Chrome-extension "Cannot read property 'onUpdated' of undefined"

Question

I have a script which I want to inject to a page every 10 seconds. I use this code:

chrome.tabs.onUpdated.addListener(function(tabId,tab){
    chrome.tabs.executeScript(null,{file:"program.js"});
  }
);

program.js looks like this:

$("body").prepend("Hello World!");  
setTimeout(function(){location.reload();},10000);

Meaning every 10 seconds the page should refresh itself and inject this piece of code, it works ok, but sometimes (especially when running more than one tab) I get this error:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'onUpdated' of undefined 

I'm guessing its not getting the tabId or something.
But I can't solve it.

Help would be very much appreciated.

Answer 1

I came across the same problem only with chrome.runtime.onMessageExternal.addListener and chrome would complain about onMessageExternal. Like @scott-f pointed out the reason for this bug is 'abusing' th reload button. I removed and reinstalled the extension and it worked.

In hindsight I would suggest you use the --load-extensions='extension/path' from the cli to test your extension with the mouse just to avoid the overhead of navigating around chrome's menus, and use Selenium to automate your tests.