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Page Leave Confirmation using React

I'm currently working on a project where I want to show a custom Dialogue box with my Own Content ("Save your data into drafts before leaving"). I have tried different methods but can't find a proper way to do it. I explore all the previous questions on StackOverflow but they didn't work properly in my case.
useEffect(() => {
return () => {
window.onbeforeunload = function() {
return "do you want save your data into drafts before leave?";
};
}
},[])
Currently, I've written the above code in Plain JavaScript to do, but it's just showing the dialogue box on tab close and reload while not showing on custom click events to navigate to other pages or window back button.
React can't help me in this because they remove useBlocker, usePrompt from new releases. How can I achieve it?

One way of doing this is :
import { Prompt } from 'react-router'
const MyComponent = () => (
<>
<Prompt
when={shouldBlockNavigation}
message='Do you want ot save data before leave?'
/>
{/* Component JSX */}
</>
)
If wants on page refresh or browser closing then add:
useEffect(() => {
if (shouldBlockNavigation) {
window.onbeforeunload = () => true
} else {
window.onbeforeunload = undefined
}
},[]);
Second way is to use history if using react-router
useEffect(() => {
let unblock = history.block((tx) => {
// Navigation was blocked! Let's show a confirmation dialog
// so the user can decide if they actually want to navigate
// away and discard changes they've made in the current page.
let url = tx.location.pathname;
if (window.confirm(`Are you sure you want leave the page without saving?`)) {
// Unblock the navigation.
unblock();
// Retry the transition.
tx.retry();
}
})
},[]);

useEffect(() => {
const unloadCallback = (event) => {
event.preventDefault();
event.returnValue = "";
return "";
};
window.addEventListener("beforeunload", unloadCallback);
return () => {
window.addEventListener("popstate", confirmation());
window.removeEventListener("beforeunload", unloadCallback);
}
}, []);
I just did it with this code sample (actually I combine two events to show dialogue whenever users leave a page) and it's working fine for me. Thanks to all of you guys ... Especially #DrewReese for the help

Clicking 'cancel' in confirm() method has the same result as clicking 'ok'

I am a beginner implementing a confirm method in my HTML code - when the user clicks on "x", they will be redirected to the home page. Otherwise, nothing happens.
My problem is that in confirm(), both "ok" and "cancel" options redirect to home page and I cannot figure out why.
I saw that many people have a similar problem, checked many forums and noticed that writing onclick="return confirmCancel() rather than onclick="confirmCancel()" helped in most of the cases but it did not solve the problem for me.
HTML:
<a onclick="return confirmCancel()"><img src="assets/cancel.svg"></a>
JS:
const confirmCancel = () => {
confirm("All your progress will be lost. Are you sure you want to leave?");
if (confirmCancel) {
window.location.assign("index.html");
} else {
return false;
}
}

You need to test the return value of confirm (rather than the truthiness of the confirmCancel function).
const confirmCancel = () => {
if (confirm("All your progress will be lost. Are you sure you want to leave?");) {
window.location.assign("index.html");
} else {
return false;
}
}

Try something like this.
<a onclick="pleaseConfirm"><img src="assets/cancel.svg"></a>
const pleaseConfirm = () => {
if (confirm("All your progress will be lost. Are you sure you want to leave?")) {
window.location.assign("index.html");
}
}

You're mostly there .. You need to check if confirm() is true .. Change:
confirm("All your progress will be lost. Are you sure you want to leave?");
if (confirmCancel)
To
var test_confirm = confirm("All your progress will be lost. Are you sure you want to leave?");
if (test_confirm === true)
Shorthand can be
if (confirm("All ... ... "){

You can do the functionality inside JavaScript instead of calling out JavaScript function in your HTML tag
<a id="btn-exit"><img src="assets/cancel.svg"></a>
var btnExit = document.querySelector('#btn-exit')
btnExit.addEventListener('click', () => {
if (confirm("are you sure?")) {
window.location.assign("index.html");
}
})

How to detect a window url change? [duplicate]

How can I check if a URL has changed in JavaScript? For example, websites like GitHub, which use AJAX, will append page information after a # symbol to create a unique URL without reloading the page. What is the best way to detect if this URL changes?
Is the onload event called again?
Is there an event handler for the URL?
Or must the URL be checked every second to detect a change?

