chrome.windows

Use the chrome.windows module to interact with browser windows. You can use this module to create, modify, and rearrange windows in the browser.

Manifest

To use the windows API, you must declare the "tabs" permission in manifest.json. (No, that isn't a typo — the window and tabs modules interact so closely we decided to just share one permission between them.) For example:

{
  "name": "My extension",
  ...
  "permissions": ["tabs"],
  ...
}

The current window

Many functions in the extension system take an optional windowId parameter, which defaults to the current window.

The current window is the window that contains the code that is currently executing. It's important to realize that this can be different from the topmost or focused window.

For example, say an extension creates a few tabs or windows from a single HTML file, and that the HTML file contains a call to chrome.tabs.getSelected. The current window is the window that contains the page that made the call, no matter what the topmost window is.

In the case of the event page, the value of the current window falls back to the last active window. Under some circumstances, there may be no current window for background pages.

Examples

You can find simple examples of using the windows module in the examples/api/windows directory. Another example is in the tabs_api.html file of the inspector example. For other examples and for help in viewing the source code, see Samples.

API Reference: chrome.windows

Types

Window

( object )

Properties of Window

id ( integer ): The ID of the window. Window IDs are unique within a browser session.
focused ( boolean ): Whether the window is currently the focused window.
top ( integer ): The offset of the window from the top edge of the screen in pixels.
left ( integer ): The offset of the window from the left edge of the screen in pixels.
width ( integer ): The width of the window in pixels.
height ( integer ): The height of the window in pixels.
tabs ( optional array of tabs.Tab ): Array of tabs.Tab objects representing the current tabs in the window.
incognito ( boolean ): Whether the window is incognito.
type ( enumerated string ["normal", "popup", "panel", "app"] ): The type of browser window this is.
state ( enumerated string ["normal", "minimized", "maximized", "fullscreen"] ): The state of this browser window.
alwaysOnTop ( boolean ): Whether the window is set to be always on top.

Properties

WINDOW_ID_NONE

chrome.windows.WINDOW_ID_NONE

WINDOW_ID_NONE ( -1 )

The windowId value that represents the absence of a chrome browser window.

WINDOW_ID_CURRENT

chrome.windows.WINDOW_ID_CURRENT

WINDOW_ID_CURRENT ( -2 )

The windowId value that represents the current window.

Methods

get

chrome.windows.get(integer windowId, object getInfo)

Gets details about a window.

Parameters

windowId ( integer )

getInfo ( optional object )

populate ( optional boolean ): If true, the window object will have a tabs property that contains a list of the tabs.Tab objects

Callback function

The callback parameter should specify a function that looks like this:

function(Window window) {...};

window ( Window )

getCurrent

chrome.windows.getCurrent(object getInfo)

Gets the current window.

Parameters

getInfo ( optional object )

populate ( optional boolean ): If true, the window object will have a tabs property that contains a list of the tabs.Tab objects

Callback function

The callback parameter should specify a function that looks like this:

function(Window window) {...};

window ( Window )

getLastFocused

chrome.windows.getLastFocused(object getInfo)

Gets the window that was most recently focused — typically the window 'on top'.

Parameters

getInfo ( optional object )

populate ( optional boolean ): If true, the window object will have a tabs property that contains a list of the tabs.Tab objects

Callback function

The callback parameter should specify a function that looks like this:

function(Window window) {...};

window ( Window )

getAll

chrome.windows.getAll(object getInfo)

Gets all windows.

Parameters

getInfo ( optional object )

populate ( optional boolean ): If true, each window object will have a tabs property that contains a list of the tabs.Tab objects for that window.

Callback function

The callback parameter should specify a function that looks like this:

function(array of Window windows) {...};

windows ( array of Window )

create

chrome.windows.create(object createData)

Creates (opens) a new browser with any optional sizing, position or default URL provided.

Parameters

createData ( optional object )

url ( optional string ): A URL or list of URLs to open as tabs in the window. Fully-qualified URLs must include a scheme (i.e. 'http://www.google.com', not 'www.google.com'). Relative URLs will be relative to the current page within the extension. Defaults to the New Tab Page.
tabId ( optional integer ): The id of the tab for which you want to adopt to the new window.
left ( optional integer ): The number of pixels to position the new window from the left edge of the screen. If not specified, the new window is offset naturally from the last focused window. This value is ignored for panels.
top ( optional integer ): The number of pixels to position the new window from the top edge of the screen. If not specified, the new window is offset naturally from the last focused window. This value is ignored for panels.
width ( optional integer ): The width in pixels of the new window. If not specified defaults to a natural width.
height ( optional integer ): The height in pixels of the new window. If not specified defaults to a natural height.
focused ( optional boolean ): If true, opens an active window. If false, opens an inactive window.
incognito ( optional boolean ): Whether the new window should be an incognito window.
type ( optional enumerated string ["normal", "popup", "panel", "detached_panel"] ): Specifies what type of browser window to create. The 'panel' and 'detached_panel' types create a popup unless the '--enable-panels' flag is set.

