electron

webContents

Render and control web pages.

Process: Main

webContents is an EventEmitter. It is responsible for rendering and controlling a web page and is a property of the BrowserWindow object. An example of accessing the webContents object:

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 1500 })
win.loadURL('http://github.com')

const contents = win.webContents
console.log(contents)

Methods

These methods can be accessed from the webContents module:

const { webContents } = require('electron')
console.log(webContents)

webContents.getAllWebContents()

Returns WebContents[] - An array of all WebContents instances. This will contain web contents for all windows, webviews, opened devtools, and devtools extension background pages.

webContents.getFocusedWebContents()

Returns WebContents | null - The web contents that is focused in this application, otherwise returns null.

webContents.fromId(id)

Returns WebContents | undefined - A WebContents instance with the given ID, or undefined if there is no WebContents associated with the given ID.

webContents.fromDevToolsTargetId(targetId)

Returns WebContents | undefined - A WebContents instance with the given TargetID, or undefined if there is no WebContents associated with the given TargetID.

When communicating with the Chrome DevTools Protocol, it can be useful to lookup a WebContents instance based on its assigned TargetID.

async function lookupTargetId (browserWindow) {
  const wc = browserWindow.webContents
  await wc.debugger.attach('1.3')
  const { targetInfo } = await wc.debugger.sendCommand('Target.getTargetInfo')
  const { targetId } = targetInfo
  const targetWebContents = await webContents.fromDevToolsTargetId(targetId)
}

Class: WebContents

Render and control the contents of a BrowserWindow instance.

Process: Main
This class is not exported from the 'electron' module. It is only available as a return value of other methods in the Electron API.

Instance Events

Event: ‘did-finish-load’

Emitted when the navigation is done, i.e. the spinner of the tab has stopped spinning, and the onload event was dispatched.

Event: ‘did-fail-load’

Returns:

This event is like did-finish-load but emitted when the load failed. The full list of error codes and their meaning is available here.

Event: ‘did-fail-provisional-load’

Returns:

This event is like did-fail-load but emitted when the load was cancelled (e.g. window.stop() was invoked).

Event: ‘did-frame-finish-load’

Returns:

Emitted when a frame has done navigation.

Event: ‘did-start-loading’

Corresponds to the points in time when the spinner of the tab started spinning.

Event: ‘did-stop-loading’

Corresponds to the points in time when the spinner of the tab stopped spinning.

Event: ‘dom-ready’

Returns:

Emitted when the document in the top-level frame is loaded.

Event: ‘page-title-updated’

Returns:

Fired when page title is set during navigation. explicitSet is false when title is synthesized from file url.

Event: ‘page-favicon-updated’

Returns:

Emitted when page receives favicon urls.

Event: ‘new-window’ Deprecated

Returns:

Deprecated in favor of webContents.setWindowOpenHandler.

Emitted when the page requests to open a new window for a url. It could be requested by window.open or an external link like <a target='_blank'>.

By default a new BrowserWindow will be created for the url.

Calling event.preventDefault() will prevent Electron from automatically creating a new BrowserWindow. If you call event.preventDefault() and manually create a new BrowserWindow then you must set event.newGuest to reference the new BrowserWindow instance, failing to do so may result in unexpected behavior. For example:

myBrowserWindow.webContents.on('new-window', (event, url, frameName, disposition, options, additionalFeatures, referrer, postBody) => {
  event.preventDefault()
  const win = new BrowserWindow({
    webContents: options.webContents, // use existing webContents if provided
    show: false
  })
  win.once('ready-to-show', () => win.show())
  if (!options.webContents) {
    const loadOptions = {
      httpReferrer: referrer
    }
    if (postBody != null) {
      const { data, contentType, boundary } = postBody
      loadOptions.postData = postBody.data
      loadOptions.extraHeaders = `content-type: ${contentType}; boundary=${boundary}`
    }

    win.loadURL(url, loadOptions) // existing webContents will be navigated automatically
  }
  event.newGuest = win
})

Event: ‘did-create-window’

Returns:

Emitted after successful creation of a window via window.open in the renderer. Not emitted if the creation of the window is canceled from webContents.setWindowOpenHandler.

See window.open() for more details and how to use this in conjunction with webContents.setWindowOpenHandler.

Event: ‘will-navigate’

Returns:

Emitted when a user or the page wants to start navigation. It can happen when the window.location object is changed or a user clicks a link in the page.

This event will not emit when the navigation is started programmatically with APIs like webContents.loadURL and webContents.back.

