sendMessage from extension background or popup to content script doesn't work

Question

I know that question has been repeatedly asked in different ways, but I tried to go through all the answers (hopefully I didn't miss anyone) and none of them worked for me.

Here is my extension's code:

manifest:

{
"name": "test",
"version": "1.1",
"background": 
{ 
    "scripts": ["contextMenus.js"]
},

"permissions": ["tabs", "<all_urls>", "contextMenus"],

"content_scripts" : [
    {
        "matches" : [ "http://*/*" ],
        "js": ["jquery-1.8.3.js", "jquery-ui.js"],
        "css": [ "jquery-ui.css" ],
        "js": ["openDialog.js"]
    }
],

"manifest_version": 2
}

contextMenus.js

function onClickHandler(info, tab) {
    if (info.menuItemId == "line1"){

      alert("You have selected: " + info.selectionText);

      chrome.extension.sendMessage({action:'open_dialog_box'}, function(){});

      alert("Req sent?");

    }
}

chrome.contextMenus.onClicked.addListener(onClickHandler);

chrome.runtime.onInstalled.addListener(function() {

  chrome.contextMenus.create({"id": "line1", "type": "normal", "title": "I'm line 1",     "contexts":["selection"]});

});

openDialog.js

chrome.extension.onMessage.addListener(function(msg, sender, sendResponse) {

  if (msg.action == 'open_dialog_box') {
    alert("Message recieved!");
  }
});

The two alerts of the background page work, while the one of the content_script doesn't.

console log's message: Port error: Could not establish connection. Receiving end does not exist.

Where is my fault?

Answer 1

In your background page you should call

chrome.tabs.query({active: true, currentWindow: true}, function(tabs){
    chrome.tabs.sendMessage(tabs[0].id, {action: "open_dialog_box"}, function(response) {});  
});

instead of using chrome.extension.sendMessage as you currently do.

The chrome.tabs variant sends messages to content scripts, whereas the chrome.extension function sends messages to all other extension components.