TST API Question: get/set-tree-structure

[irvinm]

@piroor, I am working on a new tab search addon that plays nicely with TST and was thinking to: call "get-tree-structure" (snapshot), then expand all of the trees, do some information searching, then try to restore the tree states calling "set-tree-structure" with no other changes to the tree other than the expand/collapse state.

However, in my experience, I do see information being properly being returned from get-tree-structure, but when I pass this back to set-tree-structure at the end, the tree states are not being restored. (In my case they all remain expanded due to my actions.)

I do see "collapsed: true" in the information, but after doing a "set", none of the trees are collapsed.

Questions

• Is this use case appropriate for this API?
• Is there any chance there is a bug currently with get/set-tree-structure?
• If working, any thoughts on how I might go about taking next steps?
• I think as a workaround, I could track the individual tree states myself, but that seems much less efficient.

Snapshot Logic

  if (msg.action === 'search-tabs') {
    // Only take a snapshot the first time after popup is opened
    if (tstEnabled) {
      // If TST support is enabled, register with TST (only once per session)
      await registerWithTST();
      // Only take a snapshot the first time after popup is opened, after registration
      if (!snapshotTakenThisSession) {
        try {
          originalTSTTreeStructure = await browser.runtime.sendMessage(TST_ID, {
            type: 'get-tree-structure',
            tabs: '*'
          });
          await browser.storage.local.set({ tabSearchTSTSnapshot: originalTSTTreeStructure });
          snapshotTakenThisSession = true;
          console.log('[TabSearch][TST] Snapshot of original tree structure (pre-search):', JSON.stringify(originalTSTTreeStructure));
        } catch (e) {
          console.warn('[TabSearch][TST] Failed to get original tree structure:', e);
        }
      }

Restore Logic

      if (snapshot) {
        try {
          console.log('[TabSearch][TST] Attempting to restore original tree structure:', JSON.stringify(snapshot));
          const result = await browser.runtime.sendMessage(TST_ID, {
            type: 'set-tree-structure',
            structure: snapshot
          });
          console.log('[TabSearch][TST] set-tree-structure result:', result);
          console.log('[TabSearch][TST] Restored original tree structure');
        } catch (e) {
          console.warn('[TabSearch][TST] Failed to restore original tree structure:', e);
        }
        originalTSTTreeStructure = null;
        await browser.storage.local.remove('tabSearchTSTSnapshot');
        snapshotTakenThisSession = false;
      } else {
        console.log('[TabSearch][TST] No original tree structure to restore.');
      }

Debug run

Starting Trees

Ending Trees

[piroor]

The tabs parameter looks missing in your example codes. As documented at https://github.com/piroor/treestyletab/wiki/API-for-other-addons#take-a-tree-structure-snapshot-of-tabs the id information of got snapshot is ignored by TST, so you still need to specify tabs to be applied the given snapshot.

Here is an example to invert collapsed/expanded state with get-tree-structure and set-tree-structure which successfully worked on my environment:

(async () => {
  const original = await browser.runtime.sendMessage('[email protected]', {
    type: 'get-tree-structure',
    tabs: '*',
  });
  const inverted = JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(original).replace(/true/g,'WAS_TRUE').replace(/false/g,'true').replace(/WAS_TRUE/g,'false'));
  const result = await browser.runtime.sendMessage('[email protected]', {
    type: 'set-tree-structure',
    tabs: '*', // <= this is required!
    structure: inverted,
  });
})();

By the way, tabs:'*' may refer different number of tabs if you open/close some tabs between get-tree-structure and set-tree-structure API calls. So it is recommended to use browser.tabs.query() or get-tree results to specify target tabs.

[irvinm]

Thanks for the feedback @piroor ... I'm surprised I missed the required "tabs" argument on the set. I was able to get it to work with your instructions and feedback.

I had actually implemented the alternative solution yesterday (take a snapshot from get-tree-structure, check each tab's collapsed state, place each tab into a "collapse me" or "expand me" array, call TST once to "collapse" the one array and once to "expand" the other array.

I went back and re-implemented your suggestion and noticed that simply taking the "snapshot" and passing it (PROPERLY) to TST via set-tree-structure took much longer (Test session with 971 tabs). I am guessing you have to do more processing to check all the hierarchies as well. I think I will stick with the quicker process for now. Thanks again.

Test case

1. Initiate search
2. Search for "dog"
3. Wait for tabs to be hidden and TST styles applied
4. Click off of popup.html to cancel search
5. Wait for tree to be restored (Unapply TST styles, unhide all of the tabs, restore tree expand/collapse)

get/set-tree-structure

2025-06-10_13-23-52.mp4

get-tree-structure -> collapse/expand trees

2025-06-10_13-28-38.mp4