I am trying to code extension that corrects misspellings on 1 forum.
I am trying to access <p>
tag, with content script, but it doesn't change anything (using the code below):
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function() {
document.getElementsByTagName("P")[4].innerHTML = "correct_word";
});
It doesn't change anything when added as an extension, apparently if I wget
the page, and put the script there, all works. Any thoughts?
My manifest.json file:
{
"manifest_version": 2,
"name": "Extension",
"description": "Description",
"version": "1.0",
"content_scripts": [{
"run_at": "document_end",
"matches": ["http://example.com/"],
"js": ["script.js"]
}],
"web_accessible_resources": ["Filedeleted(really).html"]
}
I know content scripts and WWW pages have different sandboxes, maybe content script can't access page (and tag)?
You are injecting your script after the event you are listening for fires (in this case, DOMContentLoaded
). Thus, any code that you have in the listener will not be executed, because the event never fires after you have added your listener.
In Chrome extensions and Firefox WebExtensions, when specifying a time for a content script to be injected, you can specify "document_start"
, "document_end"
, or "document_idle"
.1 In a manifest.json this is the value stated for the run_at
property. For tabs.executeScript()
, it is the runAt
property.
document_start
The injection takes place prior to the DOM being created, or scripts from the page being run. This means that document.body
and document.head
do not yet exist. The DOMContentLoaded
and window
load
events have not yet fired. You can add things to the DOM by adding them to the document.documentElement
. You may need to use a MutationObserver
to watch for the elements you are interested in being added to the DOM, or wait for an event like DOMContentLoaded
to indicate that the DOM is available.
document_end
(default)
The injection takes place after the DOM is complete, but before subresources (e.g. images and frames) are loaded. This is usually after DOMContentLoaded
has fired, but before the window
load
event fires.
document_idle
The injection takes place sometime after document_end
and immediately after the window
load
event fires. The answer to "When does a run_at: document_idle content script run?" indicates that this is the earlier of:
- After the
window
load
event fires, or
- 200ms after the
DOMContentLoaded
event fired.
This means that your content script will be injected after DOMContentLoaded
has fired, but the window
load
event may, or may not, have already fired.
When listening for DOMContentLoaded
, or window
load
, you should check document.readyState
first
Any time you use a DOMContentLoaded
listener, or a window
load
listener, you should always check the document.readyState
prior to adding the listener to make sure that you are adding the listener prior to the DOMContentLoaded
event being fired (or prior to the load
event being fired, if that is what you are listening for). This should be normal habit when you want to listen for these events. If you add the listener after the event has fired, the listener will never be run.
For adding a DOMContentLoaded
listener, you should use something like:
if(document.readyState === 'loading') {
document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded',afterDOMLoaded);
} else {
afterDOMLoaded();
}
function afterDOMLoaded(){
//Everything that needs to happen after the DOM has initially loaded.
}
For adding a window
load
listener, you could use something like:
if(document.readyState !== 'complete') {
window.addEventListener('load',afterWindowLoaded);
} else {
afterWindowLoaded();
}
function afterWindowLoaded(){
//Everything that needs to happen after the window is fully loaded.
}
- If you are using
tabs.executeScript()
, the value that you provide for runAt
only indicates the earliest you want the script to be injected. If you are executing tabs.executeScript()
prior to that time, then the injection is delayed until the specified time. Note that for document_start
the point when executing tabs.executeScript()
will be valid for a new page is a complex topic, which deserves its own question/answer.
- Portions of this answer were copied from my answer to "Detect and handle a button click in the active HTML page".