how to get current tabId from background page

Question

how to get current tabId from background page? current tabId is the tab that user can see its content.

background.html

<html>
<head>
    <script>

    if(typeof localStorage.state == 'undefined')
        localStorage.state = 'off'
    chrome.browserAction.onClicked.addListener(function(tab) {
        if(localStorage.state == 'on')
        {
            localStorage.state = 'off';
        }
        else
        {
            localStorage.state = 'on';
        }
        chrome.browserAction.setBadgeText({text: localStorage.state, tabId: tab.id});
        chrome.tabs.sendRequest(tab.id, {state: localStorage.state});
        //chrome.tabs.sendRequest(tab.id, {state: localStorage.state});
    });
    </script>
</head>

Arithmomaniac · Answer 1 · 2016-11-22T14:42:29.907

54

getSelected has been deprecated. The new way to do it is:

chrome.tabs.query(
  {currentWindow: true, active : true},
  function(tabArray){...}
)

If you want to perform some callback on the active tab, you can wrap the above as so:

function doInCurrentTab(tabCallback) {
    chrome.tabs.query(
        { currentWindow: true, active: true },
        function (tabArray) { tabCallback(tabArray[0]); }
    );
}

For example

var activeTabId;
doInCurrentTab( function(tab){ activeTabId = tab.id } );

edited Nov 22 '16 at 14:42

answered Aug 21 '12 at 17:51

Arithmomaniac

4,604
3
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@neaumusic I have a problem with your edit. It changes a bit too much of the author's code and contains false information (`tabArray[0]` is not an ID). I'm rolling this back. – Xan Apr 21 '15 at 10:13
@neaumusic That said, you can definitely post your code as an answer. – Xan Apr 21 '15 at 10:40
3

This totally does not seem to work any more. If I do a `console.log(activeTabId);` from within the callback (e.g. `function(tab){ ... }`) I can see that tab.id is set, but then as soon as doInCurrentTab returns, activeTabId remains undefined. Did Google change something that broke this? – Doktor J Dec 03 '15 at 07:39

mc. · Answer 2 · 2013-09-24T22:08:09.480

9

Run this in your background page

chrome.tabs.query({active:true,windowType:"normal", currentWindow: true},function(d){console.debug(d);})

or even better

chrome.tabs.query({active:true,windowType:"normal", currentWindow: true},function(d){console.debug(d[0].id);})

edited Sep 24 '13 at 22:08

answered Aug 20 '13 at 00:58

mc.

539
6
15

2

This will get all active tabs in all windows. So if you have more than one window open you'll get several tabs back. – Soviut Aug 23 '13 at 03:28
1

For the onlookers - it was edited with `currentWindow` to solve Soviut's issue. – Pimp Trizkit Oct 05 '17 at 12:55
Note that just running this code in a background page's devtools window won't return anything. If you run it in a timeout and then switch to regular window, you'll see it return the active tab: `setTimeout(() => chrome.tabs.query({ currentWindow: true, active: true }, console.log), 2000)` – jdunning May 16 '20 at 01:13

score 6 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 02 '22 at 12:53

According to the official documentation: Manifest V3 (promise), which will be enforced since Jan 2023 https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/tabs/#get-the-current-tab

async function getCurrentTab() {
  let queryOptions = { active: true, lastFocusedWindow: true };
  let [tab] = await chrome.tabs.query(queryOptions);
  return tab;
}

score 3 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 05 '11 at 02:49

3

Many API methods interpret null as a current tab. chrome.tabs.sendRequest is one of them.

Otherwise:

chrome.tabs.getSelected(null, function(tab) { ... })

answered Sep 05 '11 at 02:49

serg

109,619
77
317
330

Should now use query instead: https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/tabs/#method-getSelected – lovelikelando Feb 13 '21 at 20:44

neaumusic · Answer 5 · 2018-05-13T02:36:45.397

2

If you have tabs user permission, the query method is this: chrome.tabs.query

getCurrentWindowActiveTabIndex().then(tabIndex => {
    // do something
});

// asnyc getter, not just a regular 'thunk'
function getCurrentWindowActiveTabIndex () {
    return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
        chrome.tabs.query({
            currentWindow: true,
            active: true,
        }, (currentWindowActiveTabs = []) => {
            if (!currentWindowActiveTabs.length) reject();
            resolve(currentWindowActiveTabs[0].index);
        });
    });
}

edited May 13 '18 at 02:36

answered Apr 23 '15 at 05:44

neaumusic

10,027
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3

A little bit of explanation of what this code does, and why is this answer better than others, would be welcome. – Xan Apr 23 '15 at 07:00

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Jul 16 '22 at 10:45

1

For manifest version 3 Here :

chrome.tabs.query({currentWindow: true, active: true}, function(tabs){
  console.log(tabs[0].url);
  my_tabid=tabs[0].id;
  alert(my_tabid);
});
//then use it, my_tabid

answered Jul 16 '22 at 10:45

Hakan

240
3
4

how to get current tabId from background page

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