windows.create()

Creates a new window.

When you create the window, you can:

• Load one or more new tabs into the window.
• Move a tab from an existing window into the new window.
• Set the size and position of the window.
• Create a "panel" style window, which in this context means a window without any of the normal browser UI (address bar, toolbar, etc.).
• Set various properties of the window, such as whether it is focused or private.

This is an asynchronous function that returns a Promise.

Syntax

var creating = browser.windows.create(
  createData            // optional object
)

Parameters

createDataOptional

object.

urlOptional

string or array of strings. A URL or array of URLs to open as tabs in the window. Fully-qualified URLs must include a scheme (i.e. http://www.google.com, not www.google.com). Relative URLs will be relative to the current page within the extension. Defaults to the New Tab Page.

tabIdOptional

integer. If included, moves a tab of the specified ID from an existing window into the new window.

leftOptional

integer. The number of pixels to position the new window from the left edge of the screen. If not specified, the new window is offset naturally from the last focused window. This value is ignored for panels.

topOptional

integer. The number of pixels to position the new window from the top edge of the screen. If not specified, the new window is offset naturally from the last focused window. This value is ignored for panels.

widthOptional

integer. The width in pixels of the new window, including the frame. If not specified defaults to a natural width.

heightOptional

integer. The height in pixels of the new window, including the frame. If not specified defaults to a natural height.

focusedOptional

boolean. If true, the new window will be focused. If false, the new window will be opened in the background and the currently focused window will stay focused. Defaults to true.

incognitoOptional

boolean. Whether the new window should be an incognito (private) window. Note that if you specify incognito and tabId, the ID must refer to a private tab — that is, you can't move a non-private tab to a private window.

typeOptional

A windows.CreateType value. Specifies what type of browser window to create. Specify panel or popup here to open a window without any of the normal browser UI (address bar, toolbar, etc).

stateOptional

A windows.WindowState value. The initial state of the window. The minimized, maximized and, fullscreen states cannot be combined with left, top, width, or height.

Return value

A Promise that will be fulfilled with a windows.Window object containing the details of the new window. This Window object will always have its tabs property set, unlike the Window objects returned from windows.get() and similar APIs, which only contain tabs if the populate option is passed. If any error occurs, the promise will be rejected with an error message.

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.

Examples

Open a window containing two tabs:

function onCreated(windowInfo) {
  console.log(`Created window: ${windowInfo.id}`);
}
function onError(error) {
  console.log(`Error: ${error}`);
}
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener((tab) => {
  var creating = browser.windows.create({
    url: ["https://developer.mozilla.org",
          "https://addons.mozilla.org"]
  });
  creating.then(onCreated, onError);
});

Open a window when the user clicks a browser action, and move the currently active tab into it:

function onCreated(windowInfo) {
  console.log(`Created window: ${windowInfo.id}`);
}
function onError(error) {
  console.log(`Error: ${error}`);
}
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener((tab) => {
  var creating = browser.windows.create({
    tabId: tab.id
  });
  creating.then(onCreated, onError);
});

Open a small panel-style window, and load a locally-packaged file into it:

function onCreated(windowInfo) {
  console.log(`Created window: ${windowInfo.id}`);
}
function onError(error) {
  console.log(`Error: ${error}`);
}
browser.browserAction.onClicked.addListener((tab) => {
  var popupURL = browser.extension.getURL("popup/popup.html");
  var creating = browser.windows.create({
    url: popupURL,
    type: "popup",
    height: 200,
    width: 200
  });
  creating.then(onCreated, onError);
});

Example extensions

• window-manipulator

// 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.