Detecting Unsaved Changes

tbreffni_637 0
Viewed 102566

I have a requirement to implement an "Unsaved Changes" prompt in an ASP .Net application. If a user modifies controls on a web form, and attempts to navigate away before saving, a prompt should appear warning them that they have unsaved changes, and give them the option to cancel and stay on the current page. The prompt should not display if the user hasn't touched any of the controls.

Ideally I'd like to implement this in JavaScript, but before I go down the path of rolling my own code, are there any existing frameworks or recommended design patterns for achieving this? Ideally I'd like something that can easily be reused across multiple pages with minimal changes.

prompt asp.net javascript
17 Answers

Using jQuery:

var _isDirty = false;
$("input[type='text']").change(function(){
  _isDirty = true;
});
// replicate for other input types and selects

Combine with onunload/onbeforeunload methods as required.

From the comments, the following references all input fields, without duplicating code:

$(':input').change(function () {

Using $(":input") refers to all input, textarea, select, and button elements.

Slace_113880

One piece of the puzzle:

/**
 * Determines if a form is dirty by comparing the current value of each element
 * with its default value.
 *
 * @param {Form} form the form to be checked.
 * @return {Boolean} <code>true</code> if the form is dirty, <code>false</code>
 *                   otherwise.
 */
function formIsDirty(form) {
  for (var i = 0; i < form.elements.length; i++) {
    var element = form.elements[i];
    var type = element.type;
    if (type == "checkbox" || type == "radio") {
      if (element.checked != element.defaultChecked) {
        return true;
      }
    }
    else if (type == "hidden" || type == "password" ||
             type == "text" || type == "textarea") {
      if (element.value != element.defaultValue) {
        return true;
      }
    }
    else if (type == "select-one" || type == "select-multiple") {
      for (var j = 0; j < element.options.length; j++) {
        if (element.options[j].selected !=
            element.options[j].defaultSelected) {
          return true;
        }
      }
    }
  }
  return false;
}

And another:

window.onbeforeunload = function(e) {
  e = e || window.event;  
  if (formIsDirty(document.forms["someForm"])) {
    // For IE and Firefox
    if (e) {
      e.returnValue = "You have unsaved changes.";
    }
    // For Safari
    return "You have unsaved changes.";
  }
};

Wrap it all up, and what do you get?

var confirmExitIfModified = (function() {
  function formIsDirty(form) {
    // ...as above
  }

  return function(form, message) {
    window.onbeforeunload = function(e) {
      e = e || window.event;
      if (formIsDirty(document.forms[form])) {
        // For IE and Firefox
        if (e) {
          e.returnValue = message;
        }
        // For Safari
        return message;
      }
    };
  };
})();

confirmExitIfModified("someForm", "You have unsaved changes.");

You'll probably also want to change the registration of the beforeunload event handler to use LIBRARY_OF_CHOICE's event registration.

insin_67600

In the .aspx page, you need a Javascript function to tell whether or not the form info is "dirty"

<script language="javascript">
    var isDirty = false;

    function setDirty() {
        isDirty = true;
    }

    function checkSave() {
        var sSave;
        if (isDirty == true) {
            sSave = window.confirm("You have some changes that have not been saved. Click OK to save now or CANCEL to continue without saving.");
            if (sSave == true) {
                document.getElementById('__EVENTTARGET').value = 'btnSubmit';
                document.getElementById('__EVENTARGUMENT').value = 'Click';  
                window.document.formName.submit();
            } else {
                 return true;
            }
        }
    }
</script>
<body class="StandardBody" onunload="checkSave()">

and in the codebehind, add the triggers to the input fields as well as resets on the submission/cancel buttons....

btnSubmit.Attributes.Add("onclick", "isDirty = 0;");
btnCancel.Attributes.Add("onclick", "isDirty = 0;");
txtName.Attributes.Add("onchange", "setDirty();");
txtAddress.Attributes.Add("onchange", "setDirty();");
//etc..
Wayne_82360

Thanks for the replies everyone. I ended up implementing a solution using JQuery and the Protect-Data plug-in. This allows me to automatically apply monitoring to all controls on a page.

There are a few caveats however, especially when dealing with an ASP .Net application:

  • When a user chooses the cancel option, the doPostBack function will throw a JavaScript error. I had to manually put a try-catch around the .submit call within doPostBack to suppress it.

  • On some pages, a user could perform an action that performs a postback to the same page, but isn't a save. This results in any JavaScript logic resetting, so it thinks nothing has changed after the postback when something may have. I had to implement a hidden textbox that gets posted back with the page, and is used to hold a simple boolean value indicating whether the data is dirty. This gets persisted across postbacks.

