contextMenus.create()

Creates a new context menu item.

You must pass an options object defining properties for the item. You may also pass a callback that will be called when the item has been created, or if an error occurred during creation.

If the browser encounters an error it will set runtime.lastError, and you can check for this in the callback.

Syntax

chrome.contextMenus.create(
  createProperties, // object
  function() {...}  // optional function
)

This API is also available as browser.contextMenus.create() in a version that returns a promise.

Parameters

createProperties

object. Properties for the new context menu item.

typeOptional

contextMenus.ItemType. The type of menu item: "normal", "checkbox", "radio", "separator". Defaults to "normal".

idOptional

string. The unique ID to assign to this item. Mandatory for event pages. Cannot be the same as another ID for this add-on.

titleOptional

string. The text to be displayed in the item. Mandatory unless type is "separator".

You can use "%s" in the string. If you do this, and some text is selected in the page when the context menu is shown, then the selected text will be interpolated into the title. For example, if title is "Translate '%s' to Pig Latin" and the user selects the word "cool", then activates the context menu, then the context menu item's title will be: "Translate 'cool' to Pig Latin".

checkedOptional

boolean. The initial state of a checkbox or radio item: true for selected and false for unselected. Only one radio item can be selected at a time in a given group of radio items.

contextsOptional

array of contextMenus.ContextType. Array of contexts in which this menu item will appear. Defaults to ['page'] if not specified.

onclickOptional

function. A function that will be called when the menu item is clicked. Event pages cannot use this: instead, they should register a listener for contextMenus.onClicked.

parentIdOptional

integer or string. The ID of a parent menu item; this makes the item a child of a previously added item.

documentUrlPatternsOptional

array of string. Lets you restrict the item to apply only to documents whose URL matches one of the given match patterns. This applies to frames as well.

targetUrlPatternsOptional

array of string. Similar to documentUrlPatterns, but lets you filter based on the src attribute of img/audio/video tags and the href of anchor tags.

enabledOptional

boolean. Whether this context menu item is enabled or disabled. Defaults to true.

callbackOptional

function. Called when the item has been created. If there were any problems creating the item, details will be available in runtime.lastError.

Return value

integer or string. The ID of the newly created item.

Browser compatibility

The compatibility table in this page is generated from structured data. If you'd like to contribute to the data, please check out https://github.com/mdn/browser-compat-data and send us a pull request.

Compatibility notes

Firefox

• documentUrlPatterns is supported from Firefox 50.

Examples

This example creates a context menu item that's shown when the user has selected some text in the page. It just logs the selected text to the console:

chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "log-selection",
  title: "Log '%s' to the console",
  contexts: ["selection"]
});

chrome.contextMenus.onClicked.addListener(function(info, tab) {
  if (info.menuItemId == "log-selection") {
    console.log(info.selectionText);
  }
});

This example adds two radio items, which you can use to choose whether to apply a green or a blue border to the page. Note that this example will need the activeTab permission.

function onCreated() {
  if (chrome.runtime.lastError) {
    console.log("error creating item:" + chrome.runtime.lastError);
  } else {
    console.log("item created successfully");
  }
}

chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "radio-green",
  type: "radio",
  title: "Make it green",
  contexts: ["all"],
  checked: false
}, onCreated);

chrome.contextMenus.create({
  id: "radio-blue",
  type: "radio",
  title: "Make it blue",
  contexts: ["all"],
  checked: false
}, onCreated);

var makeItBlue = 'document.body.style.border = "5px solid blue"';
var makeItGreen = 'document.body.style.border = "5px solid green"';

chrome.contextMenus.onClicked.addListener(function(info, tab) {
  if (info.menuItemId == "radio-blue") {
    chrome.tabs.executeScript(tab.id, {
      code: makeItBlue
    });
  } else if (info.menuItemId == "radio-green") {
    chrome.tabs.executeScript(tab.id, {
      code: makeItGreen
    });    
  }
});

Example add-ons

• context-menu-demo

// Copyright 2015 The Chromium Authors. All rights reserved.
//
// Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
// modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are
// met:
//
//    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
// notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
//    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
// copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer
// in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
// distribution.
//    * Neither the name of Google Inc. nor the names of its
// contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from
// this software without specific prior written permission.
//
// THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
// "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
// LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
// A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
// OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
// SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
// LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
// DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
// THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
// (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
// OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.