(Why) does Chromote open two Chrome windows by default?

[bersbersbers]

> b <- chromote::ChromoteSession$new()
> b$Browser$getWindowBounds(1)
$bounds
$bounds$left
[1] 0

$bounds$top
[1] 0

$bounds$width
[1] 800

$bounds$height
[1] 600

$bounds$windowState
[1] "normal"


> b$Browser$getWindowBounds(2)
$bounds
$bounds$left
[1] 0

$bounds$top
[1] 0

$bounds$width
[1] 992

$bounds$height
[1] 1323

$bounds$windowState
[1] "normal"


> b$Browser$getWindowBounds(3)
Error in onRejected(reason) : code: -32000
  message: Browser window not found

[bersbersbers]

It sure looks like it:

> b <- chromote::ChromoteSession$new()
> b$Target$getTargets()

$targetInfos
$targetInfos[[1]]
$targetInfos[[1]]$targetId
[1] "9F366095DEA57A0DC74273262A14FD03"

$targetInfos[[1]]$type
[1] "page"

$targetInfos[[1]]$title
[1] "about:blank"

$targetInfos[[1]]$url
[1] "about:blank"

$targetInfos[[1]]$attached
[1] TRUE

$targetInfos[[1]]$canAccessOpener
[1] FALSE

$targetInfos[[1]]$browserContextId
[1] "BDFA500459C76683F235CF173AC8477B"


$targetInfos[[2]]
$targetInfos[[2]]$targetId
[1] "294530650069700B65A13ED0F8F8111F"

$targetInfos[[2]]$type
[1] "page"

$targetInfos[[2]]$title
[1] "about:blank"

$targetInfos[[2]]$url
[1] "about:blank"

$targetInfos[[2]]$attached
[1] FALSE

$targetInfos[[2]]$canAccessOpener
[1] FALSE

$targetInfos[[2]]$browserContextId
[1] "BDFA500459C76683F235CF173AC8477B"

[wch]

It's because ChromoteSession$new() starts a Chrome instance (if not already started), and when Chrome starts, it has a tab/window open. Then ChromoteSession$new() tells Chrome to open a new tab.

It may be possible to start the first ChromoteSession with the unused tab.

[hadley]

I now only see a single target:

sess <- chromote::ChromoteSession$new()
str(sess$Target$getTargetInfo())
#> List of 1
#>  $ targetInfo:List of 7
#>   ..$ targetId        : chr "C9EA14C1F3262AC457388DA7B7473BA6"
#>   ..$ type            : chr "page"
#>   ..$ title           : chr "about:blank"
#>   ..$ url             : chr "about:blank"
#>   ..$ attached        : logi TRUE
#>   ..$ canAccessOpener : logi FALSE
#>   ..$ browserContextId: chr "3666C1F98B71B8B00FAC95CFAA4DF4AD"

^{Created on 2024-01-30 with reprex v2.0.2.9000}