  • You may want some postbacks on the page to not trigger the dialog, such as a Save button. In this case, you can use JQuery to add an OnClick function which sets window.onbeforeunload to null.

Hopefully this is helpful for anyone else who has to implement something similar.

tbreffni_6370

The following solution works for prototype (tested in FF, IE 6 and Safari). It uses a generic form observer (which fires form:changed when any fields of the form have been modified), which you can use for other stuff as well.

/* use this function to announce changes from your own scripts/event handlers.
 * Example: onClick="makeDirty($(this).up('form'));"
 */
function makeDirty(form) {
    form.fire("form:changed");
}

function handleChange(form, event) {
    makeDirty(form);
}

/* generic form observer, ensure that form:changed is being fired whenever
 * a field is being changed in that particular for
 */
function setupFormChangeObserver(form) {
    var handler = handleChange.curry(form);

    form.getElements().each(function (element) {
        element.observe("change", handler);
    });
}

/* installs a form protector to a form marked with class 'protectForm' */
function setupProtectForm() {
    var form = $$("form.protectForm").first();

    /* abort if no form */
    if (!form) return;

    setupFormChangeObserver(form);

    var dirty = false;
    form.observe("form:changed", function(event) {
        dirty = true;
    });

    /* submitting the form makes the form clean again */
    form.observe("submit", function(event) {
        dirty = false;
    });

    /* unfortunatly a propper event handler doesn't appear to work with IE and Safari */
    window.onbeforeunload = function(event) {
        if (dirty) {
            return "There are unsaved changes, they will be lost if you leave now.";
        }
    };
}

document.observe("dom:loaded", setupProtectForm);
user_1022000
mde_224400

A lot of outdated answers so here's something a little more modern.

ES6

let dirty = false
document.querySelectorAll('form').forEach(e => e.onchange = () => dirty = true)
user_6181720

One method, using arrays to hold the variables so changes can be tracked.

Here's a very simple method to detect changes, but the rest isn't as elegant.

Another method which is fairly simple and small, from Farfetched Blog:

<body onLoad="lookForChanges()" onBeforeUnload="return warnOfUnsavedChanges()">
<form>
<select name=a multiple>
 <option value=1>1
 <option value=2>2
 <option value=3>3
</select>
<input name=b value=123>
<input type=submit>
</form>

<script>
var changed = 0;
function recordChange() {
 changed = 1;
}
function recordChangeIfChangeKey(myevent) {
 if (myevent.which && !myevent.ctrlKey && !myevent.ctrlKey)
  recordChange(myevent);
}
function ignoreChange() {
 changed = 0;
}
function lookForChanges() {
 var origfunc;
 for (i = 0; i < document.forms.length; i++) {
  for (j = 0; j < document.forms[i].elements.length; j++) {
   var formField=document.forms[i].elements[j];
   var formFieldType=formField.type.toLowerCase();
   if (formFieldType == 'checkbox' || formFieldType == 'radio') {
    addHandler(formField, 'click', recordChange);
   } else if (formFieldType == 'text' || formFieldType == 'textarea') {
    if (formField.attachEvent) {
     addHandler(formField, 'keypress', recordChange);
    } else {
     addHandler(formField, 'keypress', recordChangeIfChangeKey);
    }
   } else if (formFieldType == 'select-multiple' || formFieldType == 'select-one') {
    addHandler(formField, 'change', recordChange);
   }
  }
  addHandler(document.forms[i], 'submit', ignoreChange);
 }
}
function warnOfUnsavedChanges() {
 if (changed) {
  if ("event" in window) //ie
   event.returnValue = 'You have unsaved changes on this page, which will be discarded if you leave now. Click "Cancel" in order to save them first.';
  else //netscape
   return false;
 }
}
function addHandler(target, eventName, handler) {
 if (target.attachEvent) {
  target.attachEvent('on'+eventName, handler);
 } else {
  target.addEventListener(eventName, handler, false);
 }
}
</script>
Adam_Davis_29150

I have found that this one works in Chrome with an exception... The messages being returned do not match those in the script:

dataChanged = 0; // global variable flags unsaved changes

function bindForChange(){
$('input,checkbox,textarea,radio,select').bind('change',function(event) { dataChanged = 1}) $(':reset,:submit').bind('click',function(event) { dataChanged = 0 }) }

function askConfirm(){
if (dataChanged){ var message = "You have some unsaved changes. Press OK to continue without saving." ; return message; } }

window.onbeforeunload = askConfirm;

window.onload = bindForChange;

The messages returned seem to be triggered by the specific type of action I'm performing. A RELOAD displays a question "Reload Site? And a windows close returns a "Leave Site?" message.

user_154618900
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