Conditionally open url in new tab via js

Question

I have a survey-like web application where a user selects a number of checkboxes and then presses "Submit" button-like link

<!-- page: /survey -->
<form id="survey" method="post" action="/complete">
    <!-- checkboxes, etc here -->
    <a id="submit" class="button" href="#">Submit</a>
</form>
<script>
    $('#submit').on('click', function (e) {
        e.preventDefault();
        //... other staff happens here
        $('#survey').submit();
    });
</script>

Then the form is processed on the server and results are shown to the user on /complete page.

What I want to achieve is to conditionally open a new tab after form was submitted. This condition and the url of the tab will be determined on the server after the survey was submitted.

I can make it work unconditionally if I plug window.open('...', '_blank') into the click-event handler on the initial /survey page:

$('#submit').on('click', function (e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    //... other staff happens here
    window.open('http://example.com', '_blank'); // <---- this line
    $('#survey').submit();
});

It fails though, if I use window.open on the /complete page: a popup warning appears instead. Probably because it is not connected to any user-initiated event.

In my case, however, there is a user-initiated event, but it happened on a previous page. Is there any way I can pass this event to the new page (obviously new page is on the same domain name, protocol, etc). Probably there is another way?

Answer 1

The right way to do what you're after is to change the markup:

<form id="survey" method="post" action="/complete">
    <!-- checkboxes, etc here -->
    <button type="submit" id="submit" class="button">Submit</button>
</form>

And then in JavaScript, listen for the submit event. This will allow native features—such as implicit submission (enter key in a text field), or middle-clicking on the submit button—to work by default.

Now here're some important parts:

• only prevent the default behavior if the input is invalid
• if you want the form to open in a new tab, change the target attribute of the form.

$('#survey').on('submit', function (e) {
    if (!checkValidity(...)) {
        e.preventDefault();
        return;
    }

    //other stuff happens

    var newTab = shouldOpenInNewTab(...);
    $(this).attr('target', newTab ? '_blank' : '');
});

Doing that will allow the browser to use its default behaviors. It's cross-browser compatible, and it's accessible.