It is also not emitted for in-page navigations, such as clicking anchor links or updating the window.location.hash. Use did-navigate-in-page event for this purpose.

Calling event.preventDefault() will prevent the navigation.

Event: ‘did-start-navigation’

Returns:

Emitted when any frame (including main) starts navigating. isInPlace will be true for in-page navigations.

Event: ‘will-redirect’

Returns:

Emitted when a server side redirect occurs during navigation. For example a 302 redirect.

This event will be emitted after did-start-navigation and always before the did-redirect-navigation event for the same navigation.

Calling event.preventDefault() will prevent the navigation (not just the redirect).

Event: ‘did-redirect-navigation’

Returns:

Emitted after a server side redirect occurs during navigation. For example a 302 redirect.

This event cannot be prevented, if you want to prevent redirects you should checkout out the will-redirect event above.

Event: ‘did-navigate’

Returns:

Emitted when a main frame navigation is done.

This event is not emitted for in-page navigations, such as clicking anchor links or updating the window.location.hash. Use did-navigate-in-page event for this purpose.

Event: ‘did-frame-navigate’

Returns:

Emitted when any frame navigation is done.

This event is not emitted for in-page navigations, such as clicking anchor links or updating the window.location.hash. Use did-navigate-in-page event for this purpose.

Event: ‘did-navigate-in-page’

Returns:

Emitted when an in-page navigation happened in any frame.

When in-page navigation happens, the page URL changes but does not cause navigation outside of the page. Examples of this occurring are when anchor links are clicked or when the DOM hashchange event is triggered.

Event: ‘will-prevent-unload’

Returns:

Emitted when a beforeunload event handler is attempting to cancel a page unload.

Calling event.preventDefault() will ignore the beforeunload event handler and allow the page to be unloaded.

const { BrowserWindow, dialog } = require('electron')
const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })
win.webContents.on('will-prevent-unload', (event) => {
  const choice = dialog.showMessageBoxSync(win, {
    type: 'question',
    buttons: ['Leave', 'Stay'],
    title: 'Do you want to leave this site?',
    message: 'Changes you made may not be saved.',
    defaultId: 0,
    cancelId: 1
  })
  const leave = (choice === 0)
  if (leave) {
    event.preventDefault()
  }
})

Note: This will be emitted for BrowserViews but will not be respected - this is because we have chosen not to tie the BrowserView lifecycle to its owning BrowserWindow should one exist per the specification.

Event: ‘crashed’ Deprecated

Returns:

Emitted when the renderer process crashes or is killed.

Deprecated: This event is superceded by the render-process-gone event which contains more information about why the render process disappeared. It isn’t always because it crashed. The killed boolean can be replaced by checking reason === 'killed' when you switch to that event.

Event: ‘render-process-gone’

Returns:

Emitted when the renderer process unexpectedly disappears. This is normally because it was crashed or killed.

Event: ‘unresponsive’

Emitted when the web page becomes unresponsive.

Event: ‘responsive’

Emitted when the unresponsive web page becomes responsive again.

Event: ‘plugin-crashed’

Returns:

Emitted when a plugin process has crashed.

Event: ‘destroyed’

Emitted when webContents is destroyed.

Event: ‘before-input-event’

Returns:

Emitted before dispatching the keydown and keyup events in the page. Calling event.preventDefault will prevent the page keydown/keyup events and the menu shortcuts.

To only prevent the menu shortcuts, use setIgnoreMenuShortcuts:

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })

win.webContents.on('before-input-event', (event, input) => {
  // For example, only enable application menu keyboard shortcuts when
  // Ctrl/Cmd are down.
  win.webContents.setIgnoreMenuShortcuts(!input.control && !input.meta)
})

Event: ‘enter-html-full-screen’

Emitted when the window enters a full-screen state triggered by HTML API.

Event: ‘leave-html-full-screen’

Emitted when the window leaves a full-screen state triggered by HTML API.

Event: ‘zoom-changed’

Returns:

Emitted when the user is requesting to change the zoom level using the mouse wheel.

Event: ‘blur’

Emitted when the WebContents loses focus.

Event: ‘focus’

Emitted when the WebContents gains focus.

Note that on macOS, having focus means the WebContents is the first responder of window, so switching focus between windows would not trigger the focus and blur events of WebContents, as the first responder of each window is not changed.

The focus and blur events of WebContents should only be used to detect focus change between different WebContents and BrowserView in the same window.

Event: ‘devtools-opened’

Emitted when DevTools is opened.

