tabs.connect()
Call this function to set up a connection between the extension's background scripts (or other privileged scripts, such as popup scripts or options page scripts) and any content scripts that belong to this extension and are running in the specified tab. This function returns a runtime.Port
object.
When this is called, the runtime.onConnect
event will be fired in any content script belonging to this extension that are running in the specified tab. The event listener will be passed another runtime.Port
object. The two sides can then use the Port
objects to exchange messages.
For more details, see connection-based messaging. You can message without creating a connection, for advice on choosing between the options, see Choosing between one-off messages and connection-based messaging.
Syntax
js
browser.tabs.connect(
tabId, // integer
connectInfo // optional object
)
Parameters
tabId
-
integer
. ID of the tab whose content scripts we want to connect to. connectInfo
Optional-
An object with the following properties:
name
Optional-
string
. Will be passed intoruntime.onConnect
event listeners in content scripts belonging to this extension and running in the specified tab. frameId
Optional-
integer
. Open a port to a specific frame identified byframeId
instead of all frames in the tab.
Return value
runtime.Port
. A port that can be used to communicate with the content scripts running in the specified tab.
Examples
In this example a background script listens for a click on a browser action, then connects to the currently active tab, then sends a message using the Port
that's returned from connect()
:
js
function connectToTab(tabs) {
if (tabs.length > 0) {
let examplePort = browser.tabs.connect(
tabs[0].id,
{name: "tabs-connect-example"}
);
examplePort.postMessage({greeting: "Hi from background script"});
}
}
function onError(error) {
console.log(`Error: ${error}`);
}
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(() => {
let gettingActive = browser.tabs.query({
currentWindow: true, active: true
});
gettingActive.then(connectToTab, onError);
});
Browser compatibility
BCD tables only load in the browser
Note: This API is based on Chromium's chrome.tabs
API. This documentation is derived from tabs.json
in the Chromium code.