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I would like to display the latest top 3-5 entries of my extension change log (TXT file) when it's auto-updated and ideally in a balloon-type event like the one when you have successfully installed an extension. It should show/popup near the wrench-icon area. Like a replacement for @history that GM scripts have.

There are already a few SO questions about how to get extension version like here.
There are also one here to detect if it's an install or update based on version.

It is not desktop notifications I want.
My question is how to make the balloon and populate it with the lines.
An alternative is open my options.html page in a new tab and show the change log entries there somehow. Requires tabs permission in the manifest.json file.

chrome.tabs.create({url:chrome.extension.getURL('options.html')});

Any ideas how to do this?
Or is this impossible to do?

BSMP
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Kim
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1 Answers1

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There's neither a mechanism to create a "balloon" notification (that's reserved for native Chrome code), nor to pop out the popup without user interaction. Your automatic notification methods are fairly limited: creating a new tab with a changelog is certainly possible, but not particularly user-friendly (since it will simply open at some arbitrary time, completely remote from the user's intent).

If possible, I'd suggest waiting to notify the user until she interacts in some way with the extension. Clicking on a page-action, for instance, could have some sort of infobar-like note at the top of the popup's UI inviting the user to read more about the update.

Mike West
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    My extension have no UI. It is a content script that alters the DOM. This is also why I mentioned the option_page directive. – Kim Mar 24 '12 at 23:47