Event: ‘devtools-closed’

Emitted when DevTools is closed.

Event: ‘devtools-focused’

Emitted when DevTools is focused / opened.

Event: ‘certificate-error’

Returns:

Emitted when failed to verify the certificate for url.

The usage is the same with the certificate-error event of app.

Event: ‘select-client-certificate’

Returns:

Emitted when a client certificate is requested.

The usage is the same with the select-client-certificate event of app.

Event: ‘login’

Returns:

Emitted when webContents wants to do basic auth.

The usage is the same with the login event of app.

Event: ‘found-in-page’

Returns:

Emitted when a result is available for [webContents.findInPage] request.

Event: ‘media-started-playing’

Emitted when media starts playing.

Event: ‘media-paused’

Emitted when media is paused or done playing.

Event: ‘did-change-theme-color’

Returns:

Emitted when a page’s theme color changes. This is usually due to encountering a meta tag:

<meta name='theme-color' content='#ff0000'>

Event: ‘update-target-url’

Returns:

Emitted when mouse moves over a link or the keyboard moves the focus to a link.

Event: ‘cursor-changed’

Returns:

Emitted when the cursor’s type changes. The type parameter can be default, crosshair, pointer, text, wait, help, e-resize, n-resize, ne-resize, nw-resize, s-resize, se-resize, sw-resize, w-resize, ns-resize, ew-resize, nesw-resize, nwse-resize, col-resize, row-resize, m-panning, e-panning, n-panning, ne-panning, nw-panning, s-panning, se-panning, sw-panning, w-panning, move, vertical-text, cell, context-menu, alias, progress, nodrop, copy, none, not-allowed, zoom-in, zoom-out, grab, grabbing or custom.

If the type parameter is custom, the image parameter will hold the custom cursor image in a NativeImage, and scale, size and hotspot will hold additional information about the custom cursor.

Event: ‘context-menu’

Returns:

Emitted when there is a new context menu that needs to be handled.

Event: ‘select-bluetooth-device’

Returns:

Emitted when bluetooth device needs to be selected on call to navigator.bluetooth.requestDevice. To use navigator.bluetooth api webBluetooth should be enabled. If event.preventDefault is not called, first available device will be selected. callback should be called with deviceId to be selected, passing empty string to callback will cancel the request.

If no event listener is added for this event, all bluetooth requests will be cancelled.

const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

let win = null
app.commandLine.appendSwitch('enable-experimental-web-platform-features')

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })
  win.webContents.on('select-bluetooth-device', (event, deviceList, callback) => {
    event.preventDefault()
    const result = deviceList.find((device) => {
      return device.deviceName === 'test'
    })
    if (!result) {
      callback('')
    } else {
      callback(result.deviceId)
    }
  })
})

Event: ‘paint’

Returns:

Emitted when a new frame is generated. Only the dirty area is passed in the buffer.

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

const win = new BrowserWindow({ webPreferences: { offscreen: true } })
win.webContents.on('paint', (event, dirty, image) => {
  // updateBitmap(dirty, image.getBitmap())
})
win.loadURL('http://github.com')

Event: ‘devtools-reload-page’

Emitted when the devtools window instructs the webContents to reload

Event: ‘will-attach-webview’

Returns:

Emitted when a <webview>’s web contents is being attached to this web contents. Calling event.preventDefault() will destroy the guest page.

This event can be used to configure webPreferences for the webContents of a <webview> before it’s loaded, and provides the ability to set settings that can’t be set via <webview> attributes.

Event: ‘did-attach-webview’

Returns:

Emitted when a <webview> has been attached to this web contents.

Event: ‘console-message’

Returns:

Emitted when the associated window logs a console message.

Event: ‘preload-error’

Returns:

Emitted when the preload script preloadPath throws an unhandled exception error.

Event: ‘ipc-message’

Returns:

Emitted when the renderer process sends an asynchronous message via ipcRenderer.send().

Event: ‘ipc-message-sync’

Returns:

Emitted when the renderer process sends a synchronous message via ipcRenderer.sendSync().

Event: ‘preferred-size-changed’

Returns:

Emitted when the WebContents preferred size has changed.

This event will only be emitted when enablePreferredSizeMode is set to true in webPreferences.

Event: ‘frame-created’

Returns:

Emitted when the mainFrame, an <iframe>, or a nested <iframe> is loaded within the page.

Instance Methods

contents.loadURL(url[, options])

Returns Promise<void> - the promise will resolve when the page has finished loading (see did-finish-load), and rejects if the page fails to load (see did-fail-load). A noop rejection handler is already attached, which avoids unhandled rejection errors.

