CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javascriptajax
j-p
j-p

Reputation: 3818

Annoying Popup - (or other more graceful solution)

Here's my "need" - I have a user opening a window with a document displayed, I need to log the amount of time the user has that window "in focus" or "opened"... IF the user views another window, I want to stop logging the time - and resume logging if they re-focus on that page... basically I want to "know" how long it took a user to read the page.

this is a review type scenario, where the users is a 'trusted' member who needs to log their time... I want to keep a 'running total' for reference only - so if the user says that spent 10 min, on the page, but my log shows the window was only open for 2min, I know I've got a problem...either with my code or my people.. ;)

My thought was to keep a js counter going when the page was in focus, pause on blur or on close, and Ajax the data back to my db... and add any subsequent time to that record if the user returns...

onUnload doesn't seem to work, at least when i try - plus it doesn't catch a closing of the browser... so I was thinking I could launch a NEW window, when the document window is closed (not to be annoying - but to make the logging call to the server, and then close itself).

Does anyone have a solution for this? I know this all smacks of 'poor' design, but if someone has a 'correct' way to handle this scenario - please tell me. (BTW- IE is a requirement- it's intranet based IE7 req.) Thx

======== sample code below - that is 'not' working...kinda ============ When i say it's NOT working, this is what I mean... The "XMLHttpRequest" Is being made, i assume because the response is the message I'd expect - HOWEVER the log isn't changes (I know you'll say it's the php page, but if I call the url directly - it works fine... so it's no the logging page, IN ADDITION the 60 second setInterval() seems to fire randomly, because my response alert just pops up, sometime 10 in a row with no time between, certainly not at 'regular' 60 sec intervals... THOUGHTS?

<script type="text/javascript">

var closeMe = 0;
var logMe = 0;

//the window doesn't have focus, do nothing or something that let's them know we're not logging at the moment
function onBlur() {
    //after 2 min of non focus, close it.
    closeMe = setInterval('window.close()',120000); //after 2 min of non focus, close it.
};

//the window has focus... keep logging.
function onFocus(){
    //stop the close counter - in the event to 'blurred' sometime
    clearInterval ( closeMe );  
    //run the AJAX on a schedule - we're doing it every minute - bu tyou can do it as often as you like
    logMe = setInterval('logTime()',60000);
};

//call a script that logs another minute...
function logTime() {
    var xhReq = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhReq.open("GET", "ajax-on-time-interval.php", false);
    xhReq.send(null);
    var serverResponse = xhReq.responseText;
    alert(serverResponse); 
}

// check for Internet Explorer... IE uses 'onfocusin/out" - everything else uses "onfocus/blur"
if (/*@cc_on!@*/false) {
    document.onfocusin = onFocus;
    document.onfocusout = onBlur;
} else {
    window.onfocus = onFocus;
    window.onblur = onBlur;
}

</script>

Upvotes: 0

Views: 373

Answers (3)

Mike Ruhlin
Mike Ruhlin

Reputation: 3556

window.onfocus and onblur are documented in the MDC, but they're not standards. Evidently IE has document.onfocusin and .onfocusout : 

if (/*@cc_on!@*/false) { // check for Internet Explorer
    document.onfocusin = onFocus;
    document.onfocusout = onBlur;
} else {
    window.onfocus = onFocus;
    window.onblur = onBlur;
}

I haven't tried it. I just read about it here. http://www.thefutureoftheweb.com/blog/detect-browser-window-focus

Upvotes: 1

John Parker
John Parker

Reputation: 54445

I've have thought that a regular Ajax based "heartbeat" that updates the underlying database data every 'n' seconds (depending on the granularity you require, I'd have thought every minute would be sufficient) would be a neater solution than a pop-up and also avoid the fact that not all browsers handle onunload, etc. gracefully.

That said, I'm presuming that JavaScript will be enabled on these machines. (Seems fair based on your question.)

Upvotes: 3

Anthony
Anthony

Reputation: 37065

One somewhat sloppy solution that partially resolves the issue with the browser closing/crashing is to have an ajax function that pings the server DB at a set interval while the document is in focus. This way, if the client crashes, you will be accurate within 30 seconds of how how long the document was open.

Upvotes: 0

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