Develop Google Chrome Plugin (no Extensions !)

Question

I want to develop an RIA and I need to handle some computer hardware not already supported. So, I think first to use a Java applet but I change my choice and I prefer the way to develop plugins for web browsers. I began to search for a Chrome API to develop plugins like Flash Player (before being integrated in chrome) and all I found was to develop "Extensions" with HTML and Javascript...not really what I wanted ! So if you know where I can get the Chrome API, I would really appreciate ! Thanks by advance and sorry for my poor English ( ask me if you don't really understand my answer )

Answer 1

You are correct in assuming that the best way to handle unsupported hardware in the browser is a plugin; but you might find that a desktop application is better for this purpose.

Flash Player and other plugins use the Netscape Plugin API (NPAPI) in Chrome, Firefox, Safari etc, and ActiveX in Internet Explorer. The best place to start with NPAPI is actually the Plugins page on Mozilla Developer Network. Google also has some documentation on plugins specific to Chrome.

If you are interested in developing plugins specifically for Chrome, it's worth noting that Google have developed a new API called the "Pepper Plugin API", and Adobe have announced that Flash will be moving to this API at some point.