Develop Reference

Conditional onbeforeunload event in a page

window.onbeforeunload = function(evt) {
var message = 'Are you sure you want to leave the page. All data will be lost!';
if (typeof evt === 'undefined') {
evt = window.event;
}
if (evt && !($("#a_exit").click)) {
evt.returnValue = message;
}
return message;
};
I want user to leave the page clicking to the link (has id ="a_exit") only. In other circumstances such as refreshing the page, clicking another link, user will be prompted that if he/she wants to leave the page. I have tried to use the code above. It still asks me if I want to go away when I click the exit link.

$(window).bind('beforeunload',function() {
return "'Are you sure you want to leave the page. All data will be lost!";
});
$('#a_exit').live('click',function() {
$(window).unbind('beforeunload');
});
Above works for me

My quick example of the conditional prompt before leaving page:
window.onbeforeunload = confirmExit;
function confirmExit(event) {
var messageText = tinymce.get('mMessageBody').getContent();
messageText = messageText.trim();
// ... whatever you want
if (messageText != "")
return true;
else
return void (0);
};
It works under Chrome, FF.

You can return null when you do not want the prompt to show. Tested on Chrome 79.
window.onbeforeunload = () => {
if(shouldPrompt){
return true
}else{
return null
}
}
BTW modern browser no longer support custom onBeforeUnload promp text.

It will always prompt you if you want to leave the page. It's a security issue and cannot be worked-around.
Moreover, anything you return in the onbeforeunload event handler that is not void will be treated as the message for the prompt. Refer to this article: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Window.onbeforeunload

This worked for me.
window.onbeforeunload = function(){
if(someBoolean) {
return 'message'
}else{
window.onbeforeunload = null;
}
}

You could just remove window.onbeforeunload in the click handler.

How about a variable to decide, if the link was clicked?
var exitClicked = false;
$("#a_exit").click(function() {
exitClicked = true;
});
window.onbeforeunload = function(evt) {
//...
if(evt && !exitClicked) {
evt.returnValue = message;
}
//...
};
You only set exitClicked = true when the link was really clicked and afterwards, before unloading you can simply check this variable.

This is quite old but I wanted just to change the code given that .live is no longer working in Jquery. So, the updated version would be:
$(window).bind('beforeunload',function() {
return "'Are you sure you want to leave the page. All data will be lost!";
});
$('#a_exit').on("click", function(){
$(window).unbind('beforeunload');
});

Notify user on browser close only

I am trying to implement notifying when the user closes or reloades the page.Crrently i am using the following code
function unloadPage(){
return "Your changes will not be saved.";
}
window.onbeforeclose = unloadPage;
This works fine.But the problem is this happens whenever a navigation takes place.That is either a page refresh or a form submission or a hyperlink click or whatever navigation takes place..I just want to work this code only for browser refreshing and closing.I knew about setting a flag and checking it.
But i have to integrate this in a big application.So it will be difficult to add the code in every page.So is there an easy way.
Is there a way to catch the refresh or browser cosing so that can use it.

Note that in your code, you're using onbeforeclose, but the event name is beforeunload, so property is onbeforeunload, not onbeforeclose.
I just want to work this code only for browser refreshing and closing. Is there a way to catch the refresh or browser cosing so that can use it.
No. Instead, you'll have to capture each link and form submission and either set a flag telling your onbeforeunload handler not to return a string, or removing your onbeforeunload handler (probably the flag is cleaner).
For example:
var warnBeforeClose = true;
function unloadPage(){
if (warnBeforeClose) {
return "Your changes will not be saved.";
}
}
window.onbeforeunload = unloadPage;
// ...when the elements exist:
$("a").click(dontWarn);
$("form").submit(dontWarn);
function dontWarn() {
// Don't warn
warnBeforeClose = false;
// ...but if we're still on the page a second later, set the flag again
setTimeout(function() {
warnBeforeClose = true;
}, 1000);
}
Or without setTimeout (but still with a timeout):
var warningSuppressionTime = 0;
function unloadPage(){
if (+new Date() - warningSuppressionTime > 1000) { // More than a second
return "Your changes will not be saved.";
}
}
window.onbeforeunload = unloadPage;
// ...when the elements exist:
$("a").click(dontWarn);
$("form").submit(dontWarn);
function dontWarn() {
// Don't warn for the next second
warningSuppressionTime = +new Date();
}
Update in 2017: Also note that as of at least a couple of years ago, browsers don't show the message you return; they just use the fact you returned something other than null as a flag to show their own, built-in message instead.

