chrome.tabs.executeScript + activeTab -> MV3 transition?

[Jói Sigurdsson]

Hi folks,

I'm working on porting our MV2 extension to MV3.

Our MV2 extension has the "activeTab" permission, and uses chrome.tabs.executeScript to inject a file (packaged as a static part of the extension) into browser tabs that the user has interacted with (via our browser action button). This all works great.

MV3 has removed chrome.tabs.executeScript and instead wants us to use chrome.scripting.executeScript, which requires a new permission, "scripting".

Two questions, if anybody knows the answer:

a) Will chrome.scripting play nice with "activeTab" permission and allow us to inject into tabs the user has interacted with? We don't want to have any host permissions, we only want to base injection on tabs the user has chosen.

b) If we add "scripting" to our "permissions" key in manifest.json at the same moment that we update to MV3, given that we previously had the capability to do scripting via chrome.tabs.executeScript, will Chrome decide we "added a permission" or will it allow the update without user action?

My concern is that at least in the past, adding a permission would cause extensions to get disabled for all users, without any special prompt about allowing them again, so likely we'd lose all installs, get a flood of support requests, and need to help tens of thousands of users to reinstall or re-enable the extension.

The alternative would be to add this as an "optional_permission" and prompt the user to allow it, but this is a sub-optimal user experience and strictly worse than how the extension exists today.

Thanks for any feedback you might have!

Best regards,

Jói

[Simeon Vincent]

a) Will chrome.scripting play nice with "activeTab" permission and allow us to inject into tabs the user has interacted with? We don't want to have any host permissions, we only want to base injection on tabs the user has chosen.

Yes, chrome.scripting plays nice with activeTab. 

b) If we add "scripting" to our "permissions" key in manifest.json at the same moment that we update to MV3, given that we previously had the capability to do scripting via chrome.tabs.executeScript, will Chrome decide we "added a permission" or will it allow the update without user action?

The "scripting" permission does not present a warning to the end user, so adding it to your extension will not trigger a permission prompt.

Simeon - @dotproto

Chrome Extensions DevRel

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[Jói Sigurdsson]

Thank you Simeon for the authoritative answers. I'm very relieved on both counts!

Best regards,

Jói

[styleb...@gmail.com]

Hey Jói !

I have faced exactly the same issues and exactly the same questions 🤓
How smooth was your migration to v3?
Did adding 'scripting' permission cause extension 'disabling'? 

- Sergey

четвер, 5 травня 2022 р. о 11:13:37 UTC+3 j...@crankwheel.com пише:

[Jói Sigurdsson]

Hi Sergey,

The migration to MV3 wasn't too difficult but required some restructuring of our extension, as our background page previously was making use of things like window.screen and more.

We have only launched the MV3 version as a beta, since there are still serious stability concerns with MV3 (worse than the Chrome bug some of our users are facing with MV2) so we are waiting to launch.

You can see the before and after source code by unpacking the different versions, it's not obfuscated at all:

MV2: http://bit.ly/crankwheelext

MV3: http://bit.ly/cwbetaext

Cheers,

Jói

[Jói Sigurdsson]

I forgot to answer your question:

> Did adding 'scripting' permission cause extension 'disabling'? 

No, it did not, we tested by upgrading our staging extension to the MV3 code with 'scripting' permission and did not get a prompt when the update happened. We also tested that we were able to roll the staging extension from MV3 back to MV2 (this is something Simeon had mentioned was allowed for extensions that were originally MV2).

Cheers,

Jói

[Se rg]

Hi Jói,

Thanks for answering the questions and sharing the details!

best regards,
- Sergey

пт, 22 лип. 2022 р. о 19:41 Jói Sigurdsson <j...@crankwheel.com> пише: