angular-chrome-messaging

AngularJS interface for chrome.runtime messaging. Allows for remote procedure calls and data binding.

NOTE: With Facebook's introduction of the Flux Architecture, the two-way data binding provided by this module has become poor practice, so I wouldn't recommend it for most situations.

Overview

Google Chrome Extensions usually consist of:

• A background script that continuously runs in the background
• A content script that's loaded on pages you visit
• A browser action or page action popup
• An options page

angular-chrome-messaging allows:

• Synchronizing data between separate scripts via two-way variable binding
• Remote procedure calls

Usage:

Two-way binding

In the background script, publish the variable to be bound:

// background.js
/**
 * A service to hold global state and methods for the extension
 *
 * @param ChromeBindings
 * @constructor
 */
function BackgroundService(ChromeBindings) {
  this.user = {};
  // Publish the `user` object so it can be read & modified by other scripts
  ChromeBindings.publishVariable(this, 'user');
}
angular
  .module('ChromeMessagingExample')
  .service('BackgroundService', BackgroundService);

In another script (options/popup/contentscript), bind to the variable:

// options.js
 
function OptionsCtrl(ChromeBindings, ChromeMessaging) {
  // Bind `ChromeMessagingExample.user` to `OptionsCtrl.user`
  this.user = {};
  ChromeBindings
    .bindVariable('ChromeMessagingExample', 'user')
    .to(this, 'user');
}
angular
  .module('ChromeMessagingExampleOptions')
  .controller('OptionsCtrl', OptionsCtrl);

Remote procedure calls

Publish methods using angular.Module.run:

// background.js
 
angular.module('ChromeMessagingExample')
  .run(function (ChromeMessaging, BackgroundService) {
    /* Publish `BackgroundService.login` so it can be called from other scripts:
     *   ChromeMessaging.callMethod(
     *     'ChromeMessagingExample',
     *     'login',
     *     {email: '[e-mail]', name: 'Alice'}
     *   ).then(function (user) {
     *     console.log(user);
     *   });
     */
    ChromeMessaging.publish(
      'login',
      BackgroundService.login
    );
 
    ChromeMessaging.publish(
      'logout',
      BackgroundService.logout
    );
  });

Call them in from other scripts:

// options.js
 
function OptionsCtrl(ChromeBindings, ChromeMessaging) {
  var vm = this;
 
  vm.inputEmail = '';
  vm.inputName = '';
 
  vm.login = function () {
    ChromeMessaging.callMethod('ChromeMessagingExample', 'login', {
      email: vm.inputEmail,
      name: vm.inputName
    }).then(function (user) {
      console.log('Logged in as:', user);
    });
  };
}
angular
  .module('ChromeMessagingExampleOptions')
  .controller('OptionsCtrl', OptionsCtrl);

Example

To run the example:

1. Clone this repository.

2. Build the example:

   cd example
   npm install
   gulp build

3. In Chrome, load example/build/ as an unpacked extension.