One of the simple solutions to your problem is to have a flag and then call your function only if the flag is valid. In this case , you can bind the anchor tags, F5 key and form submit button click to events that set the flag as false. So your alert bar will be visible only if the above cases don't happen :)
Here's the script:
var validNavigation = false;
function endSession() {
// Browser or broswer tab is closed
alert("bye");
}
function wireUpEvents() {
window.onbeforeunload = function() {
if (!validNavigation) {
endSession();
}
}
// Attach the event keypress to exclude the F5 refresh
$(document).bind('keypress', function(e) {
if (e.keyCode == 116){
validNavigation = true;
}
});
// Attach the event click for all links in the page
$("a").bind("click", function() {
validNavigation = true;
});
// Attach the event submit for all forms in the page
$("form").bind("submit", function() {
validNavigation = true;
});
// Attach the event click for all inputs in the page
$("input[type=submit]").bind("click", function() {
validNavigation = true;
});
}
// Wire up the events as soon as the DOM tree is ready
$(document).ready(function() {
wireUpEvents();
});

Check this link
It gives you information on how to handle onbeforeunload event.
The idea is to have a global flag on the page. When any change is done to the fields, this flag is set to true. When clicked on save button, then this flag needs to be set to false.
In the onbeforeunload event, check whether the flag is true, then show the message accordingly.
var needToConfirm = true;
window.onbeforeunload = confirmExit;
function confirmExit()
{
if (needToConfirm)
{
// check on the elements whether any change has been done on the fields.
// If any change has been done, then set message here.
}
}
function saveClicked()
{
needToConfirm = false;
}

DEMO
(Run or refresh the fiddle to see the alert onbeforeunload() event message and click on the link "kk" ,it wont show onbeforeunload() event message. Try it in your webpage)
I have a solution for you, you don have to add onclick event to each tags and all.
Just add this to any where on your pages .
<input type="hidden" value="true" id="chk"/>
and add this code to your document head tag
<script>
window.onbeforeunload = confirmExit;
function confirmExit()
{
if(document.getElementById("chk").value=="true")
{
return "Your changes will not be saved.";
}
}
document.onclick = myClickHandler;
function myClickHandler() {
document.getElementById("chk").value="false";
}
<script>
Hope this helps
Thank you

how can i prevent onbeforeunload from firing when a certain condition is met?

i have a page on which i want to confirm if the user wants to leave.
i have to confirm only when a certain condition is met so i wrote code like this
var back=false;
back=//check if user pressed back button
window.onbeforeunload = function (e) {
alert(back); //this alerts true
if(back==true)
return false;
//e.preventDefault; --this does not work too
};
but this does not work. i mean when i click on back button this onbeforeunload still fires and i still get the confirmation message even when i m returning false.Whats can be wrong?
Thanks

Return a string if you want to offer an option to the user to abort the unload. Return nothing in other cases.
var back = false;
back = true; //Somewhere, the condition is set to true
window.onbeforeunload = function (e) {
if(back == true)
return "Are you sure to exit?";
}

$(window).bind('beforeunload',function() {
return "'Are you sure you want to leave the page. All data will be lost!";
});
$('#a_exit').live('click',function() {
$(window).unbind('beforeunload');
});
Try this. Above code is working in most of conditions.

