$(window).unload is not firing

Question

I want to execute an action method when the user is abandoning a particular page using jQuery.

The page has the following code:

    <script type="text/javascript">

        $(window).unload(function () {
            alert("Handler for .unload() was called.");
        });

    </script>

When I navigate away from the page I never see the expected alert.

Answer 1

Actually some browsers such as Google Chrome might block if you attempt to alert in a window unload. As a user I like this feature. Alerting every time you try to navigate away from a page sucks:

Replace the alert with a console.log or something else less intrusive to the user and the event will be happily called.

You might also want to checkout the onbeforeunload event.

Answer 2

jquery .on('unload',..); was not reliable working for me. i switched over to use beforeunload. just make sure you are not returning anything, or the user will get a "are you sure to leave the page"-popup.

<script type='text/javascript'>
    $(window).on('beforeunload', function(){
         console.log("beforeUnload event!");
     });
</script>