Install Chrome Store Web Apps with JavaScript

By  on  
Chrome Web Store

Being able to install Firefox OS web apps from any domain, not just the platform app store, is a giant step forward in mobile app marketing and freedom.  Firefox OS allows installing apps from any or all domains, and it just so happens that the Chrome Web Store allows JavaScript-triggered app installation as well.

JavaScript Install Code

The chrome.webstore.install method accepts three parameters, the install URL, the success callback, and the error callback:

/* Chrome installation */
var chromeInstallUrl = "path/to/chrome/app";
chrome.webstore.install(chromeInstallUrl,
function() {
	//  Success!
}, function(err) {
	//  Error :(
});

The code above triggers installation of the Chrome web app at the given location.  The obvious difference from Firefox OS app installation is that callbacks are included in the initial call here, instead of adding adding onsuccess and onerror methods to a resulting install object.

Recent Features

  • By
    Serving Fonts from CDN

    For maximum performance, we all know we must put our assets on CDN (another domain).  Along with those assets are custom web fonts.  Unfortunately custom web fonts via CDN (or any cross-domain font request) don't work in Firefox or Internet Explorer (correctly so, by spec) though...

  • By
    CSS vs. JS Animation: Which is Faster?

    How is it possible that JavaScript-based animation has secretly always been as fast — or faster — than CSS transitions? And, how is it possible that Adobe and Google consistently release media-rich mobile sites that rival the performance of native apps? This article serves as a point-by-point...

Incredible Demos

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!