Chrome New Tab Page extension steal focus from the address bar
google-chrome-extension, html, javascript
Solution
ManifestV3 update
This answer is adapted from https://stackoverflow.com/a/11348302/1754517. This has been tested with both Manifest V2 and V3. Tested in Google Chrome 99.0.4844.51 64-bit (Windows 10).
- Replace the content of `focus.js` with:
if (location.search !== "?x") {
location.search = "?x";
throw new Error; // load everything on the next page;
// stop execution on this page
}
- Add the `autofocus` attribute to the `<input>`.
- Go to the Extensions page in Chrome and click the `Load unpacked` button. Choose the folder of your extension.
- Open your new tab page. You might see a modal dialogue reading `Change back to Google?`. Click `Keep it` to keep your custom new tab page.
Inline Javascript - Manifest V2 only
If you're inlining the Javascript in the HTML file, then you'll need to take some extra steps:
- After adding your inline Javascript to your HTML file, open DevTools (`F12` key) and observe the error output in the Console. Example output you should see:
Refused to execute inline script because it violates the following Content Security Policy directive: "script-src 'self' blob: filesystem:".
Either the 'unsafe-inline' keyword, a hash ('sha256-MK0Gypb4mkZTI11eCOtWT+mGYcJNpN5zccvhfeaRb6E='), or a nonce ('nonce-...') is required to enable inline execution.
- Select & copy this hash.
- Add a line to `manifest.json` to allow the JS to run, pasting in the hash you just copied between the single-quotes. E.g.:
"content_security_policy": "script-src 'self' 'sha256-MK0Gypb4mkZTI11eCOtWT+mGYcJNpN5zccvhfeaRb6E='"
- Go to the Extensions page again. Remove the extension, then re-add it using the `Load unpacked` button.
- Open your new tab page. Your extension should now autofocus on the `<input>`.
Note inlining only works with Manifest V2; Manifest V3 returns a failure message when attempting to load the extension (even with a properly formed `"content_security_policy"` object in `manifest.json`, to replace the Manifest V2 `"content_security_policy"` string):
Failed to load extension
File C:\path\to\extension
Error 'content_security_policy.extension_pages': Insecure CSP value "'sha256-...'" in directive 'script-src'.
Could not load manifest.
Problem
With Chrome 27, it seems that extensions that override Chrome's New Tab Page can't take focus away from Chrome's Omnibox like they used to in previous versions of Chrome. Is there a new way to focus an input box in a New Tab Page, or has this functionality been disabled completely? :( To test this, create an extension folder with three files: 1. manifest.json: ``` { "name": "Focus Test", "version": "0", "minimum_chrome_version": "27", "chrome_url_overrides": { "newtab": "newTab.html" }, "manifest_version": 2 } ``` 2. focus.js: ``` document.getElementById('foo').focus(); ``` 3. newTab.html: ``` <html> <body> <input id="foo" type="text" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="focus.js"></script> </body> </html> ``` Then, when you load the extension and open a new tab, the input field does not get focused on the new tab page. I have also tried adding the `autofocus` attribute to the `input` field, but no luck either. The extension's new tab page can't take focus away from Chrome's Omnibox. Any ideas? Is this a bug or a new "feature"?