How do inject a script into a website before the first script on this website is able to run?

Tue Aug 15 16:00:13 UTC 2017

Hello,

my new code:

   var script = document.createElement("script");
   document.documentElement.appendChild(script);
   var request = new XMLHttpRequest();
   request.open('GET', browser.extension.getURL("pagescript.js"), false);
   request.send(null);
   script.textContent = request.responseText;

My code still runs too late. If I place code as <script> into <body> it 
is still executed before my extension is able to implement the 
javascript the page javascript is intended to use.

But: It actually works if I place my whole code directly inside my 
content-script. I don't really like this. Seems like the XMLHttpRequest, 
even if I tell it to be non-async, still causes stuff to get async 
somehow. Is there any way, I can use from a WebExtension, to get content 
of an extension-internal file in *really* async way? Would be so much 
nicer to do some code-separation...

On 08/15/2017 05:26 PM, Makyen wrote:
> I'm not sure what you were doing prior to Firefox 55 which allowed you 
> to access an existing document.head when your content script was 
> injected at "document_start". It's normal, and has been such going back 
> to Firefox versions in the 40's (I don't remember where I first tested) 
> and Chrome before WebExtensions, that content scripts declared in 
> manifest.json using a content_scripts entry with "run_at" = 
> "document_start" are injected prior to the <head> and <body> being 
> inserted into the DOM (i.e. when document.head === null && document.body 
> === null). This is normal, expected and desired behavior. Is this not 
> what you are experiencing? were experiencing?
> 
> If your intent is to /insert/ a script into the page context, that's 
> easily done at that time (i.e. at "document_start") by appending a 
> <script> element to the document.documentElement. That's the normal way 
> to do so at that time. If you are wanting to wait until the <head> 
> and/or <body> are created, then you can do so by using a 
> MutationObserver, as has already been mentioned. However, you need to 
> insert the code as text, not as a <script src="someFile">. If the 
> contents of the <script> is text, then the code is executed immediately. 
> If it's a <script src="someFile">, then it's non-blocking and the order 
> of execution is not guaranteed. Given that such referenced file is 
> sourced from within your extension (i.e. on local disk with no network 
> delay), it's likely that it will execute first, but it's not guaranteed.
> 
> For more detailed information, you can see this Stack Overflow question 
> <https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38577656/how-can-i-make-a-firefox-add-on-contentscript-inject-and-run-a-script-before-oth>, 
> which is specifically about this issue.
> 
> 
> 
> On 8/15/2017 5:52 AM, Manuel Reimer wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> before Firefox 55 I was able to do the following:
>>
>> Register my content script to run at "document_start".
>> Then I was able to access "document.head" from there and inject my 
>> <script> as the very first script to load.
>>
>> I need my script to run right in website context as my script is meant 
>> to do heavy exchange with page javascript which is difficult or 
>> impossible with a content script directly.
>>
>> Since Firefox 55 it seems to be impossible to do so. "document_start" 
>> seems to fire before "<head>" even exists.
>>
>> I tried to fix this with the "DOMContentLoaded" but this now is too 
>> late. Scripts embedded into <body> already ran at this point...
>>
>> Then I tried a "MutationObserver" to maybe wait for the point when 
>> <head> is inserted, but for me the MutationObserver is never fired.
>>
>> Can someone please point me into the right direction?
>>
>> Thanks in advance
>>
>> Manuel
>> _______________________________________________
>> Dev-addons mailing list
>> Dev-addons at mozilla.org
>> https://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/dev-addons
>>
> 
> 
> 
> 
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> 

How do inject a script into a website *before* the first script on this website is able to run?

How do inject a script into a website before the first script on this website is able to run?