prefs option doesn't work

[aklinker1]

It doesn't seem like the prefs option does anything. At least the example in the README doesn't work.

chrome-launcher/README.md

Lines 50 to 53 in cb08cd2

	// (optional) Additional preferences to be set in Chrome, for example: {'download.default_directory': __dirname}
	// See: https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+/main/chrome/common/pref_names.cc
	// Do note, if you set preferences when using your default profile it will overwrite these
	prefs: {[key: string]: Object};

import { launch } from 'chrome-launcher';

launch({
  chromePath: '/Applications/Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome',
  prefs: {
    // Subdirectory of my downloads directory just for testing
    'download.default_directory': '/Users/aklinker1/Downloads/test',
  },
});

But when I go to chrome://downloads/ and open the downloads folder, it opens /Users/aklinker1/Downloads instead of /Users/aklinker1/Downloads/test, and chrome://settings/downloads also lists /Users/aklinker1/Downloads as my download location.

Looking at the code, it seems like I shouldn't pass in a dot separated string, but in the same format as the preferences file. That doesn't work either.

chrome-launcher/src/chrome-launcher.ts

Lines 243 to 251 in cb08cd2

	if (this.fs.existsSync(preferenceFile)) {
	// overwrite existing file
	const file = this.fs.readFileSync(preferenceFile, 'utf-8');
	const content = JSON.parse(file);
	this.fs.writeFileSync(preferenceFile, JSON.stringify({...content, ...this.prefs}), 'utf-8');
	} else {
	// create new Preference file
	this.fs.writeFileSync(preferenceFile, JSON.stringify({...this.prefs}), 'utf-8');
	}

import { launch } from 'chrome-launcher';

launch({
  chromePath: '/Applications/Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome',
  prefs: {
    download: {
      default_directory: '/Users/aklinker1/Downloads/test',
    },
  },
});

But I probably just don't know how the preferences file works. I would think line 247 should be a deep merge, not a simple spread, but maybe chrome expands the dot notation strings automatically and performs the deep merge?

I originally came across this trying to set extensions.ui.developer_mode to true, but couldn't get that working either. I figured that might be a special setting, so I tried it with download.default_directory then created this issue.

$ npx envinfo --system --browsers --binaries --npmPackages chrome-launcher

  System:
    OS: macOS 13.4.1
    CPU: (8) arm64 Apple M1 Pro
    Memory: 2.01 GB / 16.00 GB
    Shell: 5.9 - /bin/zsh
  Binaries:
    Node: 18.16.1 - ~/.asdf/installs/nodejs/18.16.1/bin/node
    npm: 9.5.1 - ~/.asdf/plugins/nodejs/shims/npm
    pnpm: 8.6.3 - ~/.asdf/installs/nodejs/18.16.1/bin/pnpm
  Browsers:
    Chrome: 117.0.5938.92
    Safari: 16.5.2
  npmPackages:
    chrome-launcher: ^1.0.0 => 1.0.0

[paulirish]

This was probably fixed with #308 which hasn't shipped in a release yet.

The 1.1.0 we're about to ship will have it.

[aklinker1]

Ahh, ok. I saw that PR, and couldn't figure out if it was released or not yet 👍 Thanks!

[aklinker1]

Nice, seems to be working. Thanks for the quick release!