How to Distinguish window.resize Events in Chrome: A Developer's Guide

Описание: Discover how to identify the source of `window.resize` events caused by the Chrome download bar or user actions with practical code examples and clear explanations.
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This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/62911452/ asked by the user 'woundfong' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/10234494/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/62911786/ provided by the user 'Enijar' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/2413722/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

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Understanding window.resize Events in Chrome

As developers, we often encounter situations where we need to respond to changes in our application's layout or functionality based on the size of the browser window. One particularly interesting aspect of this is understanding the window.resize event, especially in Google Chrome where certain actions can inadvertently trigger this event. A common scenario arises with the appearance or disappearance of the download bar at the bottom of the browser. But can we differentiate these events from manual resizing by users? Let’s explore this problem and learn how we can make an educated guess about the cause of a resize event.

The Problem at Hand

When a user initiates a download in Chrome, a download bar appears, resulting in a change in the window size due to the additional space this UI element consumes. Similarly, if a user closes the download bar, the window size expands again. This leads us to a crucial question: Can we distinguish whether this resizing is triggered by the download bar or by manual changes in the window size?

Unfortunately, there isn't a foolproof way to determine the exact cause of a resize event; however, we can infer it based on changes in window dimensions. Below, we’ll walk through a method to help ascertain the origin of the resize event.

Proposed Solution

We can track the changes in the window dimensions before and after the resize event, and apply some logic to infer whether the change was due to the download bar or a user resizing the browser window manually. Let’s break down this approach step-by-step.

Step 1: Track Current Dimensions

We start by maintaining the current dimensions of the window:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Here, state will hold the current width and height of the window so we can compare them during a resize event.

Step 2: Set Constants for Download Bar Size and Tolerance

Next, set constants to represent the typical size of the download bar and the allowable tolerance for variations:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Implement the resize Event Listener

Now, we implement the event listener which will respond to the resize events:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

How Does This Work?

Dimensions Tracking: By comparing the current height with the new height during a resize event, we can determine if the event was triggered by the download bar.

Boundary Checking: If the difference matches our expected range (within the bounds we set earlier), we can infer that the resize was due to the download bar appearing or disappearing.

Conclusion

While we may not be able to definitively identify the source of a window.resize event in Chrome, this method offers a practical approach to infer whether the event was triggered by the download bar. By establishing bounds and tracking the window size, developers can build smarter applications that respond to user actions more intelligently.

Incorporating this technique into your JavaScript toolkit can enhance your application's responsiveness and improve user experience, particularly for web apps where layout consistency is critical. Give it a try in your next project and see how it can benefit your code!