For the sake of completeness here a more modern, recommended approach:
let warn = false;
window.addEventListener('beforeunload', e => {
if (!warn) return;
// Cancel the event
e.preventDefault();
// Chrome requires returnValue to be set
e.returnValue = '';
});
warn = true; // during runtime you change warn to true
Typically, it is better to use window.addEventListener() and the
beforeunload event, instead of onbeforeunload.
Source
The reason why your originally posted code didn't work is that false is a non-null value. If you would have returned null or undefined in the situation where you don't want to spawn a pop-up warning your code would have worked as expected.
The currently accepted answer works because JavaScript implicitly returns undefined at the end of the function.

Condition for back-end
var confirmExist = function (e) {
return true;
}
window.onbeforeunload = confirmExist;
http get, post request
.then(function(r)) {
window.onbeforeunload = null;
}

You could also consider not setting the window.beforeunload event untill your list of conditions are met.
var confirmUserToLeave = function () {
if (/* conditions are met */) {
window.unbeforeunload = function (e) {
/* whatever you want to do here */
};
} else {
window.unbeforeunload = undefined;
}
};
Then just call that method on certain events that might change the outcome of your 'conditions are met'.

Detecting Unsaved Changes

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.

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.

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.

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..

The following uses the browser's onbeforeunload function and jquery to capture any onchange event. IT also looks for any submit or reset buttons to reset the flag indicating changes have occurred.
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){
return "You have some unsaved changes. Press OK to continue without saving."
}
}
window.onbeforeunload = askConfirm;
window.onload = bindForChange;

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.

General Solution Supporting multiple forms in a given page (Just copy and paste in your project)
$(document).ready(function() {
$('form :input').change(function() {
$(this).closest('form').addClass('form-dirty');
});
$(window).bind('beforeunload', function() {
if($('form:not(.ignore-changes).form-dirty').length > 0) {
return 'You have unsaved changes, are you sure you want to discard them?';
}
});
$('form').bind('submit',function() {
$(this).closest('form').removeClass('form-dirty');
return true;
});
});
Note: This solution is combined from others' solutions to create a general integrated solution.
Features:
Just copy and paste into your app.
Supports Multiple Forms.
You can style or make actions dirty forms, since they've the class "form-dirty".
You can exclude some forms by adding the class 'ignore-changes'.

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);

Here's a javascript / jquery solution that is simple. It accounts for "undos" by the user, it is encapsulated within a function for ease of application, and it doesn't misfire on submit. Just call the function and pass the ID of your form.
This function serializes the form once when the page is loaded, and again before the user leaves the page. If the two form states are different, the prompt is shown.
Try it out: http://jsfiddle.net/skibulk/Ydt7Y/
function formUnloadPrompt(formSelector) {
var formA = $(formSelector).serialize(), formB, formSubmit = false;
// Detect Form Submit
$(formSelector).submit( function(){
formSubmit = true;
});
// Handle Form Unload
window.onbeforeunload = function(){
if (formSubmit) return;
formB = $(formSelector).serialize();
if (formA != formB) return "Your changes have not been saved.";
};
}
$(function(){
formUnloadPrompt('form');
});

I recently contributed to an open source jQuery plugin called dirtyForms.
The plugin is designed to work with dynamically added HTML, supports multiple forms, can support virtually any dialog framework, falls back to the browser beforeunload dialog, has a pluggable helper framework to support getting dirty status from custom editors (a tinyMCE plugin is included), works within iFrames, and the dirty status can be set or reset at will.
https://github.com/snikch/jquery.dirtyforms

Detect form changes with using jQuery is very simple:
var formInitVal = $('#formId').serialize(); // detect form init value after form is displayed
// check for form changes
if ($('#formId').serialize() != formInitVal) {
// show confirmation alert
}

I expanded on Slace's suggestion above, to include most editable elements and also excluding certain elements (with a CSS style called "srSearch" here) from causing the dirty flag to be set.
<script type="text/javascript">
var _isDirty = false;
$(document).ready(function () {
// Set exclude CSS class on radio-button list elements
$('table.srSearch input:radio').addClass("srSearch");
$("input[type='text'],input[type='radio'],select,textarea").not(".srSearch").change(function () {
_isDirty = true;
});
});
$(window).bind('beforeunload', function () {
if (_isDirty) {
return 'You have unsaved changes.';
}
});

var unsaved = false;
$(":input").change(function () {
unsaved = true;
});
function unloadPage() {
if (unsaved) {
alert("You have unsaved changes on this page. Do you want to leave this page and discard your changes or stay on this page?");
}
}
window.onbeforeunload = unloadPage;

