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Last active March 5, 2025 21:28
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Warn before closing a GitHub new issue tab
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README.md

GitHub issue close confirmation dialog

Description

This GreaseMonkey/TamperMonkey/ViolentMonkey script aims at solving the issue raised in https://github.com/orgs/community/discussions/42581, i.e. closing an unsubmitted GitHub issue, and losing quite a lot of work.

This will display a confirmation popup before closing a tab with an unsubmitted issue, so that you don't close it by mistake.

I've tested it with Firefox (the custom message does not work due to this, but I left it as it might work for other browsers) and ViolentMonkey.

You should be able to use this link to install the script, provided that you have a UserScript manager such as GreaseMonkey/TamperMonkey/ViolentMonkey.

IMPORTANTE NOTE: The way GitHub navigates between pages makes this script more complex than it should be (see version history and discution with @paponius below), that's why now the script constantly monitors if the URL matches the new issue URL template rather than relying on browser for notifying a page change.

Changelog

v1.6

Fix a typo and improve confirmation message.

v1.5

Changed implementation to be more robust with how GitHub manages page changes (thanks @paponius). Now, the script query the URL every 60 seconds on the whole GitHub website, and only triggers when it detects that it matches the URL of a new issue. Note that this has the downside of not displaying the popup if you close the tab before the first check (in the worst case 60 seconds). I guess that no one would have the time to write anything that valuable in 60 seconds, and I wanted to keep this interval high to avoid consumming too much ressources (as it runs on any GitHub page).

v1.4

Implemented some @paponius suggestions:

  • Changed the title and body selectors so that they do not depend on unstable IDs
  • Changed the extension to .user.js for better integration with UserScript managers
  • Added a 1s delay before getting the elements as sometimes they would not be loaded yet when the script starts (and the selectors would return null)

v1.2

  • Changed title and body ID from issue_title and issue_body to :r1: and :r6:.
Raw
confirm_before_closing_github_issue.user.js
// ==UserScript==
// @name Confirm before closing unsubmitted GitHub issues
// @author leleogere
// @description Warn before closing a tab with an unsubmitted GitHub issue
// @version 1.6
// @match https://github.com/*
// ==/UserScript==
// check the URL every 60s to see if it matches the new issue URL
setInterval( () => {
'use strict';
// wait 3s for "page change" to settle
setTimeout( () => {
// early exit
if (!window.location.pathname.includes('/issues/new')) { return; };
let hasFormBeenModified = false;
// Selectors for input fields on the issue form
const titleSelector = 'input[class*="TextInput"]';
const bodySelector = 'textarea[class*="Textarea"]';
// Monitor input fields for changes
const monitorChanges = () => {
const titleField = document.querySelector(titleSelector);
const bodyField = document.querySelector(bodySelector);
// console.log(titleField)
// console.log(bodyField)
if (titleField && bodyField) {
titleField.addEventListener('input', () => {
hasFormBeenModified = true;
});
bodyField.addEventListener('input', () => {
hasFormBeenModified = true;
});
}
};
// Warn user when trying to close the tab
window.addEventListener('beforeunload', (event) => {
if (hasFormBeenModified) {
const message = 'You have a saved draft of an unsubmitted Issue, which you can still recover using "New Issue" button (in this tab). Closing this tab will remove the draft.';
event.returnValue = message; // Standard for older browsers
return message; // For modern browsers
}
});
monitorChanges();
}, 3000);
}, 60000);
@leleogere
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leleogere commented Mar 4, 2025 •
edited
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I updated the script with your last implementation. I raised the URL monitor interval to 60s to limit resources even more. I think that it's ok to lose (at worst) 60s of work in case of mistake (which could be recovered by unclosing the tab as you suggested anyway).

There are always edge cases, but I think that's better than nothing.

I've found another issue though: on some repos (such as https://github.com/ActiveState/code/issues), the "New issue" button opens a popup rather than a new page, so the URL does not change. But supporting that would make the script more complex (as it would need to check for elements rather than simply the URL).

@paponius
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paponius commented Mar 4, 2025 •
edited
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There was a typo incudes and missing pathname, I updated it and actually tested this time. Same link.

yes, there is no /new, bummer.

and another,
when you navigate from issues/new somewhere else, but still on github, you'll not get warning, as the warning is tight up to closing a real page, not React "web page".
plus, you'll get the warning later, trying to close a page which is already other than issues/new.

edit: but that's actually good. Just change the warning, detect with window.location... again, based on location use the current message, or a message saying "there is a saved draft of your un-submitted Issue, which you can still recover using "New Issue" button. Closing this tab will remove the draft."

@leleogere
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leleogere commented Mar 5, 2025

I fixed the typo and modified the message. However, note that on some browsers (such as Firefox), that message won't be displayed, and a generic confirmation dialog will pop up instead (see this discussion).

@paponius
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paponius commented Mar 5, 2025

yes, no browser will show it today. Not just Firefox.
I meant two different messages, based on the page the user is on when trying to close, but it's irrelevant as it's ignored.
I tried to inject the message to DOM, using two events, but that's also not possible.

I believe this is the best that can be done using beforeunload event. I am leaving it at that. Still better than nothing. Thanks.

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