I wanted to be able to add locationchange event listeners. After the modification below, we'll be able to do it, like this
window.addEventListener('locationchange', function () {
console.log('location changed!');
});
In contrast, window.addEventListener('hashchange',() => {}) would only fire if the part after a hashtag in a url changes, and window.addEventListener('popstate',() => {}) doesn't always work.
This modification, similar to Christian's answer, modifies the history object to add some functionality.
By default, before these modifications, there's a popstate event, but there are no events for pushstate, and replacestate.
This modifies these three functions so that all fire a custom locationchange event for you to use, and also pushstate and replacestate events if you want to use those.
These are the modifications:
(() => {
let oldPushState = history.pushState;
history.pushState = function pushState() {
let ret = oldPushState.apply(this, arguments);
window.dispatchEvent(new Event('pushstate'));
window.dispatchEvent(new Event('locationchange'));
return ret;
};
let oldReplaceState = history.replaceState;
history.replaceState = function replaceState() {
let ret = oldReplaceState.apply(this, arguments);
window.dispatchEvent(new Event('replacestate'));
window.dispatchEvent(new Event('locationchange'));
return ret;
};
window.addEventListener('popstate', () => {
window.dispatchEvent(new Event('locationchange'));
});
})();
Note, we're creating a closure, to save the old function as part of the new one, so that it gets called whenever the new one is called.

In modern browsers (IE8+, FF3.6+, Chrome), you can just listen to the hashchange event on window.
In some old browsers, you need a timer that continually checks location.hash. If you're using jQuery, there is a plugin that does exactly that.
Example
Below I undo any URL change, to keep just the scrolling:
<script type="text/javascript">
if (window.history) {
var myOldUrl = window.location.href;
window.addEventListener('hashchange', function(){
window.history.pushState({}, null, myOldUrl);
});
}
</script>
Note that above used history-API is available in Chrome, Safari, Firefox 4+, and Internet Explorer 10pp4+

window.onhashchange = function() {
//code
}
window.onpopstate = function() {
//code
}
or
window.addEventListener('hashchange', function() {
//code
});
window.addEventListener('popstate', function() {
//code
});
with jQuery
$(window).bind('hashchange', function() {
//code
});
$(window).bind('popstate', function() {
//code
});

EDIT after a bit of researching:
It somehow seems that I have been fooled by the documentation present on Mozilla docs. The popstate event (and its callback function onpopstate) are not triggered whenever the pushState() or replaceState() are called in code. Therefore the original answer does not apply in all cases.
However there is a way to circumvent this by monkey-patching the functions according to #alpha123:
var pushState = history.pushState;
history.pushState = function () {
pushState.apply(history, arguments);
fireEvents('pushState', arguments); // Some event-handling function
};
Original answer
Given that the title of this question is "How to detect URL change" the answer, when you want to know when the full path changes (and not just the hash anchor), is that you can listen for the popstate event:
window.onpopstate = function(event) {
console.log("location: " + document.location + ", state: " + JSON.stringify(event.state));
};
Reference for popstate in Mozilla Docs
Currently (Jan 2017) there is support for popstate from 92% of browsers worldwide.

With jquery (and a plug-in) you can do
$(window).bind('hashchange', function() {
/* things */
});
http://benalman.com/projects/jquery-hashchange-plugin/
Otherwise yes, you would have to use setInterval and check for a change in the hash event (window.location.hash)
Update! A simple draft
function hashHandler(){
this.oldHash = window.location.hash;
this.Check;
var that = this;
var detect = function(){
if(that.oldHash!=window.location.hash){
alert("HASH CHANGED - new has" + window.location.hash);
that.oldHash = window.location.hash;
}
};
this.Check = setInterval(function(){ detect() }, 100);
}
var hashDetection = new hashHandler();

Add a hash change event listener!
window.addEventListener('hashchange', function(e){console.log('hash changed')});
Or, to listen to all URL changes:
window.addEventListener('popstate', function(e){console.log('url changed')});
This is better than something like the code below because only one thing can exist in window.onhashchange and you'll possibly be overwriting someone else's code.
// Bad code example
window.onhashchange = function() {
// Code that overwrites whatever was previously in window.onhashchange
}

this solution worked for me:
function checkURLchange(){
if(window.location.href != oldURL){
alert("url changed!");
oldURL = window.location.href;
}
}
var oldURL = window.location.href;
setInterval(checkURLchange, 1000);

None of these seem to work when a link is clicked that which redirects you to a different page on the same domain. Hence, I made my own solution:
let pathname = location.pathname;
window.addEventListener("click", function() {
if (location.pathname != pathname) {
pathname = location.pathname;
// code
}
});
Edit: You can also check for the popstate event (if a user goes back a page)
window.addEventListener("popstate", function() {
// code
});
Best wishes,
Calculus

If none of the window events are working for you (as they aren't in my case), you can also use a MutationObserver that looks at the root element (non-recursively).
// capture the location at page load
let currentLocation = document.location.href;
const observer = new MutationObserver((mutationList) => {
if (currentLocation !== document.location.href) {
// location changed!
currentLocation = document.location.href;
// (do your event logic here)
}
});
observer.observe(
document.getElementById('root'),
{
childList: true,
// important for performance
subtree: false
});
This may not always be feasible, but typically, if the URL changes, the root element's contents change as well.
I have not profiled, but theoretically this has less overhead than a timer because the Observer pattern is typically implemented so that it just loops through the subscriptions when a change occurs. We only added one subscription here. The timer on the other hand would have to check very frequently in order to ensure that the event was triggered immediately after URL change.
Also, this has a good chance of being more reliable than a timer since it eliminates timing issues.