This is exactly what the Fleegix.js plugin fleegix.form.diff (http://js.fleegix.org/plugins/form/diff) was created for. Serialize the initial state of the form on load using fleegix.form.toObject (http://js.fleegix.org/ref#fleegix.form.toObject) and save it in a variable, then compare with the current state using fleegix.form.diff on unload. Easy as pie.

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)

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>

In IE document.ready will not work properly it will update the values of input.
so we need to bind load event inside the document.ready function that will handle for IE browser also.
below is the code you should put inside the document.ready function.
$(document).ready(function () {
$(window).bind("load", function () {
$("input, select").change(function () {});
});
});

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.

What is the best way to track changes in a form via javascript?

I'd like to track changes in inputs in a form via javascript. My intent is (but not limited) to
enable "save" button only when something has changed
alert if the user wants to close the page and something is not saved
Ideas?

Loop through all the input elements, and put an onchange handler on each. When that fires, set a flag which lets you know the form has changed. A basic version of that would be very easy to set up, but wouldn't be smart enough to recognize if someone changed an input from "a" to "b" and then back to "a". If it were important to catch that case, then it'd still be possible, but would take a bit more work.
Here's a basic example in jQuery:
$("#myForm")
.on("input", function() {
// do whatever you need to do when something's changed.
// perhaps set up an onExit function on the window
$('#saveButton').show();
})
;

Text form elements in JS expose a .value property and a .defaultValue property, so you can easily implement something like:
function formChanged(form) {
for (var i = 0; i < form.elements.length; i++) {
if(form.elements[i].value != form.elements[i].defaultValue) return(true);
}
return(false);
}
For checkboxes and radio buttons see whether element.checked != element.defaultChecked, and for HTML <select /> elements you'll need to loop over the select.options array and check for each option whether selected == defaultSelected.
You might want to look at using a framework like jQuery to attach handlers to the onchange event of each individual form element. These handlers can call your formChanged() code and modify the enabled property of your "save" button, and/or attach/detach an event handler for the document body's beforeunload event.

Here's a javascript & jquery method for detecting form changes that is simple. It disables the submit button until changes are made. It detects attempts to leave the page by means other than submitting the form. It accounts for "undos" by the user, it is encapsulated within a function for ease of application, and it doesn't misfire on submit. Just call the function and pass the ID of your form.
This function serializes the form once when the page is loaded, and again before the user leaves the page. If the two form states are different, the prompt is shown.
Try it out: http://jsfiddle.net/skibulk/ev5rE/
function formUnloadPrompt(formSelector) {
var formA = $(formSelector).serialize(), formB, formSubmit = false;
// Detect Form Submit
$(formSelector).submit( function(){
formSubmit = true;
});
// Handle Form Unload
window.onbeforeunload = function(){
if (formSubmit) return;
formB = $(formSelector).serialize();
if (formA != formB) return "Your changes have not been saved.";
};
// Enable & Disable Submit Button
var formToggleSubmit = function(){
formB = $(formSelector).serialize();
$(formSelector+' [type="submit"]').attr( "disabled", formA == formB);
};
formToggleSubmit();
$(formSelector).change(formToggleSubmit);
$(formSelector).keyup(formToggleSubmit);
}
// Call function on DOM Ready:
$(function(){
formUnloadPrompt('form');
});

Try
function isModifiedForm(form){
var __clone = $(form).clone();
__clone[0].reset();
return $(form).serialize() == $(__clone).serialize();
}
Hope its helps ))

If your using a web app framework (rails, ASP.NET, Cake, symfony), there should be packages for ajax validation,
http://webtecker.com/2008/03/17/list-of-ajax-form-validators/
and some wrapper on onbeforeunload() to warn users taht are about to close the form:
http://pragmatig.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/protecting-userdata-from-beeing-lost-with-jquery/
Detecting Unsaved Changes

