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javascriptgoogle-chromegoogle-chrome-extension

Upload File as a Form Data through chrome extension

I am uploading a file through chrome extension as a form data and my code follows below. The problem here is that the file browsing window opens for just a second and then disappears.
The issue appears in Mac OS only.

manifest.json:

"background": {
  "scripts": ["jszip.js", "background.js"]
},

background.js:

chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener(function (msg) {
  if (msg.action === 'browse')
  {
    var myForm=document.createElement("FORM");
    var myFile=document.createElement("INPUT");
    myFile.type="file";
    myFile.id="selectFile";
    //myFile.onclick="openDialog()";
    myForm.appendChild(myFile);
    var myButton=document.createElement("INPUT");
    myButton.name="submit";
    myButton.type="submit";
    myButton.value="Submit";
    myForm.appendChild(myButton);
    document.body.appendChild(myForm);
  }
});

popup.js:

window.onload = function () {
  chrome.runtime.sendMessage({
    action: 'browse'
  });
}
Solution

  • A little "background story":

    You want to let the user choose and upload a file from your popup. But in OSX, as soon as the file-chooser dialog opens, the popup loses focus and closes, causing its JS context to get destroyed as well. Thus, the dialog opens and closes immediately.

    This is a known bug on MAC for quite some time.

    The solution:

    You can move the dialog opening logic to the background-page, which is not affected by loss of focus. From the popup, you can send a message to the background-page, requesting to initiate the browse-and-upload process (see sample code below).

    manifest.json

    {
    ...
    "background": {
        "persistent": false,
        "scripts": ["background.js"]
    },

    "browser_action": {
        "default_title": "Test Extension",
//        "default_icon": {
//            "19": "img/icon19.png",
//            "38": "img/icon38.png"
//        },
        "default_popup": "popup.html"
    },

    "permissions": [
        "https://www.example.com/uploads"
        // The above permission is needed for cross-domain XHR
    ]
}

    popup.html

        ...
    <script src="popup.js"></script>
</head>
<body>
    <input type="button" id="button" value="Browse and Upload" />
    ...

    popup.js

    document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () {
    document.getElementById('button').addEventListener('click', function () {
        chrome.runtime.sendMessage({ action: 'browseAndUpload' });
        window.close();
    });
});

    background.js

    var uploadUrl = 'https://www.example.com/uploads';

/* Creates an `input[type="file]` */
var fileChooser = document.createElement('input');
fileChooser.type = 'file';
fileChooser.addEventListener('change', function () {
    var file = fileChooser.files[0];
    var formData = new FormData();
    formData.append(file.name, file);

    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhr.open('POST', uploadUrl, true);
    xhr.addEventListener('readystatechange', function (evt) {
        console.log('ReadyState: ' + xhr.readyState,
                    'Status: ' + xhr.status);
    });

    xhr.send(formData);
    form.reset();   // <-- Resets the input so we do get a `change` event,
                    //     even if the user chooses the same file
});

/* Wrap it in a form for resetting */
var form = document.createElement('form');
form.appendChild(fileChooser);

/* Listen for messages from popup */
chrome.runtime.onMessage.addListener(function (msg) {
    if (msg.action === 'browseAndUpload') {
        fileChooser.click();
    }
});

    Heads up:
    As a security precaution, Chrome will execute fileChooser.click() only if it is a result of user interaction.
    In the above example, the user clicks the button in the popup, which sends a message to the background-page, which calls fileChooser.click();. If you try to call it programmatically it won't work. (E.g. calling it on document load won't have any effect.)