How Can I Detect An Address Bar Change With Javascript

Have you ever wondered how you can detect a change in the address bar using JavaScript? Maybe you're developing a web application, and you want to track when the URL changes to provide a smoother user experience. Well, you're in luck! In this article, we'll explore how you can achieve just that using JavaScript.

One way to detect changes in the address bar is by monitoring the `popstate` event. This event is triggered whenever the active history entry changes, such as when the user navigates forward or backward through the browser history or when the URL changes via JavaScript. By listening for this event, you can capture when the address bar changes and react accordingly in your code.

To begin, you can add an event listener for the `popstate` event on the `window` object. Here's an example of how you can do this:

window.addEventListener('popstate', function(event) {
    // Handle address bar change here
    console.log('Address bar changed:', window.location.href);
});

In this code snippet, we're attaching an event listener to the `popstate` event, and whenever the event is triggered, we log the current URL to the console. Feel free to replace the `console.log()` statement with your custom logic to handle the address bar change appropriately for your application.

Another method you can use to detect changes in the address bar is by polling the `window.location.href` property at regular intervals. While this approach is not as efficient as listening for events, it can be useful in scenarios where event handling is not feasible or supported.

Here's an example of how you can poll for address bar changes using `setInterval()`:

let currentUrl = window.location.href;

setInterval(function() {
    if (window.location.href !== currentUrl) {
        console.log('Address bar changed:', window.location.href);
        currentUrl = window.location.href;
    }
}, 1000); // Check every second

In this code snippet, we store the current URL in a variable and periodically compare it to the updated URL. If the URLs don't match, we log the new URL to the console and update the stored URL for future comparisons.

It's essential to choose the method that best suits your specific use case when detecting changes in the address bar with JavaScript. Whether you prefer listening for events or polling the URL, both approaches provide you with the flexibility to react to changes dynamically and enhance the user experience of your web application.

So, next time you need to keep track of address bar changes in your JavaScript application, remember these techniques and choose the one that fits your requirements. Happy coding!