The proper way to handle popup closing

Question

I'm looking for close event for popup. I've found one for XUL, but I need it for HTML.

Popup has closed property.

>>> var popup = open('http://example.com/', 'popup', 'height=400,width=500');
>>> popup.closed
false

Well, I can check it once at half second.

function open_popup() {
  var popup = open('http://example.com/', 'popup', 'height=450,width=450');
  var timer = setInterval(function(){
    if (popup.closed) {
      alert('popup closed!');
      clearInterval(timer);
    }
  }, 500);
}

I've tested it on Chrome 4.0.249.27, Opera 10.10, Safari 4.0.4, and Firefox 3.5.5. All works fine.

But setInterval bother me. It is ugly. Is there a better way of doing this?

UPDATE: I use popups for authentication dialog (oAuth, actually). I wanna send some data to parent window after popup close (through postMessage).

Page inside popup from another domain. So, I can not add any event (unload) to it due security restrictions.

I can not use iframe due to iframe buster script. So, I can not use any fancy jQuery modal dialogs.

I can not edit anything inside popup.

Answer 1

You might want to look into the unload event, take a look at Javascript: Popups

edit: as you've said you cannot edit anything inside the popup, there really aren't any options left. I believe your current setInterval code does the job just fine. You should ask yourself if realtime detection of the popup closing is absolutely critical. That 500 milliseconds timer certainly won't strain hardly any resources or bring someones computer to its knees.

Answer 2

I have used jQuery Dialog and it has a close event

http://jqueryui.com/demos/dialog/.

Am not sure if I understand your question right,why do you want to use the timer ?

Answer 3

Use window.opener in the pop-up window. i.e. something like:

onunload = opener.alert('popup closed');

or

onunload = opener.nameOfAFunction();