Logout website when close browser

Question

Logout website when close browser

Woon Choon 1

Hi All,

When user logout from website, system will able to update the datetime in database.

However, when user directly close the browser, how can we handle the updating in our database in c# ?

Sometime, user will open multiple tab, how can we handle if user close one tab will not update in our database ?

I am really appreciate for your help.

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

Lan Huang-MSFT 30,191 Microsoft External Staff

Hi @Woon Choon ,
I think you can try SessionStorage. SessionStorage is not cleared when the page reloads but closes. So basically you can set a key/value pair on page load, but before that you check if the key/value pair exists. If it is, it means the page has reloaded, if not, it means the user opened the page for the first time or opened the page in a new tab.
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window/sessionStorage

if (sessionStorage.getItem('reloaded') != null) {  
    console.log('page was reloaded');  
} else {  
    console.log('page was not reloaded');  
}  
sessionStorage.setItem('reloaded', 'yes');

This way you can doStuff() with the onunload event (user leaves the page), and otherStuff() if the key/value pair is set (user reloaded the page).
Best regards,
Lan Huang

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Woon Choon Thin 21 Reputation points

2022-01-13T15:14:23.54+00:00

If i want to use onbeforeunload method , but i realized that no custom error message can be show . Is that any way to achieve this ?

If i press leave button , can i trigger the function using ajax ?
Lan Huang-MSFT 30,191 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-01-14T09:09:56.113+00:00

Hi @Woon Choon Thin ,
The onbeforeunload event also fires when the page is refreshed, so it is not recommended to use it.
https://developer.mozilla.org/zh-CN/docs/Web/API/WindowEventHandlers/onbeforeunload
Best regards,
Lan Huang
Woon Choon 1 Reputation point

2022-01-14T09:25:45.193+00:00

Hi @Lan Huang-MSFT ,

Is that anyway to prompt user to confirm before leaving the page (including closing browser)?
If user press "Yes" , then system will trigger logout function.
If user press "No" , no action will be taken.
AgaveJoe 30,126 Reputation points

2022-01-14T15:09:12.233+00:00

As explained above, there is no reliable method to accomplish this requirement with a browser.

Think about what you're asking. You purposely want to stop the user from closing the browser window until another button is clicked. Browsers simply do not allow this behavior because it makes for a poor user experience.

The standard approach has always been (you are not first person to ask this question) a timeout interval. A cookie timeout. A session timeout. A heartbeat timeout. In the case of a Web Sockets a lost connection timeout. The margin of error is directly related to the timeout length. If the timeout interval is 10 minutes then there is a 10 minute period may or may not be view a page. Why do you need real time?
Bruce (SqlWork.com) 78,006 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator

2022-01-14T15:43:37.273+00:00

That is the typical onbeforeunload use case. Have your submit buttons set a flag that a submit is in progress. Then onbeforeunload can tell navigation was not caused by submit.

Because this feature was abused by pop up ads, it’s functionality has been greatly reduced in many browsers. You used to be able to do an alert, but this is typically no longer allowed. The browser controls any message.
Woon Choon Thin 21 Reputation points

2022-01-17T09:38:12.763+00:00

Hi All,

Thank you for your explanation.
I really feel appreciate for all the answer and explanation.

Answer 2

Bruce (SqlWork.com) 78,006 Volunteer Moderator

This is usually a fools errand. There is no reliable way to detect closing the browser.

Typically you write JavaScript to detect before page unload (navigation) and check the mouse location to see if outside the window. This fails if the keyboard was used,

A more modern approach is to use a service worker that receives heartbeat pings from live pages. If heartbeats are not received you know all the pages are closed. The service worker would use a timer, and check is any heartbeats were received during the last interval.

Woon Choon Thin 21 Reputation points

2022-01-13T01:41:18.48+00:00

Hi Bruce,

Do you have any simple for service worker that receives heartbeat pings from live pages?

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Logout website when close browser

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