How to automatically close webpage using javascript?

Question

I have found many questions like mine in different forums, but I couldn't find an answer that actually helps to solve my problem in any of them.

Basically, what I want is to open an URL through command prompt, it will open the browser, processes a webpage, and then I would like it to automatically close.

Why do I need this? I have an application that runs on IIS. There are some routines I need to run everyday in my application. I can simply kick of these routines by running an URL similar to the showed below:

http://myapplication.com/DoStuff.aspx?

The Problem is that this is totally manual. I was wondering if I could create a batch file calling my URL "start http://myapplication.com/DoStuff.aspx?", and then I could create a task on Windows to run that batch file everyday. That works for me except that the browser will not close automatically. What I mean is, I could try it, but at the end of a week, I would have at least 5 windows opened.

What I have tried:

I have tried to solve it by using javascript, but I always end up getting this message:

scripts may close only the windows that were opened by it

It does not matter the javascript function I create using "window.close()", the windows won't close.

Chrome and Firefox returns that message. IE let's me try to close the window, but it asks in a popUp if I really want to close it.

Do you need to interact with the page, or would triggering the page to download be enough? I'm thinking if no interaction is needed, you could just use a simple XMLHTTPRequest in WSH or `invoke-webrequest` or similar in PowerShell. — rojo, May 15 '17 at 17:29
you can try to use some test automation framework, such as cucumber-jvm with selenium. It provides you possibilities to control browsers outside of your web app functionality.. — Vladimir M, May 15 '17 at 17:29
@rojo I don't need to interect with the page. For instance, one of the processes would be to generate some pdf files and send to my email. — Arturio, May 15 '17 at 17:35
I believe, popup is maximum what you can get from browser if you don't control browser process ( from outside of the browser ). — Kos, May 15 '17 at 17:37
If you don't need to interact, then don't use a browser. Pick a language (C#, PowerShell, etc) and then use its tools to create HTTP requests that do what you want. Then schedule it with the Windows task scheduler, or build scheduling in and run it as a service. — mason, May 15 '17 at 17:53
if you use a batch file to trigger the process, you could potentially use the same batch file to kill the browser process at the end, instead of trying to close a tab within it. `taskkill /im ProgName.exe /t /f `. Though this may or may not be suitable for your specific environment. — blaze_125, May 15 '17 at 21:10
@ArthurMedeiros [Does this solution](https://stackoverflow.com/a/15419314/1683264) give you any ideas? — rojo, May 16 '17 at 11:45

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered May 15 '17 at 19:07

What you need is probably a headless browser like PhantomJS (WebKit browser without GUI). I would recommend you to use CasperJS to create scripts even more easily...

Install Phantom and Casper globally on your system and write a minimal automation script like so:

var casper = require('casper').create();

casper.start('http://myapplication.com/DoStuff.aspx');

casper.then(function() {
  // Do something here...
});

casper.run();

Set a cron job (or Windows equivalent) to execute the script with the casperjs bin. Normally, it should do the trick...

blaze_125 · Answer 2 · 2017-05-15T21:30:19.407

Using batch files only because I strongly believe you do not need JavaScript to do this.

::start a new browser session at the given url
start iexplore "http://www.google.com"
::wait for whatever process to end if you actually have to wait
timeout 15
::kill the browser process
taskkill /im iexplore.exe /f /t

If it runs on a machine nobody interacts with, and you know the session you log into will be the last session you got out of, then you know the session you're getting into already has IE open. So you could reverse the order of the script and not care much about timing

::kill the browser already opened
taskkill /im iexplore.exe /f /t
::open a new browser session at the given url
start iexplore "http://www.google.com"
::if you have to wait, but don't know how long... leave the browser window open. We'll close it next time we run this batch file anyway.

score 0 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:03

At *nix you can create a bash script containing

#!/bin/bash

/usr/bin/chromium-browser --user-data-dir="/home/USER/.config/chromium-no-flags" "http://myapplication.com/DoStuff.aspx"

within DoStuff.aspx, use setTimeout() or other function to call window.close() when task is complete

setTimeout(close, 10000)

or

new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
  // do asynchronous stuff
  resolve(/* value */)
})
.then(close)
.catch(close)

For *indows equivalent of cron see

How to automatically close webpage using javascript?

3 Answers3