Loads the url in the window. The url must contain the protocol prefix, e.g. the http:// or file://. If the load should bypass http cache then use the pragma header to achieve it.

const { webContents } = require('electron')
const options = { extraHeaders: 'pragma: no-cache\n' }
webContents.loadURL('https://github.com', options)

contents.loadFile(filePath[, options])

Returns Promise<void> - the promise will resolve when the page has finished loading (see did-finish-load), and rejects if the page fails to load (see did-fail-load).

Loads the given file in the window, filePath should be a path to an HTML file relative to the root of your application. For instance an app structure like this:

| root
| - package.json
| - src
|   - main.js
|   - index.html

Would require code like this

win.loadFile('src/index.html')

contents.downloadURL(url)

Initiates a download of the resource at url without navigating. The will-download event of session will be triggered.

contents.getURL()

Returns string - The URL of the current web page.

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })
win.loadURL('http://github.com').then(() => {
  const currentURL = win.webContents.getURL()
  console.log(currentURL)
})

contents.getTitle()

Returns string - The title of the current web page.

contents.isDestroyed()

Returns boolean - Whether the web page is destroyed.

contents.focus()

Focuses the web page.

contents.isFocused()

Returns boolean - Whether the web page is focused.

contents.isLoading()

Returns boolean - Whether web page is still loading resources.

contents.isLoadingMainFrame()

Returns boolean - Whether the main frame (and not just iframes or frames within it) is still loading.

contents.isWaitingForResponse()

Returns boolean - Whether the web page is waiting for a first-response from the main resource of the page.

contents.stop()

Stops any pending navigation.

contents.reload()

Reloads the current web page.

contents.reloadIgnoringCache()

Reloads current page and ignores cache.

contents.canGoBack()

Returns boolean - Whether the browser can go back to previous web page.

contents.canGoForward()

Returns boolean - Whether the browser can go forward to next web page.

contents.canGoToOffset(offset)

Returns boolean - Whether the web page can go to offset.

contents.clearHistory()

Clears the navigation history.

contents.goBack()

Makes the browser go back a web page.

contents.goForward()

Makes the browser go forward a web page.

contents.goToIndex(index)

Navigates browser to the specified absolute web page index.

contents.goToOffset(offset)

Navigates to the specified offset from the “current entry”.

contents.isCrashed()

Returns boolean - Whether the renderer process has crashed.

contents.forcefullyCrashRenderer()

Forcefully terminates the renderer process that is currently hosting this webContents. This will cause the render-process-gone event to be emitted with the reason=killed || reason=crashed. Please note that some webContents share renderer processes and therefore calling this method may also crash the host process for other webContents as well.

Calling reload() immediately after calling this method will force the reload to occur in a new process. This should be used when this process is unstable or unusable, for instance in order to recover from the unresponsive event.

contents.on('unresponsive', async () => {
  const { response } = await dialog.showMessageBox({
    message: 'App X has become unresponsive',
    title: 'Do you want to try forcefully reloading the app?',
    buttons: ['OK', 'Cancel'],
    cancelId: 1
  })
  if (response === 0) {
    contents.forcefullyCrashRenderer()
    contents.reload()
  }
})

contents.setUserAgent(userAgent)

Overrides the user agent for this web page.

contents.getUserAgent()

Returns string - The user agent for this web page.

contents.insertCSS(css[, options])

Returns Promise<string> - A promise that resolves with a key for the inserted CSS that can later be used to remove the CSS via contents.removeInsertedCSS(key).

Injects CSS into the current web page and returns a unique key for the inserted stylesheet.

contents.on('did-finish-load', () => {
  contents.insertCSS('html, body { background-color: #f00; }')
})

contents.removeInsertedCSS(key)

Returns Promise<void> - Resolves if the removal was successful.

Removes the inserted CSS from the current web page. The stylesheet is identified by its key, which is returned from contents.insertCSS(css).

contents.on('did-finish-load', async () => {
  const key = await contents.insertCSS('html, body { background-color: #f00; }')
  contents.removeInsertedCSS(key)
})

contents.executeJavaScript(code[, userGesture])

Returns Promise<any> - A promise that resolves with the result of the executed code or is rejected if the result of the code is a rejected promise.

Evaluates code in page.

In the browser window some HTML APIs like requestFullScreen can only be invoked by a gesture from the user. Setting userGesture to true will remove this limitation.

