Javascript window.print() in chrome, closing new window or tab instead of cancelling print leaves javascript blocked in parent window

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23071291

Question

In the application I work on, we have several different places a user can print from. In all these cases we are using the same workflow of opening a new window(or tab), writing whatever we need to print to the document of the new window, and then we call

    $(w.document).ready(function () {
        w.focus();
        w.print();
        w.close();
    });

The issue I'm seeing is that in Chrome, if I close the tab or window that is opened for the print preview instead of clicking the cancel button, Chrome is still blocking the javascript on my parent window.

It is similar to the issue described here:

Google Chrome blocks ajax requests when print preview is opened on child window

We are experiencing this issue as well, but I believe this is a result of how we are implementing printing in a new window and the way Chrome's print preview works. In IE and Firefox, the print window displays the modal dialog, and you are not able to do anything in the parent window until the print window is closed. Similarly chrome is blocking use of the parent window until the print preview is cancelled. However I would expect closing that tab or window to work the same as cancelling the print.
Has anyone else had this issue or know of a good solution?

Thank you!

Was it helpful?

Solution

It looks like the problem had been resolved with the latest Chrome update... I'm running the Chrome Version 36.0.1964.4 dev-m.

I was limited too warning the user from closing print preview window by doing the following:

if(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('chrome') > -1){   // Chrome Browser Detected?
    window.PPClose = false;                                     // Clear Close Flag
    window.onbeforeunload = function(){                         // Before Window Close Event
        if(window.PPClose === false){                           // Close not OK?
            return 'Leaving this page will block the parent window!\nPlease select "Stay on this Page option" and use the\nCancel button instead to close the Print Preview Window.\n';
        }
    }                   
    window.print();                                             // Print preview
    window.PPClose = true;                                      // Set Close Flag to OK.
}

Now the warning is no longer coming up after the Chrome update.

OTHER TIPS

The problem is that there is an in-browser print dialogue within the popup window. If you call window.close() immediately then the dialogue is not seen by the user. The user needs to click "Print" within the dialogue. This is not the same as on other browsers where the print dialogue is part of the OS, and blocks the window.close() until dismissed - on Chrome, it's part of Chrome, not the OS.

This is the code I used, in a little popup window that is created by the parent window:

var is_chrome = function () { return Boolean(window.chrome); }
window.onload = function() {
    if(is_chrome){
        /*
         * These 2 lines are here because as usual, for other browsers,
         * the window is a tiny 100x100 box that the user will barely see.
         * On Chrome, it needs to be big enough for the dialogue to be read
         * (NB, it also includes a page preview).
        */
        window.moveTo(0,0);
        window.resizeTo(640, 480);

        // This line causes the print dialogue to appear, as usual:
        window.print();

        /*
         * This setTimeout isn't fired until after .print() has finished
         * or the dialogue is closed/cancelled.
         * It doesn't need to be a big pause, 500ms seems OK.
        */
        setTimeout(function(){
            window.close();
        }, 500);
    } else {
        // For other browsers we can do things more briefly:
        window.print();
        window.close();
    }
}

In order to work around this problem, I had to switch the printing process from a new window to a hidden iframe. The iframe remains in the DOM and is reused for additional printing (receipts in our case).

Inspired by Daybreaks's answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/39099832/373521

function printHtml(html) {
    try {
        var iframe = document.getElementById("printingFrame");
        if (!iframe) {
            iframe = document.createElement('iframe');
            iframe.id = "printingFrame";
            iframe.name = "printingFrame";
            iframe.width = '0';
            iframe.height = '0';
            iframe.style = 'position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;width: 0;height: 0;';
            document.body.appendChild(iframe);
        }

        iframe.contentWindow.document.open();
        iframe.contentWindow.document.write('<!DOCTYPE html');
        iframe.contentWindow.document.write('<html><head>');
        iframe.contentWindow.document.write(
            '<style type="text/css">' +
            'body{font-family:Verdana, Arial;font-size:12px;}' +
            '@media all {.page-break { display: none; }}' +
            '@media print {.page-break { display: block; page-break-before: always; }}' +
            '</style>');
        iframe.contentWindow.document.write('</head><body>');
        iframe.contentWindow.document.write(html);
        iframe.contentWindow.document.write('</body></html>');
        iframe.contentWindow.document.close();

        window.frames["printingFrame"].focus();
        window.frames["printingFrame"].print();
    } catch (ex) {
        console.error("Error printing: " + ex.message);
    }
}

