Detect when a popup is closed

Question

I have a popup made with:

var popup = window.open(URL, ...) //content of popup is not in my control

I want to know when the popup is closed, and thought the below code could help me.

$(popup).unload()

However, Firefox initiates the unload event when the popup appears, not when it's closed!

Is there a reliable way to know when a popup is closed, by the opener?

I don't particularly like polling the popup asking every (say) 500ms if it's closed...

(I found this solution on How to know when popup is closed in javascript)

this question has already been asked and answered. try http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2797560/set-a-callback-function-to-a-new-window-in-javascript — atmd, Jan 17 '12 at 17:21
I don't kwow how is it related. Do you suggest to add a unload callback in the child window? — Vito De Tullio, Jan 17 '12 at 17:26
would you able to add a onbeforeunload call back in popup window ??? — dku.rajkumar, Jan 17 '12 at 18:01

dku.rajkumar · Answer 1 · 2012-01-17T18:05:57.600

2

If you can add a onbeforeunload event handler in popup then try something like this,

parent:

function parentCallback(){
  alert("popup is closed");
}

var popup = window.open(URL, ...);

POPUP:

window.onbeforeunload = function(){
    window.opener.parentCallback();
    self.close();
};

else make use of interval, thats what i could suggest, something like

var pop_win = window.open(url,...);   
var timer = setInterval(function() {   
    if(pop_win.closed) {  
        clearInterval(timer);  
        alert('popup is closed');  
    }  
}, 1000);

edited Jan 17 '12 at 18:05

answered Jan 17 '12 at 17:47

dku.rajkumar

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OP states having no control of the content in the popup, though – Kyle Macey Jan 17 '12 at 17:56
what's the compatibility of the `onbeforeunload` callback? AFAIK it's a ie-nostrict-only thing... – Vito De Tullio Jan 18 '12 at 07:55
http://pro-thoughts.blogspot.com/2006/03/onbeforeunload-event.html it is supported by almost all browser. – dku.rajkumar Jan 18 '12 at 08:15
You're the only one who mentioned `windowRef.closed`, you get my vote. He didn't want to do polling, but unfortunately it seems impossible to do this correctly without doing so. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/closed – Chinoto Vokro Feb 19 '16 at 23:14

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 17 '12 at 17:30

0

It seems popup.location will return null if it's closed and an empty set if it's open.

popup.location // Open Window

=> Location 
      No Properties Defined

popup.location // Closed Window

=> null

Test with:

if (popup.location) {alert('hello')}

answered Jan 17 '12 at 17:30

Kyle Macey

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I guess that would require polling, though *sigh* – Kyle Macey Jan 17 '12 at 17:32
So are you suggesting to poll the popup object until it's location is null? Are there no alternatives? – Vito De Tullio Jan 17 '12 at 17:34

score -1 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 05 '13 at 14:40

I know this question is a bit old, but for others searching for the answer I think I have found a solution:

You might be able to do like this (it has worked for me anyway, also in FF):

Parent:

var popup = window.open("about:blank"); // Or whatever page you are loading
popup.onunload = function(){
    parent.location.reload();
        // or
    parent.alert("Popup closed!");
        // or any other handler in the parent window,
        // just remember to call it on the parent object.
};

Where you say `parent`, I'm pretty sure you meant `window`. `window` shouldn't change based on function context, only `this` does that as far as I'm aware. — Chinoto Vokro, Feb 19 '16 at 23:18

Detect when a popup is closed

3 Answers3