Determine if browser tab is active? - IE?

Question

I have looked at this:

and:

Is there a reliable way to determine if a browser tab or window is inactive or not in focus?

The first link provides a solution for modern browsers but doesn't work in IE7/8. Both of these questions are fairly old. Is there a solution to the problem of determining whether a visitor is viewing their open tab or not?

Pretty much everything I have tried works fine in Chrome. But IE7 just fails.

I just want to set a global variable that says whether the page is being viewed.

i.e.

var isActive = true;

$(window).focus(function() {
    isActive = true;
});

$(window).blur(function() {
    isActive = false;
});

// test
setInterval(function () {
  console.log(window.isActive ? 'active' : 'inactive'); 
}, 1000);

score 7 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 08 '11 at 09:14

After much Googling... then some more... then some more... 4 hours or so later I finally found this link hidden in the depths of the internet. The comments suggest a small bug exists but it is fine for what I need it for.

http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/detect-browser-window-focus

var isActive = true;
function onBlur() {
    isActive = false;
};
function onFocus(){
    isActive = true;
};

if (/*@cc_on!@*/false) { // check for Internet Explorer
    document.onfocusin = onFocus;
    document.onfocusout = onBlur;
} else {
    window.onfocus = onFocus;
    window.onblur = onBlur;
}

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

1

Slightly different but this was marked as the answer suggesting it worked and it is a delay that's needed. Not very elegant but if it works.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:52

Community

1
1

answered Aug 08 '11 at 08:09

Paul C

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Maybe my question in unclear. I am not trying to open another window. I just want to halt events when the browser isn't viewing the tab. Then resume them when they return to the tab – ComputerUser Aug 08 '11 at 08:39

Determine if browser tab is active? - IE?

2 Answers2