How do I download a file to the extension folder in a Chrome extension?

Question

I want to use chrome.extension.getURL to load a local file that was downloaded. Since this can only access files in the extensions folder, how do I save files to the extensions folder?

I tried chrome.downloads.download , but this saves to the downloads folder by default.

Answer 1

You can download the file via XMLHttpRequest / $.get , store it as a string/blob in some local storage like WebSQL , IndexedDB or chrome.storage.local , then add it to a webpage as a data URI .

You can't save the file anywhere except under the downloads directory, see chrome.downloads API :

• chrome.downloads.download :

  Absolute paths, empty paths, and paths containing back-references ".." will cause an error. onDeterminingFilename allows suggesting a filename [...]

• chrome.downloads.onDeterminingFilename :

  a path relative to the user's default Downloads directory, possibly containing subdirectories. Absolute paths, empty paths, and paths containing back-references ".." will be ignored.

There are no other APIs to download a file.