I think it was already waiting for answer, but not sure: Native app does not work in Chrome extension
On Linux, it works fine, but on Windows 7 and 8 I always get an error "Specified native messaging host not found".
This is my registry (I've already tried with double backslash and with HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE):
REG ADD HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\com.google.chrome.example.echo /ve /d C:\Users\Chriss\Desktop\nativeMessaging\host\com.google.chrome.example.echo-win.json
manifest.json:
{
// Extension ID: knldjmfmopnpolahpmmgbagdohdnhkik
"key":"MIGfMA0GCSqGSIb3DQEBAQUAA4GNADCBiQKBgQDcBHwzDvyBQ6bDppkIs9MP4ksKqCMyXQ/A52JivHZKh4YO/9vJsT3oaYhSpDCE9RPocOEQvwsHsFReW2nUEc6OLLyoCFFxIb7KkLGsmfakkut/fFdNJYh0xOTbSN8YvLWcqph09XAY2Y/f0AL7vfO1cuCqtkMt8hFrBGWxDdf9CQIDAQAB",
"name": "Native Messaging Example",
"version": "1.0",
"manifest_version": 2,
"description": "Send a message to a native application.",
"browser_action": {
"default_title": "Test Extension",
"default_popup": "main.html"
},
"icons": {
"128": "icon-128.png"
},
"permissions": [
"nativeMessaging"
]
}
com.google.chrome.example.echo-win.json:
{
"name": "com.google.chrome.example.echo",
"description": "Chrome Native Messaging API Example Host",
"path": "C:\Users\Chriss\Desktop\nativeMessaging\host\native-messaging-example-host.exe",
"type": "stdio",
"allowed_origins": [
"chrome-extension://knldjmfmopnpolahpmmgbagdohdnhkik/"
]
}
native-messaging-example-host.exe:
int main(int argc, char* argv[]) {
// Define our message
std::string message = "{\"text\": \"This is a response message\"}";
// Collect the length of the message
unsigned int len = message.length();
// We need to send the 4 bytes of length information
std::cout
<< char(((len >> 0) & 0xFF))
<< char(((len >> 8) & 0xFF))
<< char(((len >> 16) & 0xFF))
<< char(((len >> 24) & 0xFF));
// Now we can output our message
std::cout << message;
return 0;
}
JS snippet(it is from http://src.chromium.org/viewvc/chrome/trunk/src/chrome/common/extensions/docs/examples/api/nativeMessaging/app/main.js?revision=228976 ):
function connect() {
var hostName = "com.google.chrome.example.echo";
appendMessage("Connecting to native messaging host <b>" + hostName + "</b>")
port = chrome.runtime.connectNative(hostName);
port.onMessage.addListener(onNativeMessage);
port.onDisconnect.addListener(onDisconnected);
updateUiState();
}
I cannot find out what is the problem. Where is my fault?
update
After monitoring the registries with Procces Monitor. I found that the chrome.exe searches for the key in the 64bit keys. Now as I can see there's no missing relevant registry key, but I still get the error.
I also struggled with this issue on Windows, but was able to get it work. Try the following:
Regarding the registry (mine on the HKLM, but HKCU should be OK) you should use double backslash. Here is my .reg file:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Google\Chrome\NativeMessagingHosts\tcchrome.native.handler]
@="G:\\\ExtChrome\\\Extension\\\Native\\\manifest.json"
Here is my manifest for example:
{
"name": "chrome.native.handler",
"description": "BlaBla helper process",
"path": "chrome.native.handler.exe",
"type": "stdio",
"allowed_origins": [
"chrome-extension://eoknpfoeckmeidbmbfoklejkppcnlfdm/"
]
}
BTW, you are not handling the response right. You are supposed to send the message length in "native byte order" - what you are doing will not work for larger messages. Instead you can do something like:
cout.write((char*)&resSize, 4);
cout.write(responseBuf, resSize);
Hope this helps