52 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
52 lines
2.1 KiB
Markdown
# DevTools extension
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To make debugging easier, Electron has basic support for
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[Chrome DevTools Extension][devtools-extension].
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For most devtools extensions, you can simply download the source code and use
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the `BrowserWindow.addDevToolsExtension` API to load them, the loaded extensions
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will be remembered so you don't need to call the API every time when creating
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a window.
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For example to use the [React DevTools Extension](https://github.com/facebook/react-devtools), first you need to download its
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source code:
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```bash
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$ cd /some-directory
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$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/facebook/react-devtools.git
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```
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Then you can load the extension in Electron by opening devtools in any window,
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and then running the following code in the devtools console:
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```javascript
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require('remote').require('browser-window').addDevToolsExtension('/some-directory/react-devtools');
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```
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To unload the extension, you can call `BrowserWindow.removeDevToolsExtension`
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API with its name and it will not load the next time you open the devtools:
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```javascript
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require('remote').require('browser-window').removeDevToolsExtension('React Developer Tools');
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```
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## Format of devtools extension
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Ideally all devtools extension written for Chrome browser can be loaded by
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Electron, but they have to be in a plain directory, for those packaged `crx`
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extensions, there is no way for Electron to load them unless you find a way to
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extract them into a directory.
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## Background pages
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Currently Electron doesn't support the background pages feature in chrome extensions,
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so for some devtools extensions that rely on this feature, they may not work in Electron.
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## `chrome.*` APIs
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Some chrome extensions use `chrome.*` APIs for some features, there has been some
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effort to implement those APIs in Electron, however not all are implemented.
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Given that not all `chrome.*` APIs are implemented if the devtools extension is using APIs other than `chrome.devtools.*`, the extension is very likely not to work. You can report failing extensions in the issue tracker so that we can add support for those APIs.
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[devtools-extension]: https://developer.chrome.com/extensions/devtools
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