detect refresh browser for unload/beforeunload when browser closed - javascript

This is actually continuation of my last question. I still face problem since when i refresh browser, either unload or beforeunload also fired which I only want them when browser closed. Just crossed on my mind to use window.outerHeight or window.innerHeight but still can't figure out how to do this. Any suggestion/snippet? Thanks in advance.

As far as I know it is impossible to detect a browser close separately from a browser refresh, because the browser does not provide the webpage (window) with that information. As far as your page and its Javascript code are concerned, the two are one and the same.
Since it's browser info that you need, the only way to get it is to use something that has access to that info, ie. a browser plug-in. But then you'll need to make a plug-in for each browser, and get every user to install it. Since I highly doubt you'll find this worthwhile, the real answer to your question (as frustrating as it may be) is: stop trying to detect refreshes vs. closes and move on.

Related

Can javascript detect presence of firefox electrolysis?

My question is similar to the one here How to know loaded window is Firefox Electrolysis Window
Except I'm not writing an add-on, just a script to execute on a page, so I don't think I can use the solution there.
I'd really just like to know if asynchronous scrolling is active or not. Is it possible?

preventing a browser from losing focus on external app call

I'm building a quick VOIP demo using Skype and when I press a call button, the Skype application takes the focus away from the browser. You can try here http://developer.skype.com/skype-uris/skype-uri-tutorial-webpages where you'll find several "Try it here" links. When I click those links, I would like the browser to maintain focus. Is there a way to do this?
Thanks.
What you would need to do is apparently called "focus stealing" from my web searches.
At least as far as Windows is concerned, there does not seem to be a reliable way to do this from the browser alone.
I just googled "focus stealing" (which is what the JavaScript only solution would need to do to get this done) and found many answers showing that, though theoretically possible, depending on the configuration of Windows stealing the focus away from Skype by the browser would probably not work in the majority of cases.
The complaints in the Google links are numerous and some answers conflict, but it looks like reliably "stealing the focus" back to the browser is not going to be supported.
This is a good thing though, if you think about it - I do not personally want just any old JavaScript program running in my browser to change my focus from what I am working on back to the browser willy nilly - this would be a very annoying behavior for a web page to be able to do at best, making my system useless at worst.
If you could do it in this case using some methodology allowed in a browser, so could anyone else - even malevolent websites.
The best answer is to never let the focus leave the browser, but I have no idea how to do that in your specific case. Perhaps whatever means you are using to launch Skype may have an option or something to launch it in the background or whatever, never changing the focus.
I did not hit on specific links pertaining to Apple OSes, Linux or mobile OSes, but I have a feeling the same concerns and limitations apply for those as well.
Here are some of the links on the Google search (and sorry about the bad news for your needs):
Microsoft Answers Forum Post
Focus stealing is evil
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windowsxp/ht/stealingfocus02.htm
you can open it on new window, then close the new window and refocus on yours
somthing like:
a=window.open('skype:ohadcn?chat',10,10);
//i couldn't find a relevant event, onload() do not work for me here
//so i used setTimeOut, hoping that two seconds is enough to open skype but not enough to loose the user
setTimeout(function(){ a.close();window.focus();},2000)
I went to the skype tutorial page in Chrome, brought up the console and tried Ohad's answer, but it would not return the focus to the tutorial web page.
I even tried a script to perpetually put the focus in the Search textbox:
function ASDF() {
document.getElementsByName("q")[0].focus();
setTimeout(ASDF, 1000);
}
setTimeout(ASDF, 1000);
Still no luck.
I tried changing Ohad's script so that it would reopen the tutorial page in a new window after the skype app opened. It would work if the tutoral/console page was the only tab in the window:
a=window.open('skype:ohadcn?chat',10,10);
setTimeout(function(){
a.close();
a=window.open('http://developer.skype.com/skype-uris/skype-uri-tutorial-webpages', 10, 10);
window.close();},2000);
However, if the tutorial page/console script was in window with other tabs, it did not return focus to the reopened page. Not to mention, IE might warn the user that the original page is trying to close.
I do not think there is a way to consistently achieve your goal, but I reserve the right to be wrong.