I answered a question like this on Ars Technica, but the question was framed such that the changes needed to be detected even if the user does not blur a text field (in which case the change event never fires). I came up with a comprehensive script which:
enables submit and reset buttons if field values change
disables submit and reset buttons if the form is reset
interrupts leaving the page if form data has changed and not been submitted
supports IE 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari 3+ (and presumably Opera but I did not test)
This script depends on Prototype but could be easily adapted to another library or to stand alone.
$(document).observe('dom:loaded', function(e) {
var browser = {
trident: !!document.all && !window.opera,
webkit: (!(!!document.all && !window.opera) && !document.doctype) ||
(!!window.devicePixelRatio && !!window.getMatchedCSSRules)
};
// Select form elements that won't bubble up delegated events (eg. onchange)
var inputs = $('form_id').select('select, input[type="radio"], input[type="checkbox"]');
$('form_id').observe('submit', function(e) {
// Don't bother submitting if form not modified
if(!$('form_id').hasClassName('modified')) {
e.stop();
return false;
}
$('form_id').addClassName('saving');
});
var change = function(e) {
// Paste event fires before content has been pasted
if(e && e.type && e.type == 'paste') {
arguments.callee.defer();
return false;
}
// Check if event actually results in changed data
if(!e || e.type != 'change') {
var modified = false;
$('form_id').getElements().each(function(element) {
if(element.tagName.match(/^textarea$/i)) {
if($F(element) != element.defaultValue) {
modified = true;
}
return;
} else if(element.tagName.match(/^input$/i)) {
if(element.type.match(/^(text|hidden)$/i) && $F(element) != element.defaultValue) {
modified = true;
} else if(element.type.match(/^(checkbox|radio)$/i) && element.checked != element.defaultChecked) {
modified = true;
}
}
});
if(!modified) {
return false;
}
}
// Mark form as modified
$('form_id').addClassName('modified');
// Enable submit/reset buttons
$('reset_button_id').removeAttribute('disabled');
$('submit_button_id').removeAttribute('disabled');
// Remove event handlers as they're no longer needed
if(browser.trident) {
$('form_id').stopObserving('keyup', change);
$('form_id').stopObserving('paste', change);
} else {
$('form_id').stopObserving('input', change);
}
if(browser.webkit) {
$$('#form_id textarea').invoke('stopObserving', 'keyup', change);
$$('#form_id textarea').invoke('stopObserving', 'paste', change);
}
inputs.invoke('stopObserving', 'change', arguments.callee);
};
$('form_id').observe('reset', function(e) {
// Unset form modified, restart modified check...
$('reset_button_id').writeAttribute('disabled', true);
$('submit_button_id').writeAttribute('disabled', true);
$('form_id').removeClassName('modified');
startObservers();
});
var startObservers = (function(e) {
if(browser.trident) {
$('form_id').observe('keyup', change);
$('form_id').observe('paste', change);
} else {
$('form_id').observe('input', change);
}
// Webkit apparently doesn't fire oninput in textareas
if(browser.webkit) {
$$('#form_id textarea').invoke('observe', 'keyup', change);
$$('#form_id textarea').invoke('observe', 'paste', change);
}
inputs.invoke('observe', 'change', change);
return arguments.callee;
})();
window.onbeforeunload = function(e) {
if($('form_id').hasClassName('modified') && !$('form_id').hasClassName('saving')) {
return 'You have unsaved content, would you really like to leave the page? All your changes will be lost.';
}
};
});

