Google Chrome Extensions - Clicking an icon calls a function

Question

I've been trying to make an extension that would have an icon, which upon clicking would stop (all) tabs from loading.

I have this manifest file:

{
  "name": "Stop Loading",
  "version": "1.0",
  "manifest_version": 2,
  "description": "Stop loading all tabs in Chrome",
  "browser_action": {
    "default_icon": "greyclose.png"
  },
  
  "background_page": "background.html",
   "content_scripts": [ {
      "all_frames": true,
      "js": [ "kliknuto.js" ],
      "matches": [ "http://*/*", "https://*/*" ]
   } ],
   
  "permissions": [ "tabs", "http://*/*", "https://*/*" ]
}

In background.html I have this code:

chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
  chrome.extension.sendRequest({reqtype: "get-settings"}, function(response) {
    window.setTimeout("window.stop();", 0);
  });
});

I'm not sure should I be putting the background.html code into a JavaScript file "kliknuto.js" or something else. Which function is called when you click the extension button in Chrome?

Answer 1

In your code, background.html is sending a query to itself (chrome.extension.sendRequest will not send to content scripts), and then, if/when it gets a reply, the background page is calling window.stop() on itself, rather than the tabs. What you really need is:

background.html:

...
chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
    // get all tabs in all windows
    chrome.windows.getAll({"populate":true}, function(winArray) {
        for(var i = 0; i < winArray.length; ++i) {
            for(var j = 0; j < winArray[i].tabs.length; ++j) {
                var t = winArray[i].tabs[j];
                // push code to each tab
                chrome.tabs.executeScript(t.id, {"code":"window.stop();", "allFrames":"true"});
            }
        }
    });
});
...

This solution uses executeScript in place of a content script.

EDIT with alternate solution:

Attach a content script to each tab that listens for orders from the backgroud page.

background.html:

...
chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
    // get all tabs in all windows
    chrome.windows.getAll({"populate":true}, function(winArray) {
        for(var i = 0; i < winArray.length; ++i) {
            for(var j = 0; j < winArray[i].tabs.length; ++j) {
                var t = winArray[i].tabs[j];
                // push code to each tab
                chrome.tabs.sendRequest(t.id, {"order":"stop"});
            }
        }
    });
});
...

kliknuto.js:

chrome.extension.onRequest(function(request) {
    if(request.order == "stop") {
        window.stop();
    }
});

Make sure you add "run_at":"document_start" to the content_script block in your manifest so that the content script starts listening as soon as possible.