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

Incredible Demos

  • By
    MooTools 1.2 Tooltips: Customize Your Tips

    I've never met a person that is "ehhhh" about XHTML/javascript tooltips; people seem to love them or hate them. I'm on the love side of things. Tooltips give you a bit more information about something than just the element itself (usually...

  • By
    Introducing MooTools LazyLoad

    Once concept I'm very fond of is lazy loading. Lazy loading defers the loading of resources (usually images) until they are needed. Why load stuff you never need if you can prevent it, right? I've created LazyLoad, a customizable MooTools plugin that...

Discussion

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