window.onbeforeunload and window.onunload is not working in Firefox, Safari, Opera?

Question

In my chat application I need to get confirmation from user, when my application closes.

So I used the window.onbeforeunload for confirmation alert and window.onunload for logout().

1. But both functions are working in IE and Chrome. (Application works fine)

2. window.onbeforeunload not working in Opera and my message will not get displayed in Firefox.

3. window.onunload not working in Safari, Opera and Firefox.

My JavaScript code will be:

// Used for confirmation, to closing the window  window.onbeforeunload = function () {      return  "Are you sure want to LOGOUT the session ?"; };   // Used to logout the session, when browser window was closed  window.onunload = function () {      if((sessionId != null)&&(sessionId!="null")&& (sessionId != ""))         logout(); }; 

I also tried the same function with JQuery,

<script type="text/javascript">      $(window).on('beforeunload', function() {         return 'Are you sure want to LOGOUT the session ?';     });      $(window).unload(function() {         if ((sessionId != null) && (sessionId != "null") && (sessionId != "")) {             logout();         }     });      </script> 

Answer 1

Unfortunately, the methods you are using are unsupported in those browsers. To support my answer (this unsupportive behaviour) I have given links below.

onbeforeunload and onunload not working in opera... to support this

onbeforeunload in Opera
http://www.zachleat.com/web/dont-let-the-door-hit-you-onunload-and-onbeforeunload/

Though the onunload event doesn't work completely, you can use onunload to show a warning if a user clicks a link to navigate away from a page with an unsaved form.

onunload not working in safari... to support this

https://www.webkit.org/blog/516/webkit-page-cache-ii-the-unload-event/

You could rather try using the pagehide event in the safari browser in lieu of onunload.

onunload not working in firefox... to support this

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=681636

They are yet to come up with a solution in FF too

Wish you good luck cheers.

Answer 2

Here is the working solution for ie, firefox and chrome:

var myEvent = window.attachEvent || window.addEventListener; var chkevent = window.attachEvent ? 'onbeforeunload' : 'beforeunload'; /// make IE7, IE8 compitable              myEvent(chkevent, function(e) { // For >=IE7, Chrome, Firefox                 var confirmationMessage = 'Are you sure to leave the page?';  // a space                 (e || window.event).returnValue = confirmationMessage;                 return confirmationMessage;             });