1 <h2 id="manifest">Manifest</h2> 2 3 <p> 4 You must declare the "browsingData" permission in the 5 <a href="manifest">extension manifest</a> to use this API. 6 </p> 7 8 <pre data-filename="manifest.json"> 9 { 10 "name": "My extension", 11 ... 12 <b>"permissions": [ 13 "browsingData", 14 ]</b>, 15 ... 16 } 17 </pre> 18 19 <h2 id="usage">Usage</h2> 20 21 <p> 22 The simplest use-case for this API is a a time-based mechanism for clearing a 23 user's browsing data. Your code should provide a timestamp which indicates the 24 historical date after which the user's browsing data should be removed. This 25 timestamp is formatted as the number of milliseconds since the Unix epoch 26 (which can be retrieved from a JavaScript <code>Date</code> object via the 27 <code>getTime</code> method). 28 </p> 29 30 <p> 31 For example, to clear all of a user's browsing data from the last week, you 32 might write code as follows: 33 </p> 34 35 <pre>var callback = function () { 36 // Do something clever here once data has been removed. 37 }; 38 39 var millisecondsPerWeek = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; 40 var oneWeekAgo = (new Date()).getTime() - millisecondsPerWeek; 41 chrome.browsingData.remove({ 42 "since": oneWeekAgo 43 }, { 44 "appcache": true, 45 "cache": true, 46 "cookies": true, 47 "downloads": true, 48 "fileSystems": true, 49 "formData": true, 50 "history": true, 51 "indexedDB": true, 52 "localStorage": true, 53 "pluginData": true, 54 "passwords": true, 55 "webSQL": true 56 }, callback);</pre> 57 58 <p> 59 The <code>chrome.browsingData.remove</code> method allows you to remove 60 various types of browsing data with a single call, and will be much faster 61 than calling multiple more specific methods. If, however, you only want to 62 clear one specific type of browsing data (cookies, for example), the more 63 granular methods offer a readable alternative to a call filled with JSON. 64 </p> 65 66 <pre>var callback = function () { 67 // Do something clever here once data has been removed. 68 }; 69 70 var millisecondsPerWeek = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; 71 var oneWeekAgo = (new Date()).getTime() - millisecondsPerWeek; 72 chrome.browsingData.removeCookies({ 73 "since": oneWeekAgo 74 }, callback);</pre> 75 76 <p class="caution"> 77 <strong>Important</strong>: Removing browsing data involves a good deal of 78 heavy lifting in the background, and can take <em>tens of seconds</em> to 79 complete, depending on a user's profile. You should use the callback mechanism 80 to keep your users up to date on the removal's status. 81 </p> 82 83 <h2 id="origin_types">Origin Types</h2> 84 85 <p> 86 Adding an <code>originTypes</code> property to the API's options object allows 87 you to specify which types of origins ought to be effected. Currently, origins 88 are divided into three categories: 89 </p> 90 <ul> 91 <li> 92 <code>unprotectedWeb</code> covers the general case of websites that users 93 visit without taking any special action. If you don't specify an 94 <code>originTypes</code>, the API defaults to removing data from unprotected 95 web origins. 96 </li> 97 <li> 98 <code>protectedWeb</code> covers those web origins that have been installed 99 as hosted applications. Installing <a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/aknpkdffaafgjchaibgeefbgmgeghloj"> 100 Angry Birds</a>, for example, protects the origin 101 <code>http://chrome.angrybirds.com</code>, and removes it from the 102 <code>unprotectedWeb</code> category. Please do be careful when triggering 103 deletion of data for these origins: make sure your users know what they're 104 getting, as this will irrevocably remove their game data. No one wants to 105 knock tiny pig houses over more often than necessary. 106 </li> 107 <li> 108 <code>extension</code> covers origins under the 109 <code>chrome-extensions:</code> scheme. Removing extension data is, again, 110 something you should be very careful about. 111 </li> 112 </ul> 113 <p> 114 We could adjust the previous example to remove only data from protected 115 websites as follows: 116 </p> 117 <pre>var callback = function () { 118 // Do something clever here once data has been removed. 119 }; 120 121 var millisecondsPerWeek = 1000 * 60 * 60 * 24 * 7; 122 var oneWeekAgo = (new Date()).getTime() - millisecondsPerWeek; 123 chrome.browsingData.remove({ 124 "since": oneWeekAgo, 125 <b>"originTypes": { 126 "protectedWeb": true 127 }</b> 128 }, { 129 "appcache": true, 130 "cache": true, 131 "cookies": true, 132 "downloads": true, 133 "fileSystems": true, 134 "formData": true, 135 "history": true, 136 "indexedDB": true, 137 "localStorage": true, 138 "serverBoundCertificates": true, 139 "pluginData": true, 140 "passwords": true, 141 "webSQL": true 142 }, callback);</pre> 143 144 <p class="caution"> 145 <strong>Seriously</strong>: Be careful with <code>protectedWeb</code> and 146 <code>extension</code>. These are destructive operations that your users 147 will write angry email about if they're not well-informed about what to 148 expect when your extension removes data on their behalf. 149 </p> 150 151 <h2 id="samples">Examples</h2> 152 <p> 153 Samples for the <code>browsingData</code> API are available 154 <a href="samples#browsingData">on the samples page</a>. 155 </p> 156