Callback function

If you specify the callback parameter, it should specify a function that looks like this:

function(Window window) {...};

window ( optional Window ): Contains details about the created window.

update

chrome.windows.update(integer windowId, object updateInfo)

Updates the properties of a window. Specify only the properties that you want to change; unspecified properties will be left unchanged.

Parameters

windowId ( integer )

updateInfo ( object )

left ( optional integer ): The offset from the left edge of the screen to move the window to in pixels. This value is ignored for panels.
top ( optional integer ): The offset from the top edge of the screen to move the window to in pixels. This value is ignored for panels.
width ( optional integer ): The width to resize the window to in pixels. This value is ignored for panels.
height ( optional integer ): The height to resize the window to in pixels. This value is ignored for panels.
focused ( optional boolean ): If true, brings the window to the front. If false, brings the next window in the z-order to the front.
drawAttention ( optional boolean ): If true, causes the window to be displayed in a manner that draws the user's attention to the window, without changing the focused window. The effect lasts until the user changes focus to the window. This option has no effect if the window already has focus. Set to false to cancel a previous draw attention request.
state ( optional enumerated string ["normal", "minimized", "maximized", "fullscreen"] ): The new state of the window. The 'minimized', 'maximized' and 'fullscreen' states cannot be combined with 'left', 'top', 'width' or 'height'.

Callback function

If you specify the callback parameter, it should specify a function that looks like this:

function(Window window) {...};

window ( Window )

remove

chrome.windows.remove(integer windowId)

Removes (closes) a window, and all the tabs inside it.

Parameters

windowId ( integer )

Callback function

If you specify the callback parameter, it should specify a function that looks like this:

function() {...};

Events

onCreated

chrome.windows.onCreated.addListener(function(Window window) {...});

Fired when a window is created.

Listener Parameters

window ( Window ): Details of the window that was created.

onRemoved

chrome.windows.onRemoved.addListener(function(integer windowId) {...});

Fired when a window is removed (closed).

Listener Parameters

windowId ( integer ): ID of the removed window.

onFocusChanged

chrome.windows.onFocusChanged.addListener(function(integer windowId) {...});

Fired when the currently focused window changes. Will be chrome.windows.WINDOW_ID_NONE if all chrome windows have lost focus. Note: On some Linux window managers, WINDOW_ID_NONE will always be sent immediately preceding a switch from one chrome window to another.

Listener Parameters

windowId ( integer ): ID of the newly focused window.

Sample Extensions that use chrome.windows

Cookie API Test Extension – Testing Cookie API

Live HTTP headers – Displays the live log with the http requests headers

JavaScript pause/resume – Pauses / resumes JavaScript execution

Download Selected Links – Select links on a page and download them.

Show Tabs in Process – Adds a browser action showing which tabs share the current tab's process.

Tab Inspector – Utility for working with the extension tabs api

Console TTS Engine – A "silent" TTS engine that prints text to a small window rather than synthesizing speech.

Merge Windows – Merges all of the browser's windows into the current window

Chrome Sounds – Enjoy a more magical and immersive experience when browsing the web using the power of sound.

Google Mail Checker – Displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. You can also click the button to open your inbox.

Imageinfo – Get image info for images, including EXIF data

Speak Selection – Speaks the current selection out loud.

Google Chrome Extensions

chrome.windows

Contents

Manifest

The current window

Examples

API Reference: chrome.windows

Types

Window

Properties of Window

Properties

WINDOW_ID_NONE

WINDOW_ID_CURRENT

Methods

get

Parameters

Callback function

getCurrent

Parameters

Callback function

getLastFocused

Parameters

Callback function

getAll

Parameters

Callback function

create

Parameters

Callback function

update

Parameters

Callback function

remove

Parameters

Callback function

Events

onCreated

Listener Parameters

onRemoved

Listener Parameters

onFocusChanged

Listener Parameters

Sample Extensions that use chrome.windows