If the setTimeout function does not work for you either, then do the following:

//Create an iframe
iframe = $('body').append($('<iframe id="documentToPrint" name="documentToPrint" src="about:blank"/>'));
iframeElement = $('#documentToPrint')[0].contentWindow.document;

//Open the iframe
iframeElement.open();

//Write your content to the iframe
iframeElement.write($("yourContentId").html());

//This is the important bit.
//Wait for the iframe window to load, then print it.
$('#documentToPrint')[0].contentWindow.onload = function () {
    $('#print-document')[0].contentWindow.print();
    $('#print-document').remove();
};
iframeElement.close();

For those of you who are popping up a new window to print from, and then automatically closing it after the user clicks "Print" or "Cancel" on the Chrome print preview, I used the following (thanks to the help from PaulVB's answer):

if (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('chrome') > -1) {
    var showPopup = false;
    window.onbeforeunload = function () {
        if (showPopup) {
            return 'You must use the Cancel button to close the Print Preview window.\n';
        } else {
            showPopup = true;
        }
    }
    window.print();
    window.close();
} else {
    window.print();
    window.close();
}

I am debating if it would be a good idea to also filter by the version of Chrome...

Run this code It will open google print service popup.

function openPrint(x) {

   if (x > 0) { 
       openPrint(--x); print(x); openPrint(--x);
   }

}

Try it on console where x is integer . 

openPrint(1);   // Will open Chrome Print Popup Once
openPrint(2);   // Will open Chrome Print Popup Twice after 1st close and so on

Thanks

OK here is what worked for me! I have a button on my left Nav. If you click it it will open a window and that window will load a document. After loading the document I want print the document then close the popup window immediately.

contentDiv.focus();
contentDiv.contentWindow.print();
contentDiv.contentWindow.onfocus = function() {
    window.close();
};

Why does this work?
Well, after printing you set the onfocus event to close the window. The print popup will load so quickly that the onfocus event will not get a chance to trigger until you 1)print 2) cancel the print. Once you regain focus on the window, the window will close!
I hope that will work for you

Chrome print is usually an extension page so there is no dom attachment happening in your existing page. You can trigger the print command using command line apis(window.print()) but then they have not provided apis for closing it becoz of vary reason like choosing print options, print machine,count etc.

Use this code to return and reload the current window:

function printpost() {
  if (window.print()) {
    return false;
  } else {
    location.reload();
  }
}

I can confirm that I have the same bug on Windows 7 using Chrome Version 35 but I share my partial solution who is open a new tab on Chrome and showing a dialog.

For other browser when the user click on cancel automatically close the new print window.

//Chrome's versions > 34 is some bug who stop all javascript when is show a prints preview
//http://stackoverflow.com/questions/23071291/javascript-window-print-in-chrome-closing-new-window-or-tab-instead-of-cancel
if(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().indexOf('chrome') > -1) {
    var popupWin = window.open();
    popupWin.window.focus();
    popupWin.document.write('<!DOCTYPE html><html><head>' +
        '<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />' +
        '</head><body onload="window.print()"><div class="reward-body">' + printContents + '</div></html>');
    popupWin.onbeforeunload = function (event) {
        return 'Please use the cancel button on the left side of the print preview to close this window.\n';
    };
}else {
    var popupWin = window.open('', '_blank', 'width=600,height=600,scrollbars=no,menubar=no,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,titlebar=no');
    popupWin.document.write('<!DOCTYPE html><html><head>' +
        '<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />' +
        '</head><body onload="window.print()"><div class="reward-body">' + printContents + '</div>' +
        '<script>setTimeout(function(){ window.parent.focus(); window.close() }, 100)</script></html>');
}
popupWin.document.close();

i've mandained some similar page (classic asp...)

my approach was to use Q promise directly on the popup.

For example my problem was that the popup i wanted to print close itself too fast ... and the print previw was empty, i solved this way :

Caller :

var popup = window.open("index.asp","popupwindow","width=800,height=500,left=200,top=5,scrollbars,toolbar=0,resizable");

Popup (at the end of the page): 

<script src="/Scripts/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script>
<script src="/Scripts/q.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    Q(window.print()).then(function () {window.close();});
</script>

I think that your "parent lock" could be solved in a similar way

i would try : 

var w = whatever;
Q(
  // fill your popup
).then(function () {
 w.print();
}).then(function () {
 w.close();
});

that makes "the print" and "the close" async... so the parent will be immediately "unlocked"

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