Code execution will be suspended until web page stop loading.

contents.executeJavaScript('fetch("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/users/1").then(resp => resp.json())', true)
  .then((result) => {
    console.log(result) // Will be the JSON object from the fetch call
  })

contents.executeJavaScriptInIsolatedWorld(worldId, scripts[, userGesture])

Returns Promise<any> - A promise that resolves with the result of the executed code or is rejected if the result of the code is a rejected promise.

Works like executeJavaScript but evaluates scripts in an isolated context.

contents.setIgnoreMenuShortcuts(ignore)

Ignore application menu shortcuts while this web contents is focused.

contents.setWindowOpenHandler(handler)

Called before creating a window a new window is requested by the renderer, e.g. by window.open(), a link with target="_blank", shift+clicking on a link, or submitting a form with <form target="_blank">. See window.open() for more details and how to use this in conjunction with did-create-window.

contents.setAudioMuted(muted)

Mute the audio on the current web page.

contents.isAudioMuted()

Returns boolean - Whether this page has been muted.

contents.isCurrentlyAudible()

Returns boolean - Whether audio is currently playing.

contents.setZoomFactor(factor)

Changes the zoom factor to the specified factor. Zoom factor is zoom percent divided by 100, so 300% = 3.0.

The factor must be greater than 0.0.

contents.getZoomFactor()

Returns number - the current zoom factor.

contents.setZoomLevel(level)

Changes the zoom level to the specified level. The original size is 0 and each increment above or below represents zooming 20% larger or smaller to default limits of 300% and 50% of original size, respectively. The formula for this is scale := 1.2 ^ level.

NOTE: The zoom policy at the Chromium level is same-origin, meaning that the zoom level for a specific domain propagates across all instances of windows with the same domain. Differentiating the window URLs will make zoom work per-window.

contents.getZoomLevel()

Returns number - the current zoom level.

contents.setVisualZoomLevelLimits(minimumLevel, maximumLevel)

Returns Promise<void>

Sets the maximum and minimum pinch-to-zoom level.

NOTE: Visual zoom is disabled by default in Electron. To re-enable it, call:

contents.setVisualZoomLevelLimits(1, 3)

contents.undo()

Executes the editing command undo in web page.

contents.redo()

Executes the editing command redo in web page.

contents.cut()

Executes the editing command cut in web page.

contents.copy()

Executes the editing command copy in web page.

contents.copyImageAt(x, y)

Copy the image at the given position to the clipboard.

contents.paste()

Executes the editing command paste in web page.

contents.pasteAndMatchStyle()

Executes the editing command pasteAndMatchStyle in web page.

contents.delete()

Executes the editing command delete in web page.

contents.selectAll()

Executes the editing command selectAll in web page.

contents.unselect()

Executes the editing command unselect in web page.

contents.replace(text)

Executes the editing command replace in web page.

contents.replaceMisspelling(text)

Executes the editing command replaceMisspelling in web page.

contents.insertText(text)

Returns Promise<void>

Inserts text to the focused element.

contents.findInPage(text[, options])

Returns Integer - The request id used for the request.

Starts a request to find all matches for the text in the web page. The result of the request can be obtained by subscribing to found-in-page event.

contents.stopFindInPage(action)

Stops any findInPage request for the webContents with the provided action.

const { webContents } = require('electron')
webContents.on('found-in-page', (event, result) => {
  if (result.finalUpdate) webContents.stopFindInPage('clearSelection')
})

const requestId = webContents.findInPage('api')
console.log(requestId)

contents.capturePage([rect])

Returns Promise<NativeImage> - Resolves with a NativeImage

Captures a snapshot of the page within rect. Omitting rect will capture the whole visible page.

contents.isBeingCaptured()

Returns boolean - Whether this page is being captured. It returns true when the capturer count is large then 0.

contents.incrementCapturerCount([size, stayHidden, stayAwake])

Increase the capturer count by one. The page is considered visible when its browser window is hidden and the capturer count is non-zero. If you would like the page to stay hidden, you should ensure that stayHidden is set to true.

This also affects the Page Visibility API.

contents.decrementCapturerCount([stayHidden, stayAwake])

Decrease the capturer count by one. The page will be set to hidden or occluded state when its browser window is hidden or occluded and the capturer count reaches zero. If you want to decrease the hidden capturer count instead you should set stayHidden to true.

contents.getPrinters() Deprecated

Get the system printer list.

Returns PrinterInfo[]

Deprecated: Should use the new contents.getPrintersAsync API.

contents.getPrintersAsync()

Get the system printer list.

