Javascript to automatically close a popup window

Question

I have the following code (listed below). In short, when a user clicks the button "All On" it will open a popup window with yahoo.com. I want the window to remain open for 3 seconds, then automatically close with no additional interaction from the user.

Although the popup opens exactly as desired, I get this error when the close attempts to execute.

script438: Object doesn't support property or method 'close' lights.html (11,31)

I am not a coder and cannot figure this out. Ultimately, this will primarily run on Safari iOS. And, obviously, the yahoo link will be replaced with a specific IP address. Thank you.

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Light Control Example</title>
  <script type="text/javascript">
    function allOn(){
     var win = 'http://www.yahoo.com';

      open(win,'1366002941508','width=1,height=1,left=5,top=3');

      setTimeout(function() { win.close();}, 3000);
    }
  </script>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Lights Example</h1>

  <input type=submit value="ALL ON" onclick="allOn();" />

</body>
</html>

The reason you can't call `win.close()` is because `win` is a string — it's the string "`http://www.yahoo.com`. I don't know if it's possible to close a window in this way but I would suggest a better option, particularly for mobile, would be to create an overlay div rather than a new window. It will look nicer and you can do what you like to it. — Andrew Taylor, May 18 '16 at 18:44
Closing your own window via script is no longer possible. https://stackoverflow.com/a/19768082/391101 — harvest316, Jul 12 '17 at 04:57

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered May 18 '16 at 18:45

3

Give this a try

<script type="text/javascript">
function allOn(){
    var win = window.open('http://www.yahoo.com','windowname','width=1,height=1,left=5,top=3');
    setTimeout(function() { win.close();}, 3000);
}
</script>

answered May 18 '16 at 18:45

c2willi

106
3

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered May 18 '16 at 18:42

1

win is a string.
Strings obviously don't have a close() method.

You want the Window object returned by open().

answered May 18 '16 at 18:42

SLaks

868,454
176
1,908
1,964

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered May 18 '16 at 18:49

<!DOCTYPE HTML>
<html>
<head>
  <title>Light Control Example</title>
  <script type="text/javascript">
    function allOn(){
    var myWindow = window.open('http://www.yahoo.com','1366002941508','width=600,height=400,left=5,top=3')
    setTimeout(function() { myWindow.close();}, 3000);
    }
  </script>
</head>
<body>
  <h1>Lights Example</h1>

  <input type=submit value="ALL ON" onclick="allOn();" />

</body>
</html>

Javascript to automatically close a popup window

3 Answers3