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  6. page_action

page_action

In This Article
  1. Syntax
  2. Example
  3. Browser compatibility
Type Object
Mandatory No
Example
"page_action": {
  "browser_style": true,
  "default_icon": {
    "19": "button/geo-19.png",
    "38": "button/geo-38.png"
  },
  "default_title": "Whereami?",
  "default_popup": "popup/geo.html"
}

A page action is an icon that your extension adds inside the browser's URL bar.

Your extension may optionally also supply an associated popup whose content is specified using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

If you supply a popup, then the popup is opened when the user clicks the icon, and your JavaScript running in the popup can handle the user's interaction with it. If you don't supply a popup, then a click event is dispatched to your extension's background scripts when the user clicks the icon.

You can also create and manipulate page actions programmatically using the pageAction API.

Page actions are like browser actions, except that they are associated with particular web pages rather than with the browser as a whole. If an action is only relevant on certain pages, then you should use a page action and display it only on relevant pages. If an action is relevant to all pages or to the browser itself, use a browser action.

While browser actions are displayed by default, page actions are hidden by default. They can be shown for a particular tab by calling pageAction.show(), passing in the tab's ID.

Syntax

The page_action key is an object that may have any of three properties, all optional:

Name Type Description
browser_style Boolean

Optional, defaulting to false.

Use this to include a stylesheet in your popup that will make it look consistent with the browser's UI and with other extensions that use the browser_style property. Although this key defaults to false, it's recommended that you include it and set it to true.

In Firefox, the stylesheet can be seen at chrome://browser/content/extension.css, or chrome://browser/content/extension-mac.css on OS X.

The Firefox Style Guide describes the classes you can apply to elements in the popup in order to get particular styles.

The latest-download example extension uses browser_style in its popup.

default_icon Object or String

Use this to specify an icon for the action.

It's recommended that you supply two icons here, one 19x19 pixels, and one 38x38 pixels, and specify them in an object with properties named "19" and "38", like this:

    "default_icon": {
      "19": "geo-19.png",
      "38": "geo-38.png"
    }

If you do this, then the browser will pick the right size icon for the screen's pixel density.

You can just supply a string here:

"default_icon": "geo.png"

If you do this, then the icon will be scaled to fit the toolbar, and may appear blurry.

default_popup String

The path to an HTML file containing the specification of the popup.

The HTML file may include CSS and JavaScript files using <link> and <script> elements, just like a normal web page.

Unlike a normal web page, JavaScript running in the popup can access all the WebExtension APIs (subject, of course, to the extension having the appropriate permissions).

This is a localizable property.

default_title String

Tooltip for the icon, displayed when the user moves their mouse over it.

This is a localizable property.

Example

"page_action": {
  "default_icon": {
    "19": "button/geo-19.png",
    "38": "button/geo-38.png"
  }
}

A page action with just an icon, specified in 2 different sizes. The extension's background scripts can receive click events when the user clicks the icon using code like this:

 browser.pageAction.onClicked.addListener(handleClick);
"page_action": {
  "default_icon": {
    "19": "button/geo-19.png",
    "38": "button/geo-38.png"
  },
  "default_title": "Whereami?",
  "default_popup": "popup/geo.html"
}

A page action with an icon, a title, and a popup. The popup will be shown when the user clicks the icon.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

ChromeEdgeFirefoxFirefox for AndroidOpera
Basic supportYes 1Yes 1 248NoYes
browser_styleNoNo48NoNo
1. SVG icons are not supported.
2. 'default_icon' must be an object, with explicit sizes.

Document Tags and Contributors

Tags: 
  • Add-ons
  • Extensions
  • WebExtensions
 Contributors to this page: andrewtruongmoz, wbamberg, Makyen
 Last updated by: andrewtruongmoz, Jul 12, 2017, 3:38:16 PM
See also
  1. Browser extensions
  2. Getting started
    1. What are extensions?
    2. Your first extension
    3. Your second extension
    4. Anatomy of an extension
    5. Example extensions
  3. How to
    1. Intercept HTTP requests
    2. Modify a web page
    3. Add a button to the toolbar
    4. Implement a settings page
  4. User interface
    1. Introduction
    2. Toolbar button
    3. Address bar button
    4. Sidebar
    5. Context menu items
    6. Options page
    7. Bundled web pages
    8. Notifications
    9. Address bar suggestions
    10. Developer tools panels
  5. Concepts
    1. Using the JavaScript APIs
    2. Content scripts
    3. Match patterns
    4. Internationalization
    5. Content Security Policy
    6. Native messaging
  6. Porting
    1. Porting a Google Chrome extension
    2. Porting a legacy Firefox extension
    3. Embedded WebExtensions
    4. Comparison with the Add-on SDK
    5. Comparison with XUL/XPCOM extensions
    6. Chrome incompatibilities
    7. Differences between desktop and Android
  7. Firefox workflow
    1. Temporary Installation in Firefox
    2. Debugging
    3. Developing for Firefox for Android
    4. Getting started with web-ext
    5. web-ext command reference
    6. Extensions and the Add-on ID
    7. Publishing your extension
  8. JavaScript APIs
    1. Browser support for JavaScript APIs
    2. alarms
    3. bookmarks
    4. browserAction
    5. browsingData
    6. commands
    7. contextMenus
    8. contextualIdentities
    9. cookies
    10. devtools.inspectedWindow
    11. devtools.network
    12. devtools.panels
    13. downloads
    14. events
    15. extension
    16. extensionTypes
    17. history
    18. i18n
    19. identity
    20. idle
    21. management
    22. notifications
    23. omnibox
    24. pageAction
    25. permissions
    26. privacy
    27. proxy
    28. runtime
    29. sessions
    30. sidebarAction
    31. storage
    32. tabs
    33. theme
    34. topSites
    35. types
    36. webNavigation
    37. webRequest
    38. windows
  9. Manifest keys
    1. applications
    2. author
    3. background
    4. browser_action
    5. chrome_settings_overrides
    6. chrome_url_overrides
    7. commands
    8. content_scripts
    9. content_security_policy
    10. default_locale
    11. description
    12. developer
    13. devtools_page
    14. homepage_url
    15. icons
    16. incognito
    17. manifest_version
    18. name
    19. omnibox
    20. optional_permissions
    21. options_ui
    22. page_action
    23. permissions
    24. protocol_handlers
    25. short_name
    26. sidebar_action
    27. theme
    28. version
    29. web_accessible_resources
  10. Themes
  11. Publishing add-ons
  12. Guides
    1. Signing and distribution overview
    2. Submit an add-on
    3. Creating an appealing listing
    4. Review policies
    5. Developer agreement
    6. Featured add-ons
    7. Contact addons.mozilla.org
  13. Community and support
  14. Channels
    1. Add-ons blog
    2. Add-on forums
    3. Stack Overflow
    4. Development newsgroup
    5. IRC Channel
  15. Legacy add-ons
  16. Legacy technologies
    1. Add-on SDK
    2. Legacy Firefox for Android
    3. Bootstrapped extensions
    4. Overlay extensions