Differentiate browser refresh and browser close

Question

I want to set a cookie when a visitor on the page closes the browser. I used onbeforeunload method like this

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">
  window.onbeforeunload = confirmExit;
  function confirmExit()
  {
    return "You have attempted to leave this page.  If you have made any changes to the fields without clicking the Save button, your changes will be lost.  Are you sure you want to exit this page?";
  }
</script>

followed this link

But found out that even refresh of page or click on any hyper link on the page,pops up an alert.

I need to set cookie only when visitor clicks cross button of browser and not on page refresh.

I followed some of the links like the one above and another here. And found from the post that we can not differentiate between close and refresh. But those posts were 3-4 years back.

Is there is any way to differentiate these events using JavaScript or Jquery?

And what about Ctrl-x, navigate with the address bar, bookmark, etc. It is impossible! — epascarello, Jun 10 '13 at 14:42
Why does the cookie need to be set on exactly that occasion to begin with? Chances are there's a much better way to do whatever you are trying to do. — deceze, Jun 10 '13 at 15:06
Does this answer your question? [Identifying Between Refresh And Close Browser Actions](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/568977/identifying-between-refresh-and-close-browser-actions) — Heretic Monkey, May 06 '20 at 12:16

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jun 10 '13 at 14:42

1

I'm afraid you have no way to tell.

The only thing you can do is overload clicks on links and set a flag. But you can never know if it is a refresh or a close...

answered Jun 10 '13 at 14:42

Maresh

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 10 '13 at 14:42

1

Hmm, what about this:

Set a cookie onbeforeunload
Globally onload, check the timestamp of the cookie to see whether this was a link, or a new session
If the timestamp difference is only a few seconds, delete the cookie

answered Jun 10 '13 at 14:42

landons

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Well, ye it's a bit dirty but you don't have much choice... You could combined that with my answer. – Maresh Jun 10 '13 at 14:44
@Maresh No argument here; dirty indeed. There's probably a better way to solve the problem, but this is the only solution I could think of for the *question* ;) – landons Jun 10 '13 at 14:48
No, as I said he doesn't have much choice. I'm sorry you took it the wrong way, this is a good solution. – Maresh Jun 10 '13 at 14:49
Didn't take it wrong--you had a point about its lack of cleanliness. – landons Jun 10 '13 at 14:50
Good then :) And I think you deserve a +1 ;) – Maresh Jun 10 '13 at 14:56

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jan 06 '15 at 16:16

0

Well, unload is called when browser is closed and onload is called when you try to reload. You can use these properties and set flags , and fire events accordingly

Browser close and reload Check this link for more details

answered Jan 06 '15 at 16:16

Neerav Patel

21
7

Differentiate browser refresh and browser close

3 Answers3

Linked