Returns Promise<PrinterInfo[]> - Resolves with a PrinterInfo[]

contents.print([options], [callback])

When a custom pageSize is passed, Chromium attempts to validate platform specific minimum values for width_microns and height_microns. Width and height must both be minimum 353 microns but may be higher on some operating systems.

Prints window’s web page. When silent is set to true, Electron will pick the system’s default printer if deviceName is empty and the default settings for printing.

Use page-break-before: always; CSS style to force to print to a new page.

Example usage:

const options = {
  silent: true,
  deviceName: 'My-Printer',
  pageRanges: [{
    from: 0,
    to: 1
  }]
}
win.webContents.print(options, (success, errorType) => {
  if (!success) console.log(errorType)
})

contents.printToPDF(options)

Returns Promise<Buffer> - Resolves with the generated PDF data.

Prints window’s web page as PDF with Chromium’s preview printing custom settings.

The landscape will be ignored if @page CSS at-rule is used in the web page.

By default, an empty options will be regarded as:

{
  marginsType: 0,
  printBackground: false,
  printSelectionOnly: false,
  landscape: false,
  pageSize: 'A4',
  scaleFactor: 100
}

Use page-break-before: always; CSS style to force to print to a new page.

An example of webContents.printToPDF:

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
const fs = require('fs')
const path = require('path')
const os = require('os')

const win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })
win.loadURL('http://github.com')

win.webContents.on('did-finish-load', () => {
  // Use default printing options
  const pdfPath = path.join(os.homedir(), 'Desktop', 'temp.pdf')
  win.webContents.printToPDF({}).then(data => {
    fs.writeFile(pdfPath, data, (error) => {
      if (error) throw error
      console.log(`Wrote PDF successfully to ${pdfPath}`)
    })
  }).catch(error => {
    console.log(`Failed to write PDF to ${pdfPath}: `, error)
  })
})

contents.addWorkSpace(path)

Adds the specified path to DevTools workspace. Must be used after DevTools creation:

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
const win = new BrowserWindow()
win.webContents.on('devtools-opened', () => {
  win.webContents.addWorkSpace(__dirname)
})

contents.removeWorkSpace(path)

Removes the specified path from DevTools workspace.

contents.setDevToolsWebContents(devToolsWebContents)

Uses the devToolsWebContents as the target WebContents to show devtools.

The devToolsWebContents must not have done any navigation, and it should not be used for other purposes after the call.

By default Electron manages the devtools by creating an internal WebContents with native view, which developers have very limited control of. With the setDevToolsWebContents method, developers can use any WebContents to show the devtools in it, including BrowserWindow, BrowserView and <webview> tag.

Note that closing the devtools does not destroy the devToolsWebContents, it is caller’s responsibility to destroy devToolsWebContents.

An example of showing devtools in a <webview> tag:

<html>
<head>
  <style type="text/css">
    * { margin: 0; }
    #browser { height: 70%; }
    #devtools { height: 30%; }
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <webview id="browser" src="https://github.com"></webview>
  <webview id="devtools" src="about:blank"></webview>
  <script>
    const { ipcRenderer } = require('electron')
    const emittedOnce = (element, eventName) => new Promise(resolve => {
      element.addEventListener(eventName, event => resolve(event), { once: true })
    })
    const browserView = document.getElementById('browser')
    const devtoolsView = document.getElementById('devtools')
    const browserReady = emittedOnce(browserView, 'dom-ready')
    const devtoolsReady = emittedOnce(devtoolsView, 'dom-ready')
    Promise.all([browserReady, devtoolsReady]).then(() => {
      const targetId = browserView.getWebContentsId()
      const devtoolsId = devtoolsView.getWebContentsId()
      ipcRenderer.send('open-devtools', targetId, devtoolsId)
    })
  </script>
</body>
</html>

// Main process
const { ipcMain, webContents } = require('electron')
ipcMain.on('open-devtools', (event, targetContentsId, devtoolsContentsId) => {
  const target = webContents.fromId(targetContentsId)
  const devtools = webContents.fromId(devtoolsContentsId)
  target.setDevToolsWebContents(devtools)
  target.openDevTools()
})

An example of showing devtools in a BrowserWindow:

const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron')

let win = null
let devtools = null

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  win = new BrowserWindow()
  devtools = new BrowserWindow()
  win.loadURL('https://github.com')
  win.webContents.setDevToolsWebContents(devtools.webContents)
  win.webContents.openDevTools({ mode: 'detach' })
})

contents.openDevTools([options])

Opens the devtools.

