Detect browser or tab closing

From MDN Documentation

For some reasons, Webkit-based browsers don't follow the spec for the dialog box. An almost cross-working example would be close from the below example.

window.addEventListener("beforeunload", function (e) {
  var confirmationMessage = "\o/";

  (e || window.event).returnValue = confirmationMessage; //Gecko + IE
  return confirmationMessage;                            //Webkit, Safari, Chrome
});

This example for handling all browsers.


If I get you correctly, you want to know when a tab/window is effectively closed. Well, AFAIK the only way in JavaScript to detect that is to use either onunload or onbeforeunload events.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), those events are also fired when you leave a site over a link or your browsers back button. So this is the best answer I can give, I don't think you can natively detect a pure close in JavaScript. Correct me if I'm wrong here.


Simple Solution

window.onbeforeunload = function () {
    return "Do you really want to close?";
};


<body onbeforeunload="ConfirmClose()" onunload="HandleOnClose()">

var myclose = false;

function ConfirmClose()
{
    if (event.clientY < 0)
    {
        event.returnValue = 'You have closed the browser. Do you want to logout from your application?';
        setTimeout('myclose=false',10);
        myclose=true;
    }
}

function HandleOnClose()
{
    if (myclose==true) 
    {
        //the url of your logout page which invalidate session on logout 
        location.replace('/contextpath/j_spring_security_logout') ;
    }   
}

//This is working in IE7, if you are closing tab or browser with only one tab

Tags:

Javascript

Jquery

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