Detect if browser has more then 1 tab/window open

So i am developing a quiz web application. And i wanted to add a setting that the administrator of the quiz could set that would make it so the user could only have 1 window/tab open while the quiz is being taken.
The reason for this is to make it so they cant goto like google and google the answer while the quiz window/tab is open. Of course they could always open a different browser and do it that way, but still thought it would be a nice feature to have for them to enable.
Now i dont know if this would fall under a security sandbox violation (and thus not be available at all) but since i only want to detect if another tab or window is open and not get actual information about the tab/window i am hoping that this is someway possible using javascript.
You can't, but a possible workaround would be to use the new HTML5 fullscreen API. You could use a setInterval function to regularly test that document.fullScreen == true to ensure that the user has not toggled off the full screen.
This only works in modern browsers, and it's trivial to work around if the user knows his way around the JS console, but it does seem to fit your requirements.
Note that all fullscreen API implementations are currently vendor-prefixed.
There seems to be viable alternative to the approach described below the line: using Page Visibility API, currently supported by all the modern browsers. This looks like far more reliable than listening for blur. There's one possible way to do it:
// on quiz start
document.addEventListener('visibilitychange', function() {
if (document.hidden) {
console.log('Y U hide?');
}
});
The problem is that visibilitychange event is fired only when page goes from visible to hidden (and vise versa). It still lets user open two browser instances - one with the quiz page, one with any favorite search engine, for example.
While you cannot detect the number of tabs open, you can try to check when the user goes away from the quiz page with this trick:
$(function(){
$(window).blur(function() {
console.log('I see what you did here!');
});
});
Sadly, it'll also give you plenty of false positives.
Can't, and shouldn't, be done.

Maximizing the current window in javascript

Is there a way I can maximize a currently minimized window from Javascript? Here's my situation:
I have a series of links that all target the same external window (e.g. "MyNewWindow"). When I click a link, a new window pops up. If I click another link, the page pops up in the same window as expected. If I minimize the "MyNewWindow" popup, I'd like to be able to click another link and have that window maximize.
My approach was to put something on the onLoad part of the body so that when the page is refreshed it will automatically "maximize" if it is minimized. Note: Using window.MoveTo() and window.resizeTo() doesnt seem to do the trick (the window stays minimized).
Thanks!
For all of you know-it-alls, there are perfectly good reasons to want to know how to do this. Here's the reason I needed this:
I'm deploying SCORM modules to a variety of Learning Management Systems (LMSs)
One LMS that a client is using launches the module in a small (600x400) window, with the user controls to maximize or resize said window DISABLED
The client doesn't know how to change this launch behavior
My only option is to try to maximize via javascript, because the idiots who made the LMS took away the user's ability to manage their own windows.
window.moveTo(0, 0);
window.resizeTo(screen.availWidth, screen.availHeight);
This may not work in IE depending on the security zone your page is falling under, and it may not work in Chrome at all. But for a corporate environment in an intranet, it has a good chance of working.
Don't do this, you are not allowed to do this by most modern browsers for a reason.
In a tabbed environment you're not messing with only the window you may have created, but all of my tabs, that's unacceptable. It's the user's computer, user's browser, it's the user who chose to go to your site...let them size the window the way they want it, doing anything else breaks their experience...and their trust in your site.
The behavior you're looking to emulate is what your run-of-the-mill malware does...re-think your approach, please. For example focusing that window is appropriate for what you want, let the default behavior of the browser take over from there, like this:
var thatWindow = window.open(url, "linkWindow");
thatWindow.focus();
try to use window.open(url,fullscreen=yes);
if you out fullscreen=yes than while clinking on link automatically

How do I force a browser window to always be on top and in focus

Is there a way to force a browser window to always be on top and in focus? I am working on a project that I need to have the browser window on top and in focus all the time except when closing the browser window. I have tried a few things through javascript, but have not had any success keeping the window in focus.
I am not trying to do this to be forceful to the user. I am working on a project to implement online testing and I don't want the user to be able to switch away to look up answers on the web.
You will need to install a windows application on the clients machine which will force the browser to be on top. This is the only way.
If you are using IE, you can open a Modal dialog which will always be on top and in focus but only while in that browser session, the user is free to switch applications.
Edit: If you are writing a testing application, you are honestly better off just putting a reasonable time limit on each question. trying to prevent them from looking up the answers is worthless. What if they have two machines side by side? What if they have their buddy next to them helping with the answers. You are going to have to go with the honor system on this one.
This is not possible, as the application level focus is handled by the Windows operating system.
You would need to alter the operating system in order to achieve this functionality.
I commented on the question, but realized this is worth posting as an answer...
Find another solution. Think a little about it. If a user is off looking at answers in another window/tab/browser, what would be the side-effects of that? Detect those side-effects, and penalize/block in those cases.
For instance, you can detect the blur event on the window and then poll for activity (focus, click, mousemove, keypress and so on) to determine "idle" time for the user. If the user is "idle" long enough to have gone elsewhere to find an answer, they are more than likely "cheating". You can otherwise simply impose time constraints on questions, and skip those questions if the time allotted runs out.
You can't guarantee that your user is not "cheating". Either construct the "physical" rules of the test such that the chance of "cheating" is minimized, or construct the test itself so that "cheating" is less consequential. Do not try to circumvent in-built user protections in browsers that disallow users from operating their browser as they would any other application.
The browser window belongs to the browser, not to you. Don't screw around with it.
Don't do it, that is, unless you wrote the browser.
It once took me 15 minutes to create a reasonable web browser by using the Windows Forms WebBrowser control. I suggest you require the students to view your site through this custom browser program. Since this program really will be yours, you can force it to stay on top, or anything else you like.
JavaScript has the capabilities do this but it is disabled by default in most modern webbrowsers (And, as you would surely agree, there was a good reason for that!)

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