window.focus() not working in Google Chrome

Question

Just wondering if Google Chrome is going to support window.focus() at some point. When I mean support, I mean have it work. The call to it doesn\'t fail, it jus

Answer 1

UPDATE: This solution appears to no longer work in Chrome.

Unbelievably, the solution is quite simple. I've been trying to figure this issue out for at least a week. All you need to do is blur the window then give it focus. I had tried this previously and it didn't work.

windowHandle.blur();
windowHandle.focus();

So I ended up trying this instead:

windowHandle.blur();
setTimeout(windowHandle.focus, 0);

and that seems to work.

I've updated my code here:

MyCompany = { UI: {} }; // Put this here if you want to test the code. I create these namespaces elsewhere in code.

MyCompany.UI.Window = new function() {       
    // Private fields
    var that = this;
    var windowHandles = {};
    var isChrome = /chrome/.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase());

    // Public Members
    this.focus = function(windowHandle) {
        if (!windowHandle) {
            throw new Exception("Window handle can not be null.");
        }

        if (isChrome) {
            windowHandle.blur();
            setTimeout(windowHandle.focus, 0);                    
        }
        else {
            windowHandle.focus();
        }    
    }

    this.windowExists = function(windowTarget) {
        return windowTarget && windowHandles[windowTarget] && !windowHandles[windowTarget].closed;
    }

    this.open = function(url, windowTarget, windowProperties) {
        // See if we have a window handle and if it's closed or not.
        if (that.windowExists(windowTarget)) {

            // We still have our window object so let's check if the URLs is the same as the one we're trying to load.
            var currentLocation = windowHandles[windowTarget].location;

            if (
                (
                    /^http(?:s?):/.test(url) && currentLocation.href !== url
                )
                    ||
                (
                    // This check is required because the URL might be the same, but absolute,
                    // e.g. /Default.aspx ... instead of http://localhost/Default.aspx ...
                    !/^http(?:s?):/.test(url) &&
                    (currentLocation.pathname + currentLocation.search + currentLocation.hash) !== url
                )
            ) {
                // Not the same URL, so load the new one.
                windowHandles[windowTarget].location = url;
            }

            // Give focus to the window. This works in IE 6/7/8, FireFox, Safari but not Chrome.
            // Well in Chrome it works the first time, but subsequent focus attempts fail,. I believe this is a security feature in Chrome to avoid annoying popups.
            that.focus(windowHandles[windowTarget]);
        }
        else {
            // Need to do this so that tabbed browsers (pretty much all browsers except IE6) actually open a new window
            // as opposed to a tab. By specifying at least one window property, we're guaranteed to have a new window created instead
            // of a tab.
            //windowProperties = windowProperties || 'menubar=yes,location=yes,width=700, height=400, scrollbars=yes, resizable= yes';
            windowProperties = windowProperties || 'menubar=yes,location=yes,width=' + (screen.availWidth - 15) + ', height=' + (screen.availHeight - 140) + ', scrollbars=yes, resizable= yes';
            windowTarget = windowTarget || "_blank";

            // Create a new window.
            var windowHandle = windowProperties ? window.open(url, windowTarget, windowProperties) : window.open(url, windowTarget);

            if (null === windowHandle || !windowHandle) {
                alert("You have a popup blocker enabled. Please allow popups for " + location.protocol + "//" + location.host);
            }
            else {
                if ("_blank" !== windowTarget) {
                    // Store the window handle for reuse if a handle was specified.
                    windowHandles[windowTarget] = windowHandle;
                    windowHandles[windowTarget].focus();
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 2

A suggestion from someone's blog is to use this:

if (navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Chrome/') > 0) {
    if (window.detwin) {
        window.detwin.close();
        window.detwin = null;
    }
}
window.detwin = window.open(URL,  'windowname', '...');
window.detwin.focus();

Following this bug might be useful.

Answer 3

I was only able to solve my problem when I used setTimeout() and encapsulated the focus() inside an anonymous function. Here is an example:

setTimeout(function () {
   myField.focus();
}, 0);

Answer 4

window.open('javascript:void(0)', 'myWindow');