runtime.onConnect - Content

Fired when a connection is made with either an extension process or a content script.

Syntax

js-nolint

browser.runtime.onConnect.addListener(listener)
browser.runtime.onConnect.removeListener(listener)
browser.runtime.onConnect.hasListener(listener)

Events have three functions:

addListener(listener)
- : Adds a listener to this event.
removeListener(listener)
- : Stop listening to this event. The listener argument is the listener to remove.
hasListener(listener)
- : Checks whether a listener is registered for this event. Returns true if it is listening, false otherwise.

addListener syntax

Parameters

function
- : The function called when this event occurs. The function is passed this argument:
  - port
    - : A {{WebExtAPIRef('runtime.Port')}} object connecting the current script to the other context it is connecting to.

Examples

This content script:

connects to the background script, and stores the Port in a variable myPort
listens for messages on myPort, and logs them
sends messages to the background script, using myPort, when the user clicks the document

// content-script.js

let myPort = browser.runtime.connect({ name: "port-from-cs" });
myPort.postMessage({ greeting: "hello from content script" });

myPort.onMessage.addListener((m) => {
  console.log("In content script, received message from background script: ");
  console.log(m.greeting);
});

document.body.addEventListener("click", () => {
  myPort.postMessage({ greeting: "they clicked the page!" });
});

The corresponding background script:

listens for connection attempts from the content script
when it receives a connection attempt:
- stores the port in a variable named portFromCS
- sends the content script a message using the port
- starts listening to messages received on the port, and logs them
sends messages to the content script, using portFromCS, when the user clicks the extension's browser action

// background-script.js

let portFromCS;

function connected(p) {
  portFromCS = p;
  portFromCS.postMessage({ greeting: "hi there content script!" });
  portFromCS.onMessage.addListener((m) => {
    console.log("In background script, received message from content script");
    console.log(m.greeting);
  });
}

browser.runtime.onConnect.addListener(connected);

browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(() => {
  portFromCS.postMessage({ greeting: "they clicked the button!" });
});

Browser compatibility

[!NOTE] This API is based on Chromium's chrome.runtime API. This documentation is derived from runtime.json in the Chromium code.