Although an old question, the Location-bar project is very useful.
var LocationBar = require("location-bar");
var locationBar = new LocationBar();
// listen to all changes to the location bar
locationBar.onChange(function (path) {
console.log("the current url is", path);
});
// listen to a specific change to location bar
// e.g. Backbone builds on top of this method to implement
// it's simple parametrized Backbone.Router
locationBar.route(/some\-regex/, function () {
// only called when the current url matches the regex
});
locationBar.start({
pushState: true
});
// update the address bar and add a new entry in browsers history
locationBar.update("/some/url?param=123");
// update the address bar but don't add the entry in history
locationBar.update("/some/url", {replace: true});
// update the address bar and call the `change` callback
locationBar.update("/some/url", {trigger: true});

To listen to url changes, see below:
window.onpopstate = function(event) {
console.log("location: " + document.location + ", state: " + JSON.stringify(event.state));
};
Use this style if you intend to stop/remove listener after some certain condition.
window.addEventListener('popstate', function(e) {
console.log('url changed')
});

The answer below comes from here(with old javascript syntax(no arrow function, support IE 10+)):
https://stackoverflow.com/a/52809105/9168962
(function() {
if (typeof window.CustomEvent === "function") return false; // If not IE
function CustomEvent(event, params) {
params = params || {bubbles: false, cancelable: false, detail: null};
var evt = document.createEvent("CustomEvent");
evt.initCustomEvent(event, params.bubbles, params.cancelable, params.detail);
return evt;
}
window.CustomEvent = CustomEvent;
})();
(function() {
history.pushState = function (f) {
return function pushState() {
var ret = f.apply(this, arguments);
window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent("pushState"));
window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent("locationchange"));
return ret;
};
}(history.pushState);
history.replaceState = function (f) {
return function replaceState() {
var ret = f.apply(this, arguments);
window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent("replaceState"));
window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent("locationchange"));
return ret;
};
}(history.replaceState);
window.addEventListener("popstate", function() {
window.dispatchEvent(new CustomEvent("locationchange"));
});
})();

While doing a little chrome extension, I faced the same problem with an additionnal problem : Sometimes, the page change but not the URL.
For instance, just go to the Facebook Homepage, and click on the 'Home' button. You will reload the page but the URL won't change (one-page app style).
99% of the time, we are developping websites so we can get those events from Frameworks like Angular, React, Vue etc..
BUT, in my case of a Chrome extension (in Vanilla JS), I had to listen to an event that will trigger for each "page change", which can generally be caught by URL changed, but sometimes it doesn't.
My homemade solution was the following :
listen(window.history.length);
var oldLength = -1;
function listen(currentLength) {
if (currentLength != oldLength) {
// Do your stuff here
}
oldLength = window.history.length;
setTimeout(function () {
listen(window.history.length);
}, 1000);
}
So basically the leoneckert solution, applied to window history, which will change when a page changes in a single page app.
Not rocket science, but cleanest solution I found, considering we are only checking an integer equality here, and not bigger objects or the whole DOM.

Found a working answer in a separate thread:
There's no one event that will always work, and monkey patching the pushState event is pretty hit or miss for most major SPAs.
So smart polling is what's worked best for me. You can add as many event types as you like, but these seem to be doing a really good job for me.
Written for TS, but easily modifiable:
const locationChangeEventType = "MY_APP-location-change";
// called on creation and every url change
export function observeUrlChanges(cb: (loc: Location) => any) {
assertLocationChangeObserver();
window.addEventListener(locationChangeEventType, () => cb(window.location));
cb(window.location);
}
function assertLocationChangeObserver() {
const state = window as any as { MY_APP_locationWatchSetup: any };
if (state.MY_APP_locationWatchSetup) { return; }
state.MY_APP_locationWatchSetup = true;
let lastHref = location.href;
["popstate", "click", "keydown", "keyup", "touchstart", "touchend"].forEach((eventType) => {
window.addEventListener(eventType, () => {
requestAnimationFrame(() => {
const currentHref = location.href;
if (currentHref !== lastHref) {
lastHref = currentHref;
window.dispatchEvent(new Event(locationChangeEventType));
}
})
})
});
}
Usage
observeUrlChanges((loc) => {
console.log(loc.href)
})

