Detecting browser window close event in flex?

Question

Is it possible to detect in Flex application browser window close event so that an action can be started when user closes Flex application, does anyone know how to do that if it's possible in the first place? The reason why i am asking this is because i have a multiuser Flex application where every user has it's own directory on a server side. Application has logout button which triggers cleanup of user's directory but what if the user just closes the window? I would like to be able to lunch that same cleanup upon browser close window

Answer 1

In the page hosting your app, write a Javascript function triggered by window.onbeforeunload, and this function can call a function inside your Flex application.

Note that the onbeforeunload function is not guaranteed to work for all browsers.

Answer 2

I would not recommend that approach because the closing action fails too often, meaning worthless. My browser freezes and force-quitted several times a day. My computer sometimes freezes. My internet connection sometimes dies. I think, some browsers even do not guarantee those kinds of actions executed every time.

So, the session timeout might be one safe way in most cases.

You can also try having a socket connection, so that your server can ping if a user is alive and also can detect if socket is closed. Even socket, however, can be unresponsive or can be disconnected sometimes while user is still using the application.

You might want to be strategic.