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Javascript to reload a new tab page

window.open("http://google.com", '_blank');
var childWindow = "http://google.com";
childWindow.location.href = "http://google.com";
I have an eventAddListener that loads http://google.com on a new tab with a button press, but right after it opens the new tab of google.com, I want it to REFRESH again. NOT my base page but the NEW tab page, by itself. The code I showed is just one of the examples out of 5 pages worth of google search which don't work.
UPDATE:
var win = window.open('google.com', 'New Window'); setTimeout(function () { var win = window.open('google.com', 'New Window'); },3000);
This is the best i could come up with. It opens new tab and "Reloads" the new tab rather than refresh it.
What I want is for example, you click on new tab, you paste a link then press enter, which EXECUTES the link. I basically want a javascript function which EXECUTES the link.

You can't do this.
In order to trigger a reload in the new tab/window you need to run JS in that tab/window.
The same origin policy prevents this.
If you had control over the new page then you could have an event listener running in it and post a message asking that listener to trigger a refresh.
Obviously you can't do that with Google's page.
This question, however, reads like an XY problem. If the goal is to display fresh (and not old, cached, out of date) information and the target page is not a third party one then you shouldn't be using JS to hack your way around caching. Instead set better caching rules on the target page in the first place.

I worked on something similar in the past few weeks and the code below worked for me.
index.html
<button onclick="openTab()">New Tab</button>
<script>
function openTab(){
//this opens a new tab while creating a variable name for that tab
var newTab = window.open("https://google.com","_blank");
//this refreshes that new tab
newTab.location.reload();
}
</script>
Just to prove that this works on the new tab I used the code
<script>
function openTab(){
//this opens a new tab while creating a variable name for that tab
var newTab = window.open("https://google.com","_blank");
//this will alert in the new tab
newTab.alert("New Tab");
//before the following reload code takes effect
//this refreshes that new tab
newTab.location.reload();
}
</script>
Hopefully that's what you are looking for.

From my understanding you want the new tab to refresh once opened with JavaScript instead of the current tab where you run the JavaScript code from.
That's not directly possible. The JavaScript code will only run for the tab it was executed in. The newly opened tab does not know that JavaScript code should be running. The current tab cannot pass over instructions for the new tab to execute.
However, you can select the newly opened tab manually first and then execute Javascript code to refresh the page. But that probably defeats the purpose of what you're trying to do.

Select browser tab that was opened by current tab

I have a web page with a link that opens another page in a new tab. In the newly opened page, I have a link that, when clicked, should bring focus to the original tab.
The new tab is opened via the target attribute:
new tab
I thought this should work:
switch tabs
$('.back-link').click(function() {
if(window.opener) {
console.log('switching tabs');
window.opener.focus();
}
});
The console.log fires, but focus stays on the current tab. What am I doing wrong?

Could you try adding the following event listener to your new tab button instead of target="_blank" :
$('.new-tab-button').click(function(e) {
e.preventDefault();
window.open('/new-page/');
});
This way you actually open a new window instead of new tab, according to the stackoverflow thread linked below, for security reasons, it seems to only be possible to focus to (and maybe from) windows/pop-ups. I'm not sure if what you're trying to do is possible but if so this could be it.
How to change browser focus from one tab to another

Force window.open() to create new tab in chrome

I use window.open to populate a new window with varying content. Mostly reports and stored HTML from automated processes.
I have noticed some very inconsistent behavior with Chrome with respect to window.open().
Some of my calls will create a new tab (preferred behavior) and some cause popups.
var w = window.open('','_new');
w.document.write(page_content);
page_content is just regular HTML from AJAX calls. Reports contain some information in the header like title, favicon, and some style sheets.
In IE9 the code does cause a new tab instead of a pop-up, while Chrome flatly refuses to show the content in question in a new tab. Since the content is sensitive business data I cannot post it here. I'll answer questions if I can.
I know some people will say this is behavior left up to the user, but this is an internal business platform. We don't have time to train all the users on how to manage popups, and we just need it to be in a new tab. Heck, even a new window would be preferable to the popup since you cannot dock a popup in Chrome. Not to mention none of the popup blocking code would affect it.
Appreciate any insight.

window.open must be called within a callback which is triggered by a user action (example onclick) for the page to open in a new tab instead of a window.
Example:
$("a.runReport").click(function(evt) {
// open a popup within the click handler
// this should open in a new tab
var popup = window.open("about:blank", "myPopup");
//do some ajax calls
$.get("/run/the/report", function(result) {
// now write to the popup
popup.document.write(result.page_content);
// or change the location
// popup.location = 'someOtherPage.html';
});
});

You can try this:
open a new tab please
<script>
function openWindow(){
var w = window.open("about:blank");
w.document.write("heheh new page opened");
}
</script>

Is very easy, in order to force Chrome to open in a new tab, use the onmouseup event
onmouseup="switchMenu(event);"

I have tried this and it worked fine in chrome. If opening a new tab is on a user action(such as a mouse click) this will work fine without any issues. But if the code is executed in another script block, you may need to enable pop-ups in chrome. Looks like this is to handle all the click-bait sites.
let newTab = window.open('', '_blank');
if (this.viewerTab == null) {
console.log("opening in new tab to work, pop-ups should be enabled.");
return;
}
................
newTab.location.href = viewerUrl;

window.open('page.html', '_newtab');
Specify the '_newtab'. This works in IE and FF, and should work in Chrome. But if the user has things configured to not open in new tab then not much you can do.

