Using onbeforeunload without dialog?

Question

I'm trying to post data when a user leaves my page. I have finally managed to find a working solution, however, it shows a confirmation dialog when the user leaves. I have tried return null; but it didn't work. Is it possible to disable the dialog?

window.onbeforeunload = function() {
    $.post("track.php", {
        async: false,
        refid: refid,
        country: country, 
        type: type,
    });

    return '';
}

Answer 1

From the Mozilla Developer Network page:

When this event returns a non-void value, the user is prompted to confirm the page unload.

This means the return value of the handler must be undefined (not '', false, or null) in order to avoid triggering the confirmation prompt.

window.onbeforeunload = function() {

  $.post("track.php", {
  ...
  });

  return undefined;
}

In javascript you can skip the return value altogether to get the same result.

In coffeescript with jquery it's something like

$(document).ready ->
  $(window).bind('beforeunload', ->
    #put your cleanup code here
    undefined
  )

Answer 2

If you want to disable the dialog, please only write

window.onbeforeunload = function() { ... return; }

instead of

window.onbeforeunload = function() { ... return ''; }.

I hope it will help you.

Answer 3

Removing return statement worked for me also.

Answer 4

Could you test this:

$(window).on('beforeunload', function (e) {
    if (e.originalEvent) $.post("track.php", {
        async: false,
        refid: refid,
        country: country,
        type: type,
    });
    else $.get("", {
        async: false
    });
    $(this).trigger('beforeunload');
}

This will create many useless requests but should let your first request enough time to reach server.

Answer 5

I have found a really simple trick to get this working with using

$(window).bind('onbeforeunload', function () {

$.post("track.php", {
async: false,
refid: refid,
country: country, 
type: type,
});

});

Answer 6

This is with react and typescript:

  useEffect(() => {
    window.onbeforeunload = (ev: any) => {
      ev.preventDefault()
      anotherMethod()
    }
  }, [])