When contents is a <webview> tag, the mode would be detach by default, explicitly passing an empty mode can force using last used dock state.

contents.closeDevTools()

Closes the devtools.

contents.isDevToolsOpened()

Returns boolean - Whether the devtools is opened.

contents.isDevToolsFocused()

Returns boolean - Whether the devtools view is focused .

contents.toggleDevTools()

Toggles the developer tools.

contents.inspectElement(x, y)

Starts inspecting element at position (x, y).

contents.inspectSharedWorker()

Opens the developer tools for the shared worker context.

contents.inspectSharedWorkerById(workerId)

Inspects the shared worker based on its ID.

contents.getAllSharedWorkers()

Returns SharedWorkerInfo[] - Information about all Shared Workers.

contents.inspectServiceWorker()

Opens the developer tools for the service worker context.

contents.send(channel, ...args)

Send an asynchronous message to the renderer process via channel, along with arguments. Arguments will be serialized with the Structured Clone Algorithm, just like postMessage, so prototype chains will not be included. Sending Functions, Promises, Symbols, WeakMaps, or WeakSets will throw an exception.

NOTE: Sending non-standard JavaScript types such as DOM objects or special Electron objects will throw an exception.

The renderer process can handle the message by listening to channel with the ipcRenderer module.

An example of sending messages from the main process to the renderer process:

// In the main process.
const { app, BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
let win = null

app.whenReady().then(() => {
  win = new BrowserWindow({ width: 800, height: 600 })
  win.loadURL(`file://${__dirname}/index.html`)
  win.webContents.on('did-finish-load', () => {
    win.webContents.send('ping', 'whoooooooh!')
  })
})

<!-- index.html -->
<html>
<body>
  <script>
    require('electron').ipcRenderer.on('ping', (event, message) => {
      console.log(message) // Prints 'whoooooooh!'
    })
  </script>
</body>
</html>

contents.sendToFrame(frameId, channel, ...args)

Send an asynchronous message to a specific frame in a renderer process via channel, along with arguments. Arguments will be serialized with the Structured Clone Algorithm, just like postMessage, so prototype chains will not be included. Sending Functions, Promises, Symbols, WeakMaps, or WeakSets will throw an exception.

NOTE: Sending non-standard JavaScript types such as DOM objects or special Electron objects will throw an exception.

The renderer process can handle the message by listening to channel with the ipcRenderer module.

If you want to get the frameId of a given renderer context you should use the webFrame.routingId value. E.g.

// In a renderer process
console.log('My frameId is:', require('electron').webFrame.routingId)

You can also read frameId from all incoming IPC messages in the main process.

// In the main process
ipcMain.on('ping', (event) => {
  console.info('Message came from frameId:', event.frameId)
})

contents.postMessage(channel, message, [transfer])

Send a message to the renderer process, optionally transferring ownership of zero or more [MessagePortMain][] objects.

The transferred MessagePortMain objects will be available in the renderer process by accessing the ports property of the emitted event. When they arrive in the renderer, they will be native DOM MessagePort objects.

For example:

// Main process
const { port1, port2 } = new MessageChannelMain()
webContents.postMessage('port', { message: 'hello' }, [port1])

// Renderer process
ipcRenderer.on('port', (e, msg) => {
  const [port] = e.ports
  // ...
})

contents.enableDeviceEmulation(parameters)

Enable device emulation with the given parameters.

contents.disableDeviceEmulation()

Disable device emulation enabled by webContents.enableDeviceEmulation.

contents.sendInputEvent(inputEvent)

Sends an input event to the page. Note: The BrowserWindow containing the contents needs to be focused for sendInputEvent() to work.

contents.beginFrameSubscription([onlyDirty ,]callback)

Begin subscribing for presentation events and captured frames, the callback will be called with callback(image, dirtyRect) when there is a presentation event.

The image is an instance of NativeImage that stores the captured frame.