Google Chrome opens window.open(someurl) just fine...but page/window with clicked link also opens someurl.com

As the title says "Google Chrome opens window.open(someurl) just fine...but page/window with clicked link also opens someurl.com.
When I click the "Click here" link with the onclick="shpop..." call attached, my pop up opens /facebook_login.php' correctly...BUT...at the same time, the original window opens /facebook_login.php too!
This happens in Chrome and IE, but FF is fine and doing just what i want..
I have this link:
Click here
I know I could remove the href="/facebook_login.php" and replace with href="#" .. but I need the link to work if js is disabled.
I have this js code imported in my tag:
function shpop(u,t,w,v)
{
var text = encodeURI(t);
var uri = encodeURI(u);
var h = document.location.href;
h = encodeURI(h);
var wwidth='600'; /*popup window width*/
var wheight='300'; /*popup window height*/
if(v=='' || undefined==v)v=document.domain; /*popup name/title */
switch(w){
case 'loginfb':
var url = '/facebook_login.php';
wwidth='980';
wheight='600';
break;
}
window.open(url,v,'width='+wwidth+',height='+wheight);
return false
}
Any ideas?

what is with returning false, and having false in the onclick?
This
onclick="shpop('','','loginfb','');return false"
Just needs to be
onclick="return shpop('','','loginfb','');"
If the onclick returns any error, the link will still open up. Do you see any errors in the JavaScript console? I wonder if the browsers are freaking out about any . in the window name from using document.domain. Try giving it a name.
onclick="return shpop('','','loginfb','foobar');"

According to the latest browser statistics - well last time it was measured anyway (2008) only 5% of users had Javascript disabled. Nowadays it's likely to be less. Consider that all browsers have it enabled by default. Therefore it's generally only advanced users that for whatever reason choose to disable javascript, and will therefore understand that there's a good chance any website they visit won't work as expected - Facebook, Google, Amazon - everyone uses javascript these days. It's perfectly acceptable to assume the user is using it, with one overall <noscript> version at the start of your page for those users if you really really want to cover all your bases :)

Here is the simplest solution:
<a href="/facebook_login.php"
target="FBpopup"
onclick="window.open('about:blank','FBpopup','width=980,height=600')">
Click here
</a>
You don't need return false because you actually want the link to execute.
The trick is to use the same window name in both the window.open and in the link target.
window.open will create the popup, then your login page will run in that popup.
If popups are blocked or Javascript is disabled, your login page will run in a new tab.

I need to open a new window in the background with JavaScript, and make sure the original is still focused

I have a window I'm opening with a Javascript function:
function newwindow()
{
window.open('link.html','','width=,height=,resizable=no');
}
I need it that once the new window opens that the focus returns to the original window.
How can I do that?
And where do I put the code - in the new window, or the old one?
Thanks!

This is known as a 'pop-under' (and is generally frowned upon... but I digress).. It should give you plenty to google about
You probably want to do something like:
var popup = window.open(...);
popup.blur();
window.focus();
Which should set the focus back to the original window (untested - pinched from google). Some browsers might block this technique.

After calling window.open, you may try to use
window.resizeTo(0,0);
window.moveTo(0,window.screen.availHeight+10);
this way can not really open window in background, but works in similar way. Chrome works fine, did not try other browser.

If Albert's solution doesn't work for you and you actually want the window visible, but to be opened behind the current window, you can try opening a new tab in the opener window and closing it right away, this will bring the focus back to the opener window.
window.open('link.html','','width=,height=,resizable=no');
window.open().close();
However, I believe whether the second window opens in a tab or a new window depends on your browser settings.
Please don't use "pop-unders" for evil.

You can use either
"blur" or
"focus" to do that required action.
"blur"
function newwindow()
{
var myChild= window.open('link.html','','width=,height=,resizable=no');
myChild.blur();
}
"focus"
function newwindow()
{
window.open('link.html','','width=,height=,resizable=no');
window.focus();
}
Put the code in your parentWindow (i.e. the window in which you are now)
Both will work.

tl;dr - in 2022 - ctrl/cmd clicking on a button and window.open(url, "_blank") in a javascript button handler's for loop will open multiple tabs in the background in Chrome.
I'm looking for this as of 2022 and none of the answers here worked (here and everywhere else I looked). My use case is clicking a button in a (progressive) web app which opens deep links to items in a list in background tabs (i.e. not "for evil").
It never occurred to me that ctrl/cmd + clicking on the button would open tabs in the background, but it does just as if the user clicked on an anchor tag itself directly - but only in Chrome. Combined with Chrome's relatively recent tab grouping feature, this can be very useful inside PWAs.
const isMozilla =
window?.navigator?.userAgent?.toString().toLowerCase().includes('firefox') ?? false;
for (let index = 0; index < urls.length; index++) {
const url = isMozilla ? urls.reverse()[index] : urls[index];
window.open(url, "_blank");
}
Note: I reverse() the array on Mozilla to get the order of newly created tabs as the user would expect them.

You can just use '_self'. It will be stay to the same page an
window.open(url, '_self');