How to change browser focus from one tab to another

Question

I have a JavaScript chat client running in one browser tab (call it tab A). Now when a message arrives the user might be on another browser tab (call it tab B). I'm looking for ways to change the focus from tab B to my chat client (tab A) when such a message arrives.

I could not find a way to do this.

Answer 1

It is not possible - due to security concerns.

unless by "tab" you mean a window and a popup window that (due to browser preferences) opened up in a new tab. If this is the case, then yes you can.

//focus opener... from popup window.opener.focus();  //focus popup... from opener yourPopupName.focus();  

Answer 2

It is possible to shift focus back to Tab A by means of an alert in Tab A e.g. alert('New Message')

However, you need to be careful using this as it is very likely to annoy people. You should only use it if you make it optional in your app. Otherwise, updating Tab A's title and/or the favicon would appear to be best as nc3b says.