I would store each fields value in a variable when the page loads, then compare those values when the user unloads the page. If any differences are detected you will know what to save and better yet, be able to specifically tell the user what data will not be saved if they exit.
// this example uses the prototype library
// also, it's not very efficient, I just threw it together
var valuesAtLoad = [];
var valuesOnCheck = [];
var isDirty = false;
var names = [];
Event.observe(window, 'load', function() {
$$('.field').each(function(i) {
valuesAtLoad.push($F(i));
});
});
var checkValues = function() {
var changes = [];
valuesOnCheck = [];
$$('.field').each(function(i) {
valuesOnCheck.push($F(i));
});
for(var i = 0; i <= valuesOnCheck.length - 1; i++ ) {
var source = valuesOnCheck[i];
var compare = valuesAtLoad[i];
if( source !== compare ) {
changes.push($$('.field')[i]);
}
}
return changes.length > 0 ? changes : [];
};
setInterval(function() { names = checkValues().pluck('id'); isDirty = names.length > 0; }, 100);
// notify the user when they exit
Event.observe(window, 'beforeunload', function(e) {
e.returnValue = isDirty ? "you have changed the following fields: \r\n" + names + "\r\n these changes will be lost if you exit. Are you sure you want to continue?" : true;
});

I've used dirtyforms.js. Works well for me.
http://mal.co.nz/code/jquery-dirty-forms/

To alert the user before closing, use unbeforeunload:
window.onbeforeunload = function() {
return "You are about to lose your form data.";
};

I did some Cross Browser Testing.
On Chrome and Safari this is nice:
<form onchange="validate()">
...
</form>
For Firefox + Chrome/Safari I go with this:
<form onkeydown="validate()">
...
<input type="checkbox" onchange="validate()">
</form>
Items like checkboxes or radiobuttons need an own onchange event listener.

Attach an event handler to each form input/select/textarea's onchange event. Setting a variable to tell you if you should enable the "save" button. Create an onunload hander that checks for a dirty form too, and when the form is submitted reset the variable:
window.onunload = checkUnsavedPage;
var isDirty = false;
var formElements = //Get a reference to all form elements
for(var i = 0; len = formElements.length; i++) {
//Add onchange event to each element to call formChanged()
}
function formChanged(event) {
isDirty = false;
document.getElementById("savebtn").disabled = "";
}
function checkUnsavedPage() {
if (isDirty) {
var isSure = confirm("you sure?");
if (!isSure) {
event.preventDefault();
}
}
}

Here's a full implementation of Dylan Beattie's suggestion:
Client/JS Framework for "Unsaved Data" Protection?
You shouldn't need to store initial values to determine if the form has changed, unless you're populating it dynamically on the client side (although, even then, you could still set up the default properties on the form elements).

You can also check out this jQuery plugin I built at jQuery track changes in forms plugin
See the demo here and download the JS here

If you are open to using jQuery, see my answer a similar question:
Disable submit button unless original form data has changed.

I had the same challenge and i was thinking of a common solution. The code below is not perfect, its from initial r&d. Following are the steps I used:
1) Move the following JS to a another file (say changeFramework.js)
2) Include it in your project by importing it
3) In your html page, whichever control needs monitoring, add the class "monitorChange"
4) The global variable 'hasChanged' will tell, if there is any change in the page you working on.
<script type="text/javascript" id="MonitorChangeFramework">
// MONITOR CHANGE FRAMEWORK
// ALL ELEMENTS WITH CLASS ".monitorChange" WILL BE REGISTERED FOR CHANGE
// ON CHANGE IT WILL RAISE A FLAG
var hasChanged;
function MonitorChange() {
hasChanged = false;
$(".monitorChange").change(function () {
hasChanged = true;
});
}
Following are the controls where I used this framework:
<textarea class="monitorChange" rows="5" cols="10" id="testArea"></textarea></br>
<div id="divDrinks">
<input type="checkbox" class="chb monitorChange" value="Tea" />Tea </br>
<input type="checkbox" class="chb monitorChange" value="Milk" checked='checked' />Milk</br>
<input type="checkbox" class="chb monitorChange" value="Coffee" />Coffee </br>
</div>
<select id="comboCar" class="monitorChange">
<option value="volvo">Volvo</option>
<option value="saab">Saab</option>
<option value="mercedes">Mercedes</option>
<option value="audi">Audi</option>
</select>
<button id="testButton">
test</button><a onclick="NavigateTo()">next >>> </a>
I believe there can be huge improvement in this framework. Comment/Changes/feedbacks are welcome. :)