electron/docs/api/web-frame-main.md

# webFrameMain

> Control web pages and iframes.

Process: [Main](../glossary.md#main-process)

The `webFrameMain` module can be used to lookup frames across existing
[`WebContents`](web-contents.md) instances. Navigation events are the common
use case.

```js
const { BrowserWindow, webFrameMain } = require('electron')

const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 1500 })
win.loadURL('https://twitter.com')

win.webContents.on(
  'did-frame-navigate',
  (event, url, httpResponseCode, httpStatusText, isMainFrame, frameProcessId, frameRoutingId) => {
    const frame = webFrameMain.fromId(frameProcessId, frameRoutingId)
    if (frame) {
      const code = 'document.body.innerHTML = document.body.innerHTML.replaceAll("heck", "h*ck")'
      frame.executeJavaScript(code)
    }
  }
)
```

You can also access frames of existing pages by using the `mainFrame` property
of [`WebContents`](web-contents.md).

```js
const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

async function main () {
  const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })
  await win.loadURL('https://reddit.com')

  const youtubeEmbeds = win.webContents.mainFrame.frames.filter((frame) => {
    try {
      const url = new URL(frame.url)
      return url.host === 'www.youtube.com'
    } catch {
      return false
    }
  })

  console.log(youtubeEmbeds)
}

main()
```

## Methods

These methods can be accessed from the `webFrameMain` module:

### `webFrameMain.fromId(processId, routingId)`

* `processId` Integer - An `Integer` representing the internal ID of the process which owns the frame.
* `routingId` Integer - An `Integer` representing the unique frame ID in the
  current renderer process. Routing IDs can be retrieved from `WebFrameMain`
  instances (`frame.routingId`) and are also passed by frame
  specific `WebContents` navigation events (e.g. `did-frame-navigate`).

Returns `WebFrameMain | undefined` - A frame with the given process and routing IDs,
or `undefined` if there is no WebFrameMain associated with the given IDs.

## Class: WebFrameMain

Process: [Main](../glossary.md#main-process)<br />
_This class is not exported from the `'electron'` module. It is only available as a return value of other methods in the Electron API._

### Instance Events

#### Event: 'dom-ready'

Emitted when the document is loaded.

### Instance Methods

#### `frame.executeJavaScript(code[, userGesture])`

* `code` string
* `userGesture` boolean (optional) - Default is `false`.

Returns `Promise<unknown>` - A promise that resolves with the result of the executed
code or is rejected if execution throws or results in a rejected promise.

Evaluates `code` in page.

In the browser window some HTML APIs like `requestFullScreen` can only be
invoked by a gesture from the user. Setting `userGesture` to `true` will remove
this limitation.

#### `frame.reload()`

Returns `boolean` - Whether the reload was initiated successfully. Only results in `false` when the frame has no history.

#### `frame.send(channel, ...args)`

* `channel` string
* `...args` any[]

Send an asynchronous message to the renderer process via `channel`, along with
arguments. Arguments will be serialized with the [Structured Clone Algorithm][SCA],
just like [`postMessage`][], so prototype chains will not be included.
Sending Functions, Promises, Symbols, WeakMaps, or WeakSets will throw an exception.

The renderer process can handle the message by listening to `channel` with the
[`ipcRenderer`](ipc-renderer.md) module.

#### `frame.postMessage(channel, message, [transfer])`

* `channel` string
* `message` any
* `transfer` MessagePortMain[] (optional)

Send a message to the renderer process, optionally transferring ownership of
zero or more [`MessagePortMain`][] objects.

The transferred `MessagePortMain` objects will be available in the renderer
process by accessing the `ports` property of the emitted event. When they
arrive in the renderer, they will be native DOM `MessagePort` objects.

For example:

```js
// Main process
const win = new BrowserWindow()
const { port1, port2 } = new MessageChannelMain()
win.webContents.mainFrame.postMessage('port', { message: 'hello' }, [port1])

// Renderer process
ipcRenderer.on('port', (e, msg) => {
  const [port] = e.ports
  // ...
})
```

### Instance Properties

#### `frame.ipc` _Readonly_

An [`IpcMain`](ipc-main.md) instance scoped to the frame.

IPC messages sent with `ipcRenderer.send`, `ipcRenderer.sendSync` or
`ipcRenderer.postMessage` will be delivered in the following order:

1. `contents.on('ipc-message')`
2. `contents.mainFrame.on(channel)`
3. `contents.ipc.on(channel)`
4. `ipcMain.on(channel)`

Handlers registered with `invoke` will be checked in the following order. The
first one that is defined will be called, the rest will be ignored.

1. `contents.mainFrame.handle(channel)`
2. `contents.handle(channel)`
3. `ipcMain.handle(channel)`

In most cases, only the main frame of a WebContents can send or receive IPC
messages. However, if the `nodeIntegrationInSubFrames` option is enabled, it is
possible for child frames to send and receive IPC messages also. The
[`WebContents.ipc`](web-contents.md#contentsipc-readonly) interface may be more
convenient when `nodeIntegrationInSubFrames` is not enabled.

#### `frame.url` _Readonly_

A `string` representing the current URL of the frame.

#### `frame.origin` _Readonly_

A `string` representing the current origin of the frame, serialized according
to [RFC 6454](https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc6454). This may be different
from the URL. For instance, if the frame is a child window opened to
`about:blank`, then `frame.origin` will return the parent frame's origin, while
`frame.url` will return the empty string. Pages without a scheme/host/port
triple origin will have the serialized origin of `"null"` (that is, the string
containing the letters n, u, l, l).

#### `frame.top` _Readonly_

A `WebFrameMain | null` representing top frame in the frame hierarchy to which `frame`
belongs.

#### `frame.parent` _Readonly_

A `WebFrameMain | null` representing parent frame of `frame`, the property would be
`null` if `frame` is the top frame in the frame hierarchy.

#### `frame.frames` _Readonly_

A `WebFrameMain[]` collection containing the direct descendents of `frame`.

#### `frame.framesInSubtree` _Readonly_

A `WebFrameMain[]` collection containing every frame in the subtree of `frame`,
including itself. This can be useful when traversing through all frames.

#### `frame.frameTreeNodeId` _Readonly_

An `Integer` representing the id of the frame's internal FrameTreeNode
instance. This id is browser-global and uniquely identifies a frame that hosts
content. The identifier is fixed at the creation of the frame and stays
constant for the lifetime of the frame. When the frame is removed, the id is
not used again.

#### `frame.name` _Readonly_

A `string` representing the frame name.

#### `frame.osProcessId` _Readonly_

An `Integer` representing the operating system `pid` of the process which owns this frame.

#### `frame.processId` _Readonly_

An `Integer` representing the Chromium internal `pid` of the process which owns this frame.
This is not the same as the OS process ID; to read that use `frame.osProcessId`.

#### `frame.routingId` _Readonly_

An `Integer` representing the unique frame id in the current renderer process.
Distinct `WebFrameMain` instances that refer to the same underlying frame will
have the same `routingId`.

#### `frame.visibilityState` _Readonly_

A `string` representing the [visibility state](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Document/visibilityState) of the frame.

See also how the [Page Visibility API](browser-window.md#page-visibility) is affected by other Electron APIs.

[SCA]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Web_Workers_API/Structured_clone_algorithm
[`postMessage`]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/postMessage
[`MessagePortMain`]: message-port-main.md