How to send Chrome / Browser Notifications

#javascript #webdev #tutorial #programming

It took me a while of looking around StackOverflow and such to find out how to send browser notifications, but it turns out to be really simple. What I'm going to do here is walk you through a tutorial on making a simple notification-sending function.

At first, when the function is called, it will have to ask for permission first, but after that, it will be able to send all sorts of notifications.

Let's get started!!

First, let's create the function. It'll have three parameters. One for the title, next for the message, and the last for the icon.

function sendNotif(title, text, icon){

}

Next, just to be safe, let's make sure the browser supports notifications.

if (!("Notification" in window)) {
  console.warn("Your Browser does not support Chrome Notifications :(")
}

Let's chain onto the if statement with an else if. This statement tests if the notification status is granted or not. If it is granted, it will send a notification.

else if (Notification.permission === "granted") {
  // If it's okay let's create a notification
  let notif = new Notification(title, {
    icon: icon,
    body: text
  });
}

Still, we'll chain onto the else-if statement. Let's add another one. This statement will request permission if it isn't granted or denied.

else if (Notification.permission !== 'denied') {
  //request notification permission
  Notification.requestPermission((perm) => {
    //save permission status
    if (!('permission' in Notification)) {
      Notification.permission = perm;
    }

    //if granted, send a notification immediately
    if (perm === "granted") {
      let notif = new Notification(title, {
        icon: icon,
        body: text
      });
    }
  });
}

And that should be it. Your function should be working well. Let's, for extra error handling, add an else statement at the end of the chain and log the current notification to the console if it isn't denied or allowed.

else {
  console.warn(`Failed, Notification Permission is ${Notification.permission}`);
}

Have fun and don't spam websites or users with notifications.
Happy Coding.

Top comments (7)

Patryk L. • Nov 17 '21 • Edited

In 4th code block shouldn't second if have perm instead of permission variable?
Nevertheless simple and easy to understand article. Thanks 👍

Could you add/explain more options that we can specify in options?

Conner Ow • Nov 17 '21

Whoops I think I made that little mistake there. Thanks for letting me know.

Andrei L • Nov 17 '21 • Edited

developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/W...

The latest spec has updated this method to a promise-based syntax that works like this:
Notification.requestPermission().then(function(permission) { ... });
Previously, the syntax was based on a simple callback; this version is now deprecated:
Notification.requestPermission(callback);