Calling JS functions on browser tab close

Question

I need to call a Javascript function when user closing the browser tab. The problem is I want to happen this only when user closing the browser. No need to happen for page refresh, link navigation,form submit and back button press. I have tried the below JQuery code so far.

$(window).bind(
 "beforeunload", 
 function() { 
   alert("don't close me");
   return false;
 }
)
 $('form').submit(function() {
   jQuery(window).unbind("beforeunload");
 });

It's not working. Is there any other Javascript tools than JQuery available for this?

And if I call my function "beforeunload" event, above message is coming. I don't want to show this message and my function has to be worked. I tried by giving e.preventDefault. But it's not calling my function again. Can anybody suggest something.

Thanks.

Answer 1

I agree with the comments that this is a bad practice, but I can't resist the call to attempt answering the question.

The only way I can think of to accomplish this is to use onbeforeunload, which you're already doing. But you need a way of disabling that alert when someone navigates away from the page by some other means.

var show_close_alert = true;

$("a").bind("mouseup", function() {
    show_close_alert = false;
});

$("form").bind("submit", function() {
    show_close_alert = false;
});

$(window).bind("beforeunload", function() {
    if (show_close_alert) {
        return "Killing me won't bring her back...";
    }
});

It's not foolproof, as in there are ways to close the browser without seeing the alert (like clicking a link, hitting Stop immediately, and then closing the browser), but it may be as close as you can get.

Here's a fiddle.

But please... don't do this.