runtime.connectNative()
Connects the extension to a native application on the user's computer. This takes the name of a native application as a parameter. It starts the native application and returns a runtime.Port
object to the caller. The caller can then use the Port
to exchange messages with the native application using Port.postMessage()
and port.onMessage
. The native application will run until it exits itself, or the caller calls Port.disconnect()
, or the page that created the Port
is destroyed. Once the Port
is disconnected the browser will give the process a few seconds to exit gracefully, and then kill it if it has not exited.
For more information, see Native messaging.
Syntax
let port = browser.runtime.connectNative(
application // string
)
Parameters
application
-
string
. The name of the native application to connect to. This must match the "name" property in the native application's manifest file.
Return value
A runtime.Port
object. The port which the caller can use to exchange messages with the native application.
Browser compatibility
Report problems with this compatibility data on GitHubdesktop | mobile | ||||||
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connectNative |
Legend
Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.
- Full support
- Full support
- No support
- No support
- See implementation notes.
Examples
This example connects to the native application "ping_pong" and starts listening for messages from it. It also sends the native application a message when the user clicks a browser action icon:
/*
On startup, connect to the "ping_pong" app.
*/
let port = browser.runtime.connectNative("ping_pong");
/*
Listen for messages from the app.
*/
port.onMessage.addListener((response) => {
console.log(`Received: ${response}`);
});
/*
On a click on the browser action, send the app a message.
*/
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(() => {
console.log("Sending: ping");
port.postMessage("ping");
});
Example extensions
Note:
This API is based on Chromium's chrome.runtime
API. This documentation is derived from runtime.json
in the Chromium code.