Clients: openWindow() method
Baseline
Widely available
This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since April 2018.
Note: This feature is only available in Service Workers.
The openWindow() method of the Clients
interface creates a new top level browsing context and loads a given URL. If the calling
script doesn't have permission to show popups, openWindow() will throw an
InvalidAccessError.
In Firefox, the method is allowed to show popups only when called as the result of a notification click event.
In Chrome for Android, the method may instead open the URL in an existing browsing context provided by a standalone web app previously added to the user's home screen. As of recently, this also works on Chrome for Windows.
Syntax
openWindow(url)
Parameters
url-
A string representing the URL of the client you want to open in the window. Generally this value must be a URL from the same origin as the calling script.
Return value
A Promise that resolves to a WindowClient object if the
URL is from the same origin as the service worker or a null value otherwise.
Exceptions
InvalidAccessErrorDOMException-
The promise is rejected with this exception if none of the windows in the app's origin have transient activation.
Security requirements
- At least one window in the app's origin must have transient activation.
Examples
Opening a window on a notification click
In this example a service worker creates and then shows a that contains an associated URL, which is under the service worker's scope. When the user clicks the notification:
- If the page at the notification's URL is already open, the service worker focuses it.
- Otherwise, the service worker opens the page in a new window.
Note that the Client.url property is not updated unless a new page is actually loaded. This means that it will not be updated if the user navigates within the same page using a URL fragment, or if a single-page app (SPA) intercepts a navigation event (for example, using the Navigation API) and updates the page content using client-side code. Consequently, this technique is not suitable for SPAs.
// Create and show notification
if (self.Notification.permission === "granted") {
const notificationObject = {
body: "Click here to view your messages.",
data: { url: `${self.location.origin}/some/path` },
};
self.registration.showNotification(
"You've got messages!",
notificationObject,
);
}
// Handle notification click
self.addEventListener("notificationclick", (e) => {
// Close the notification popout
e.notification.close();
e.waitUntil(
// Get all the Window clients
clients.matchAll({ type: "window" }).then((clientsArr) => {
const windowToFocus = clientsArr.find(
(windowClient) => windowClient.url === e.notification.data.url,
);
if (windowToFocus) {
// If a Window tab matching the targeted URL already exists, focus that;
windowToFocus.focus();
} else {
// Otherwise, open a new tab to the applicable URL and focus it.
clients
.openWindow(e.notification.data.url)
.then((windowClient) => (windowClient ? windowClient.focus() : null));
}
}),
);
});
Specifications
| Specification |
|---|
| Service Workers Nightly # clients-openwindow |