Get Views by Type

Problem

Right now we have chrome.extension.getViews() which returns a list of all active views (toolstrips, tab contents, the background page) in the extension. This is cool, but you also frequently need to get all views of a certain type. For example, all toolstrips, or just the background page. Also, people frequently want to get the toolstrips associated with a particular window.

Proposal

chrome.extension

// Returns an array of DOMWindows for the toolstrips running in the current extension.

//

// windowId: optional. If specified only returns toolstrips from that window. If

// omitted, defaults to the current window as defined by chrome.windows.getCurrent().

// Can also be the string "all", in which case all toolstrips in all windows will be

// returned.

DOMWindow[] getToolstrips([int-or-string windowId]);

// Returns an array of DOMWindows for any tabs running in the current extension.

//

// windowId: optional. If specified only returns toolstrips from that window. If

// omitted, defaults to the current window as defined by chrome.windows.getCurrent().

// Can also be the string "all", in which case all toolstrips in all windows will be

// returned.

DOMWindow[] getTabs([int-or-string windowId]);

// Returns the DOMWindow for the extension's background page, or null if the extension

// doesn't have a background page.

DOMWindow getBackgroundPage();

Example

// Assuming the extension has a background page and has a global function called "foobar".

chrome.extension.getBackgroundPage().foobar();