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I want to get started writing extensions for Google Chrome. I am a long time C, C++, Delphi, etc. developer for many years with some Java skills. I believe Chrome extensions are written in C++ but perhaps some people have figured out how to do development in other languages via alternate methods.

[UPDATE: NPAPI plug-ins are written in C++. Generic Chrome extensions use HTML, CSS, and JS as pointed out in the comments and replies below.]

Is there a book that covers developing Google Chrome extensions for those new to the field but are experienced programmers? Any other resources? I'd be most grateful for resources that cut out most of the ambient learning material and go straight to the heart of the matter with good samples along the way. Some tips on developing using development tools that run on the MS-Windows platform would be great too.

-- roschler

Robert Oschler
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  • It is help full for me but in some websites they are telling that it will run through python script and all what is that script and why you have not mentioned here ??? –  Oct 18 '12 at 18:04

2 Answers2

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You can find all informations about API and extension structure in http://code.google.com/chrome/extensions/index.html website. You can write extensions using only HTML, CSS, JS. There are also some sample extensions in this site. Moreover, you can unzip any extension that you want to check source codes.

dirigeant
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  • is it the same of firefox? (aside for the api) – user Mar 24 '11 at 04:39
  • @Saad, they are very similar; both use HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and both use zip compression to package the code and resources. Although the file extensions they use are different (crx/xpi). – Majid Fouladpour Jul 24 '12 at 00:08
  • This is no longer true. You can write Chrome extensions in C++ and other languages too, it's called native messaging host. You just have to create an extension that can communicate back and forth with your native messaging host – Asesh Jun 02 '18 at 10:05
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You're absolutely wrong about extensions being written in C++.

Google Chrome extensions are written using same tech stack as normal web apps. They use HTML, CSS and JS. Config files are JSON. The difference is, that in the extension you get access to Chrome API.

vartec
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  • He's not wrong. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1666957/is-there-any-way-to-use-c-in-chrome-extension –  Mar 24 '11 at 01:07
  • Thank you for the clarification. I was thinking of native plugin development (NPAPI) when I wrote that and C++ is the language used for NPAPI plugins from what I've read. – Robert Oschler Mar 24 '11 at 03:24
  • @david: extension and plug-in are completely different things – vartec Mar 24 '11 at 13:11
  • They both extend the browsers capabilities so from a users perspective they are not that different. –  Mar 24 '11 at 19:57