The dirtyRect is an object with x, y, width, height properties that describes which part of the page was repainted. If onlyDirty is set to true, image will only contain the repainted area. onlyDirty defaults to false.

contents.endFrameSubscription()

End subscribing for frame presentation events.

contents.startDrag(item)

Sets the item as dragging item for current drag-drop operation, file is the absolute path of the file to be dragged, and icon is the image showing under the cursor when dragging.

contents.savePage(fullPath, saveType)

Returns Promise<void> - resolves if the page is saved.

const { BrowserWindow } = require('electron')
const win = new BrowserWindow()

win.loadURL('https://github.com')

win.webContents.on('did-finish-load', async () => {
  win.webContents.savePage('/tmp/test.html', 'HTMLComplete').then(() => {
    console.log('Page was saved successfully.')
  }).catch(err => {
    console.log(err)
  })
})

contents.showDefinitionForSelection() macOS

Shows pop-up dictionary that searches the selected word on the page.

contents.isOffscreen()

Returns boolean - Indicates whether offscreen rendering is enabled.

contents.startPainting()

If offscreen rendering is enabled and not painting, start painting.

contents.stopPainting()

If offscreen rendering is enabled and painting, stop painting.

contents.isPainting()

Returns boolean - If offscreen rendering is enabled returns whether it is currently painting.

contents.setFrameRate(fps)

If offscreen rendering is enabled sets the frame rate to the specified number. Only values between 1 and 240 are accepted.

contents.getFrameRate()

Returns Integer - If offscreen rendering is enabled returns the current frame rate.

contents.invalidate()

Schedules a full repaint of the window this web contents is in.

If offscreen rendering is enabled invalidates the frame and generates a new one through the 'paint' event.

contents.getWebRTCIPHandlingPolicy()

Returns string - Returns the WebRTC IP Handling Policy.

contents.setWebRTCIPHandlingPolicy(policy)

Setting the WebRTC IP handling policy allows you to control which IPs are exposed via WebRTC. See BrowserLeaks for more details.

contents.getMediaSourceId(requestWebContents)

Returns string - The identifier of a WebContents stream. This identifier can be used with navigator.mediaDevices.getUserMedia using a chromeMediaSource of tab. The identifier is restricted to the web contents that it is registered to and is only valid for 10 seconds.

contents.getOSProcessId()

Returns Integer - The operating system pid of the associated renderer process.

contents.getProcessId()

Returns Integer - The Chromium internal pid of the associated renderer. Can be compared to the frameProcessId passed by frame specific navigation events (e.g. did-frame-navigate)

contents.takeHeapSnapshot(filePath)

Returns Promise<void> - Indicates whether the snapshot has been created successfully.

Takes a V8 heap snapshot and saves it to filePath.

contents.getBackgroundThrottling()

Returns boolean - whether or not this WebContents will throttle animations and timers when the page becomes backgrounded. This also affects the Page Visibility API.

contents.setBackgroundThrottling(allowed)

Controls whether or not this WebContents will throttle animations and timers when the page becomes backgrounded. This also affects the Page Visibility API.

contents.getType()

Returns string - the type of the webContent. Can be backgroundPage, window, browserView, remote, webview or offscreen.

contents.setImageAnimationPolicy(policy)

Sets the image animation policy for this webContents. The policy only affects new images, existing images that are currently being animated are unaffected. This is a known limitation in Chromium, you can force image animation to be recalculated with img.src = img.src which will result in no network traffic but will update the animation policy.

This corresponds to the animationPolicy accessibility feature in Chromium.

Instance Properties

contents.audioMuted

A boolean property that determines whether this page is muted.

contents.userAgent

A string property that determines the user agent for this web page.

contents.zoomLevel

A number property that determines the zoom level for this web contents.

The original size is 0 and each increment above or below represents zooming 20% larger or smaller to default limits of 300% and 50% of original size, respectively. The formula for this is scale := 1.2 ^ level.

contents.zoomFactor

A number property that determines the zoom factor for this web contents.

The zoom factor is the zoom percent divided by 100, so 300% = 3.0.

contents.frameRate

An Integer property that sets the frame rate of the web contents to the specified number. Only values between 1 and 240 are accepted.

Only applicable if offscreen rendering is enabled.

contents.id Readonly

A Integer representing the unique ID of this WebContents. Each ID is unique among all WebContents instances of the entire Electron application.

contents.session Readonly

A Session used by this webContents.

contents.hostWebContents Readonly

A WebContents instance that might own this WebContents.

contents.devToolsWebContents Readonly

A WebContents | null property that represents the of DevTools WebContents associated with a given WebContents.

Note: Users should never store this object because it may become null when the DevTools has been closed.

contents.debugger Readonly

A Debugger instance for this webContents.

contents.backgroundThrottling

A boolean property that determines whether or not this WebContents will throttle animations and timers when the page becomes backgrounded. This also affects the Page Visibility API.

contents.mainFrame Readonly

A WebFrameMain property that represents the top frame of the page’s frame hierarchy.

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