional
The ID of the tab to query state for. If no tab is specified, the non-tab-specific state is returned.

ImageDataType

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

Type

ImageData

Methods

getPopup

chrome.pageAction.getPopup(details: TabDetails, callback: function)

Gets the html document set as the popup for this page action.

Parameters

details
TabDetails
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(result: string) => {...}
- result
  string

getTitle

chrome.pageAction.getTitle(details: TabDetails, callback: function)

Gets the title of the page action.

Parameters

details
TabDetails
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(result: string) => {...}
- result
  string

hide

chrome.pageAction.hide(tabId: number, callback: function)

Hides the page action. Hidden page actions still appear in the Chrome toolbar, but are grayed out.

Parameters

tabId
number
The id of the tab for which you want to modify the page action.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

setIcon

chrome.pageAction.setIcon(details: object, callback: function)

Sets the icon for the page action. The icon can be specified either as the path to an image file or as the pixel data from a canvas element, or as dictionary of either one of those. Either the path or the imageData property must be specified.

Parameters

details
object
- iconIndex
  number optional
  Deprecated. This argument is ignored.
- imageData
  ImageDataType | object optional
  Either an ImageData object or a dictionary {size -> ImageData} representing icon to be set. If the icon is specified as a dictionary, the actual image to be used is chosen depending on screen's pixel density. If the number of image pixels that fit into one screen space unit equals scale, then image with size scale * n will be selected, where n is the size of the icon in the UI. At least one image must be specified. Note that 'details.imageData = foo' is equivalent to 'details.imageData = {'16': foo}'
- path
  string | object optional
  Either a relative image path or a dictionary {size -> relative image path} pointing to icon to be set. If the icon is specified as a dictionary, the actual image to be used is chosen depending on screen's pixel density. If the number of image pixels that fit into one screen space unit equals scale, then image with size scale * n will be selected, where n is the size of the icon in the UI. At least one image must be specified. Note that 'details.path = foo' is equivalent to 'details.path = {'16': foo}'
- tabId
  number
  The id of the tab for which you want to modify the page action.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

setPopup

chrome.pageAction.setPopup(details: object, callback: function)

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

Parameters

details
object
- popup
  string
  The html file to show in a popup. If set to the empty string (''), no popup is shown.
- tabId
  number
  The id of the tab for which you want to modify the page action.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

setTitle

chrome.pageAction.setTitle(details: object, callback: function)

Sets the title of the page action. This is displayed in a tooltip over the page action.

Parameters

details
object
- tabId
  number
  The id of the tab for which you want to modify the page action.
- title
  string
  The tooltip string.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

show

chrome.pageAction.show(tabId: number, callback: function)

Shows the page action. The page action is shown whenever the tab is selected.

Parameters

tabId
number
The id of the tab for which you want to modify the page action.
callback
function
The callback parameter should be a function that looks like this:
() => {...}

Events

onClicked

chrome.pageAction.onClicked.addListener(listener: function)

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

Event

listener
function
The listener parameter should be a function that looks like this:
(tab: tabs.Tab) => {...}
- tab
  tabs.Tab