Question

Catch event when window is closed from the close box (top-right corner)

Asked by: aluppigus


How can I catch the event occured when the closed box from the top-right corner is pressed?

I want for example to send user a warning when he wants to close the page from the specific box

Is there any solution that works at least on IE and Firefox?


thanks Nicu

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Asked On
2005-07-20 at 02:14:34ID21497817
Tags

catch

,

close

,

event

,

window

Topic

JavaScript

Participating Experts
2
Points
100
Comments
6

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Answers

 

by: justinbilligPosted on 2005-07-20 at 04:07:52ID: 14483124

Nope, you can use the onunload event, but you can't stop the browser from closing, also the onunload event has no way of knowing if you clicked the closed box or just reloaded the page.

 

by: ndixonPosted on 2005-07-20 at 05:12:00ID: 14483547

As above there is no 'direct' way of testing if the page is being navigated awy from or the window is being closed.

in IE (think it was from about version 5) there is an onBeforeUnload event. it isn't an event handelr as such, but it allows you to return a message to the user with yes/no options to continue unloading

window.onBeforeUnload = new Function("return \'All changes will be lost!\'");

there are ways to test if some methods of navigation to prevent this, for example you might wish to keep a global variable (call it allowUnload) and modify its values before continuing.

eg
<script language="Javascript">
<!--
var allowUnload=0;
on window.unBeforeUnload  = new Function("if(allowUnload==0){return \'All changes will be lost\';};");
//-->
</script>

<a href='wherever.asp' onlcick='allowUnload=1'>


Again however this is as close to preventing a window closing as you can come without the rather instrusive approach of opening a new window via the window.onUnload event handler.

 

by: justinbilligPosted on 2005-07-20 at 05:17:03ID: 14483604

ndixon, makes a few good points but fails to mention that.

If you cancel the onbeforeunload event the browser still gives you the option to leave the page.
And his method still doesn't work if the user just reloades the page.


There is no way to stop the user from closing the browser, and even if there was I doubt most people would share it becuase that would be annoying, as a general rule of thumb, leave the users browser alone

 

by: ndixonPosted on 2005-07-20 at 05:33:19ID: 14483757

I use the onBeforeUnload for INTRANET applications, I have quite a few event handlers and restrcitions that pretty much take care of everything, its a collection that has taken about 6 months to get as good as it is.

I would however agree with justinbillig for ordinary web pages, I would leave it well alone, your other processing should handle any excemptions produced by undesired navigation, without placing restrictions on the user

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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