How to avoid data loss, if user close the window before the data is saved and sent in the wire?

help
1

hi , I’m new to Meteor, I heard that this could be an issue if users if user close the window before the data is saved and sent in the wire ? with the latest version, is this still an issue ?

2

This is not a Meteor issue, but plain JavaScript. What you can do is register a window.beforeunload event handler.

WebApp.UnsavedEdits = false;
window.onbeforeunload = function(){
 if(WebApp.UnsavedEdits) {
  return "You have attempted to leave this page. Are you sure?";
 }
}

// some action makes changes
WebApp.UnsavedEdits = true;
3

Just, for the love of Glod, don’t make this function a popup. Because those need to die in a fire.

4

I have an app and do something similar, here’s a different way to approach data loss:

  • After user input key, window.last_action = 0; window.characters = $(“some_div”).count();
  • SetInterval for window.last_action++
  • If (window.last_action == 3600 && window.characters != $(“some_div”).count()) { save(); }

So what you’re doing here is comparing a change client side, waiting some time, and saving. This will keep the data up to date most of the time.

5

@rhywden that is how browsers implement it

6

Then please don’t use that unless it’s really, really important data. Everything else is positively user-hostile.

If I close the browser window I want to close the browser window.

7

We currently autosave data, so that isn’t an issue, but in our case, we sometimes want to cross reference the status of related docs, and alert the user of a potential conflict before they leave the page. This is an async call, so onbeforeunload doesn’t work for us.

Also, per https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/5349061406228480, you can see that even custom strings are being deprecated in most browsers, so that complicates things further, as we really need a verbose message, and that just isn’t going to happen.

We’ve tried funky stuff with the browser history, but that is also messy and still fails to provide a good UX.

Posting here to see if anyone else has creative solutions for this problem.