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A known bug? target="_blank" and window.close() do no longer work together since Firefox 72

  • 5 cavab
  • 1 has this problem
  • 177 views
  • Last reply by Maximilian

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Assume you create a new window (pop-up) using javascript and have its content be something like this:

<html>
<body>
  <form action="some_action.php" target="_blank"> 
     ... some form fields ... 

     <button onclick="window.close()">
        submit in new tab & close pop-up
     </button>
  </form> 

  <a href="some_page.php" target="_blank" onclick="window.close()">
     open link in new tab & close pop-up 
  </a>
</body>
</html>


If you click the button "submit in new tab & close pop-up" the following should happen:

  1. Firefox submits the form in a new tab (because target="_blank" is set in the <form>)
  2. The pop-up closes itself (because onclick="window.close()" is set)

And if you click the link "open link in new tab & close pop-up" the following should happen:

  1. Firefox opens the link in a new tab (because target="_blank" is set in the <a>)
  2. The pop-up closes itself (because onclick="window.close()" is set)

However, what happens instead is this:

  1. Firefox only opens an empty tab, i.e. the submission of the form / the opening of the link fails
  2. The pop-up closes itself

This clearly seems to be a bug, right? Is this a known problem? I tested it with older versions and the problem apparently was introduced relatively recently with Firefox 72. More precisely, the form submission bug was introduced with Firefox 72 Beta 1 and the link opening bug was introduced with Firefox 72 Beta 7.

In Chrome and Internet Explorer both cases work as expected.

Assume you create a new window (pop-up) using javascript and have its content be something like this: <pre> &lt;html&gt; &lt;body&gt; <form action="some_action.php" target="_blank"> ... some form fields ... <button onclick="window.close()"> submit in new tab & close pop-up </button> </form> &lt;a href="some_page.php" target="_blank" onclick="window.close()"&gt; open link in new tab & close pop-up &lt;/a&gt; &lt;/body&gt; &lt;/html&gt; </pre> If you click the button "submit in new tab & close pop-up" the following should happen: # Firefox submits the form in a new tab (because target="_blank" is set in the <form>) # The pop-up closes itself (because onclick="window.close()" is set) And if you click the link "open link in new tab & close pop-up" the following should happen: # Firefox opens the link in a new tab (because target="_blank" is set in the <a>) # The pop-up closes itself (because onclick="window.close()" is set) However, what happens instead is this: # Firefox only opens an '''empty''' tab, i.e. the submission of the form / the opening of the link fails # The pop-up closes itself This clearly seems to be a bug, right? Is this a known problem? I tested it with older versions and the problem apparently was introduced relatively recently with Firefox 72. More precisely, the form submission bug was introduced with Firefox 72 Beta 1 and the link opening bug was introduced with Firefox 72 Beta 7. In Chrome and Internet Explorer both cases work as expected.

Modified by Maximilian

All Replies (5)

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Oh no, the commenting system messed up my HTML code. Is there a way to format code as code?

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Okay, I edited the code above, it should be displayed correctly now.

Modified by Maximilian

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Hello maximilian.schlederer,

please read the given statement I hope solve your problem :

This is a example of form in PHP link

The button form attribute
<form action="/action_page.php" method="get" id="nameform"> <label for="fname">First name:</label> <input type="text" id="fname" name="fname">

<label for="lname">Last name:</label> <input type="text" id="lname" name="lname"> </form>

The button below is outside the form element, but still part of the form.

<button type="submit" form="nameform" value="Submit">Submit</button>


note: PHP file is must in same folder or full path where you link

<a target="_blank|_self|_parent|_top|framename">

_blank: Opens the linked document in a new window or tab.

thank you your problem is fixed then reply me

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Arman Khan, your comment is unrelated to my problem. Please see my original post and my updated comment with the properly formatted code sample.

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