Read the version from manifest.json

Question

Is there a way for a Chrome extension to read properties from manifest.json? I'd like to be able to read the version number and use it in the extension.

What about doing a ajax request in towards `./manifest.json`. Did you try that ? Try doing it with jQuery, with GET or JSON or simple AJAX functions. Should let us know what you tried also. — Hamed Al-Khabaz, Jan 04 '13 at 00:11
I believe reading version from manifest.json is not good idea, if you do not reload or refresh addon in extensions tab by just reading it will show you correct version but in fact previous version is still in action and newer was not loaded yet. — sairfan, Nov 19 '20 at 15:20

score 122 · Accepted Answer · edited Nov 28 '16 at 15:49

122

You can just use chrome.runtime.getManifest() to access the manifest data - you don't need to GET it and parse it.

var manifestData = chrome.runtime.getManifest();
console.log(manifestData.version);
console.log(manifestData.default_locale);

edited Nov 28 '16 at 15:49

Marv

748
11
27

answered Jan 15 '13 at 22:49

nfm

19,689
15
60
90

score 16 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 13 '15 at 23:33

16

The snipet chrome.app.getDetails() is not working anymore, is returning an error:

TypeError: Object # has no method 'getDetails'

You want to use chrome.runtime.getManifest() instead.

edited Jul 13 '15 at 23:33

Protomen

9,471
9
57
124

answered Mar 12 '14 at 20:37

Ondrej

416
4
8

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 08 '15 at 10:02

8

Since Chrome 22, you shoud use chrome.runtime

console.log(chrome.runtime.getManifest().version);

answered Sep 08 '15 at 10:02

tardyp

1,142
11
9

2

This is essentially Ondrej's answer. And a code snippet only makes sense for a complete js/html/css page, which an extension isn't. – Teepeemm Sep 09 '15 at 13:33

score 6 · Answer 4 · edited Jan 04 '13 at 08:58

6

I use this way.

chrome.manifest = (function() {

    var manifestObject = false;
    var xhr = new XMLHttpRequest();

    xhr.onreadystatechange = function() {
        if (xhr.readyState == 4) {
            manifestObject = JSON.parse(xhr.responseText);
        }
    };
    xhr.open("GET", chrome.extension.getURL('/manifest.json'), false);

    try {
        xhr.send();
    } catch(e) {
        console.log('Couldn\'t load manifest.json');
    }

    return manifestObject;

})();

And that's all. This short code snippet loads manifest object and put's it among other chrome.* APIs. So, now you can get any information you want:

// current version 
chrome.manifest.version

// default locale
chrome.manifest.default_locale

edited Jan 04 '13 at 08:58

Sudarshan

18,140
7
53
61

answered Jan 04 '13 at 08:53

BenoitParis

3,166
4
29
56

3

Note that this method is still appropriate if you want to store arbitrary JSON config somewhere, as adding custom keys/values to your manifest.json will raise a warning. I have a separate data.json that stores things like the server's URL (which is different in dev/production), and I parse it with the above method. – nfm Jan 18 '13 at 00:27
@nfm I've tried this, but it seems to ignore the file, I get an error when trying to load it, do I need to reference it somewhere in the manifest.json? – Mojimi Jun 10 '19 at 17:44

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Aug 29 '13 at 21:17

It's actually simple.

function yourFunction() {
return chrome.app.getDetails().version;
}

where you can name yourFunction whatever you like.

Then to call it, just insert yourfunction() wherever you want to call the version number.

For example, if your version number is 9.07, then yourfunction() actually equals the numeric value of 9.07

Read the version from manifest.json

5 Answers5