I created this event that is very similar to the hashchange event
// onurlchange-event.js v1.0.1
(() => {
const hasNativeEvent = Object.keys(window).includes('onurlchange')
if (!hasNativeEvent) {
let oldURL = location.href
setInterval(() => {
const newURL = location.href
if (oldURL === newURL) {
return
}
const urlChangeEvent = new CustomEvent('urlchange', {
detail: {
oldURL,
newURL
}
})
oldURL = newURL
dispatchEvent(urlChangeEvent)
}, 25)
addEventListener('urlchange', event => {
if (typeof(onurlchange) === 'function') {
onurlchange(event)
}
})
}
})()
Example of use:
window.onurlchange = event => {
console.log(event)
console.log(event.detail.oldURL)
console.log(event.detail.newURL)
}
addEventListener('urlchange', event => {
console.log(event)
console.log(event.detail.oldURL)
console.log(event.detail.newURL)
})

for Chrome 102+ (2022-05-24)
navigation.addEventListener("navigate", e => {
console.log(`navigate ->`,e.destination.url)
});
API references WICG/navigation-api

Look at the jQuery unload function. It handles all the things.
https://api.jquery.com/unload/
The unload event is sent to the window element when the user navigates away from the page. This could mean one of many things. The user could have clicked on a link to leave the page, or typed in a new URL in the address bar. The forward and back buttons will trigger the event. Closing the browser window will cause the event to be triggered. Even a page reload will first create an unload event.
$(window).unload(
function(event) {
alert("navigating");
}
);

window.addEventListener("beforeunload", function (e) {
// do something
}, false);

You are starting a new setInterval at each call, without cancelling the previous one - probably you only meant to have a setTimeout

Enjoy!
var previousUrl = '';
var observer = new MutationObserver(function(mutations) {
if (location.href !== previousUrl) {
previousUrl = location.href;
console.log(`URL changed to ${location.href}`);
}
});

Another simple way you can do this is by adding a click event, through a class name to the anchor tags on the page to detect when it has been clicked, then you can now use the window.location.href to get the url data which you can use to run your ajax request to the server. Simple and Easy.

JavaScript ignore alert if reloading page

I am detecting the end of a webrtc stream in JavaScript like this...
stream.getVideoTracks()[0].onended = () => {
alert('Feed Has Ended');
};
This is working correctly, but if the user refreshes or reloads the page then the alert is also shown.
I understand that this is technically correct, but how can I get it to not display the alert under those conditions?

Why don't you use a global boolean to check if video is playing or not? When you will reload or refresh the page, isVideoRunning will become false and alert won't show.
Like
this.isVideoRunning = false;
On addtrack,
this.rtcPeerCon_.ontrack = function (event) {
if (!this.rtcPeerCon_) {
return;
}
if( !this.remoteVideo_ ) {
return;
}
this.remoteVideo_.srcObject = event.streams[0];
this.isVideoRunning = true;
}
then in your onStream ended callback you can check
if (this.isVideoRunning) {
alert('whatever');
this.isVideoRunning = false;
}
(I wanted this to be comment but I am not allowed to comment yet)

react js : detect page refresh

I am new to react.js.
I have a simple page with table. When I reload the page, state is getting lost.
Is there a way to detect the browser refresh ?

The event beforeunload is executed just before window browser is being refreshed. Event is cancellable.
window.beforeunload = (e) => {
console.log('Stop this');
e.preventDefault()
e.returnValue = '';
};
When using React an option is to take control in your Application component, or your most higher order component, in the componentDidMount lifecycle method as #georgim suggested instead componentWillUnmount as I first suggested, and manage there what you want to achieve.

With [react-beforeunload][1] you can track the page changes easily
import { useBeforeunload } from 'react-beforeunload'
const App = () => {
const [preventMultiSubmit, setPreventMultiSubmit] = useState(false)
}
const pageRefConf = useBeforeunload((event) => {
if (preventMultiSubmit) {
event.preventDefault()
}
})
useEffect(() => {
window.addEventListener('beforeunload', pageRefConf)
return () => {
window.removeEventListener('beforeunload', pageRefConf)
}
}, [])
This worked for me. I hope this one will work for you too.
[1]: https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-beforeunload

Try this one. This worked for me.
if (window.performance) {
if (performance.navigation.type == 1) {
alert( "This page is reloaded" );
} else {
alert( "This page is not reloaded");
}
}