PluginArray

The PluginArray interface is used to store a list of Plugin objects; it’s returned by the navigator.plugins property. The PluginArray is not a JavaScript array, but has the length property and supports accessing individual items using bracket notation (plugins[2]), as well as via item(index) and namedItem("name") methods.

[!NOTE] Own properties of PluginArray objects are no longer enumerable in the latest browser versions.

Instance properties

• length Read only Deprecated
  • : The number of plugins in the array.

Instance methods

• item Deprecated
  • : Returns the Plugin at the specified index into the array.
• namedItem Deprecated
  • : Returns the Plugin with the specified name.
• refresh Deprecated
  • : Refreshes all plugins on the current page, optionally reloading documents.

Examples

The following example function returns the version of the Shockwave Flash plugin.

const pluginsLength = navigator.plugins.length;

document.body.innerHTML =
  `${pluginsLength} Plugin(s)<br>` +
  `<table id="pluginTable"><thead>` +
  `<tr><th>Name</th><th>Filename</th><th>description</th><th>version</th></tr>` +
  `</thead><tbody></tbody></table>`;

const table = document.getElementById("pluginTable");

for (let i = 0; i < pluginsLength; i++) {
  let newRow = table.insertRow();
  newRow.insertCell().textContent = navigator.plugins[i].name;
  newRow.insertCell().textContent = navigator.plugins[i].filename;
  newRow.insertCell().textContent = navigator.plugins[i].description;
  newRow.insertCell().textContent = navigator.plugins[i].version ?? "";
}

The following example displays information about the installed plugin(s).

const pluginsLength = navigator.plugins.length;

document.write(
  `${pluginsLength.toString()} Plugin(s)<br>` +
    `Name | Filename | description<br>`,
);

for (let i = 0; i < pluginsLength; i++) {
  document.write(
    `${navigator.plugins[i].name} | ${navigator.plugins[i].filename} | ${navigator.plugins[i].description} | ${navigator.plugins[i].version}<br>`,
  );
}

Specifications

Browser compatibility

In addition to listing each plugin as a pseudo-array by zero-indexed numeric properties, Firefox provides properties that are the plugin name directly on the PluginArray object.