chrome.runtime.connectNative generates Uncaught TypeError: undefined is not a function

Question

I did write an chrome extension that calls this connect() function to connect to a local C++ program:

function connect() {
  console.log(\"test1\");
  //port = c         


        

Answer 1

connectNative() is not available in a content scripts. To connect to a local program the content script must send the data e.g. to the background script of the extension and in the background script, port = chrome.extension.connectNative can be used. So here a solution:

contentscript.js:

....
// send data to background script
chrome.extension.sendRequest("Some Data");
....

background.js:

function connect() {
    // connect to local program com.a.chrome_interface
    port = chrome.extension.connectNative('com.a.chrome_interface');
    port.onMessage.addListener(onNativeMessage);
    port.onDisconnect.addListener(onDisconnected);
}

chrome.extension.onRequest.addListener(function(data, sender) {
    if (data.length > 0) {
        connect();
        sendNativeMessage(data);
    }
});

manifest.json as above in my question but additionaly:

...
  "background": {
  "scripts": ["background.js"]
  },
...

com.a.chrome_interface.json is unchange as in the question above.