Inconsistency: action.setIcon() & action.setBadgeBackgroundColor()

[erosman]

There are some minor inconsistencies.
N.B. Only Firefox & Chrome checked.

setIcon()

1. Resetting to the manifest icon

Firefox

browserAction.setIcon() & action.setIcon()

If each one of imageData and path is one of undefined, null or empty object:

• If tabId is specified, and the tab has a tab-specific icon set, then the tab will inherit the icon from the window to which it belongs.
• If windowId is specified, and the window has a window-specific icon set, then the window will inherit the global icon.
• Otherwise, the global icon will be reset to the manifest icon.

browser.action.setIcon({});

Chrome

setIcon

Either the path or the imageData property must be specified.

chrome.action.setIcon({});
// Error: Either the path or imageData property must be specified.

setBadgeBackgroundColor()

1. Resetting to the default value

Firefox

browserAction.setBadgeBackgroundColor() & action.setBadgeBackgroundColor()

null. If a tabId is specified, it removes the tab-specific badge background color so that the tab inherits the global badge background color. Otherwise it reverts the global badge background color to the default value.

browser.action.setBadgeBackgroundColor({color: null});

Chrome

setBadgeBackgroundColor

Resetting to the default value

chrome.action.setBadgeBackgroundColor({color: null});
// Error in invocation of action.setBadgeBackgroundColor(object details, optional function callback): Error at parameter 'details': Missing required property 'color'.

2. transparent

Firefox

browser.action.setBadgeBackgroundColor({color: 'transparent'});

Chrome

chrome.action.setBadgeBackgroundColor({color: 'transparent'});
// Error: The color specification could not be parsed.

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Footnote

See also: #216

[hanguokai]

Yes, action.setBadgeTextColor() also has this minor inconsistency. Since it can be worked around, it is generally not a problem.

[xeenon]

Safari supports null resetting the action properties. We also plan to support windowId.

[carlosjeurissen]

So basically the inconsistency is Chrome does not allow resetting the properties? Potentially we can just upgrade this issue to propose allowing to reset the action properties.

@oliverdunk is this something Chrome would want to implement? Seems an open issue has been made already: https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=1488303

Safari support null resetting the action properties.

@xeenon Wonderful! Is this something recently implemented?

[xeenon]

Safari has always supported null reseting, IIRC.

[zombie]

Similar to Safari, I think this was supported from the get go.

[Rob--W]

Devlin expressed support for resetting to the default. The crbug to track is at https://issues.chromium.org/issues/40073862

[carlosjeurissen]

The same inconsistency applies to action.setPopup. Setting the popup to null resets it in Firefox, while in Chrome it throws an exception.

@xeenon Just tested setting popup to null in Safari 17.4.1 and contrary to what is stated on MDN, it behaves as if it is set to an empty string.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Add-ons/WebExtensions/API/browserAction/setPopup

[xeenon]

@carlosjeurissen Hmm thanks. What about Safari Technology Preview?

[carlosjeurissen]

@xeenon Seems it has the correct behaviour in the Technology Preview Release 194 (Safari 17.4, WebKit 19619.1.11.111.2)

[xeenon]

@carlosjeurissen Thanks for checking! I'll make a note to update MDN.