Google chrome not displaying alert() popups for one site

Question

I was working on a javascript loop that alerted each key value as the loop progressed.

To speed things along, I checked the box "Prevent this page from creating additional dialogs". Usually this only suppresses popups for the one routine, but they haven't come back.

In Google Chrome, alert() messages no longer pop up from that site. Other sites do, but not that site.

Has anyone heard of this before?

Q: How can I reset the alert() messages for that site?

Solution 1

You don't need to restart the browser. Just close the tab and reopen it again. It does not need to be Incognito.

Solution 2

Not tested but if you have the problem again I think opening the site in an incognito window will reset the dialogs.

Edit: I added this answer which worked for the Chrome build as it was. Updates might have rendered this unnecessary (appreciate not to be marked down!)

Solution 3

Restart the browser, that should reset that option and show you new dialog boxes.

Solution 4

FROM THE OP:

The solution was to restart the browser. Lose all my tabs? No!!!

However, there's a way to restart your browser and not lose all your tabs.

Install the Session Manager add-on. There is a version of Session Manager for both Chrome and for Firefox.

Session Manager maintains a running list of your open tabs and will automatically ask you if you want to re-open them ("recover your session") after an unexpected reboot or system crash.

Additionally, Session Manager will let you save your tabs on demand and reload them at a later time, or after a reboot. You can save your "session" (all open tabs) any time you want, and give the session whatever name you want.

Finally, when reloading a previous session, you can also choose which tabs to re-open and which tabs to ignore.

Can't live without it, in either Chrome or Firefox.

Chrome extension

Firefox extension

And if you are using IE . . . well, you have other problems.

Solution 5

If you want to detect if these are being blocked. You will have to do your own thing with the message you will be dispalying but override the native alert/confirm.

window.nativeAlert = window.alert;
window.alert = function (message) {
var timeBefore = new Date();
var confirmBool = nativeAlert(message);
var timeAfter = new Date();
if ((timeAfter - timeBefore) < 350) {
    MySpecialDialog("You have alerts turned off, turn them back on or die!!!");
  }
}

window.nativeConfirm = window.confirm;
window.confirm = function (message) {
var timeBefore = new Date();
var confirmBool = nativeConfirm(message);
var timeAfter = new Date();
if ((timeAfter - timeBefore) < 350) {
    MySpecialDialog("You have alerts turned off, turn them back on or die!!!");
}
 return confirmBool;
}

Obviously I have set the time to 3.5 milliseconds. But after some testing we were only able to click or close the dialogs in about 5 milliseconds plus

View more solutions

Comments

[bfavaretto]

Maybe Chrome is doing you a favor: forget alert and start using the console!

[epascarello]

this is a supoer user type of question, but look at the pop up manager support.google.com/chrome/answer/95472?hl=en-GB

[cssyphus]

@Adam You might be right. I've got so many tabs open I was trying everything to avoid that. Please post this idea as an answer so I can accept if it works.

[aequalsb]

i recommend the solution from chharvey below as the most elegant solution (close the tab then reopen it)

[cssyphus]

You are absolutely right! Much better solution than bouncing the browser. Thanks.

[Rocco]

opening a new tab or window works for me as of Chrome 39 - does not have to be incognito

[aequalsb]

i confirm this works and consider it the most elegant solution, thank you.

[chharvey]

@Rocco—agreed. see my answer.

[Sean Kendle]

What's the logic behind this? I get what each line does, but why does this "discover" if the alert is suppressed?

[DeadlyChambers]

We are using frames (yuck) and the user was able to turn them off on one page and then not see them anywhere else. This is a problem because some validation is dependent on the confirm callback (yuck again). The returned value is false when the confirms are blocked. Even worse the confirm doesn't show. So the user submits and has no idea why the page doesn't do anything. Workaround for poor design, trust me I hate it but a legacy app that is massive. The workaround saved us a ton of time.

[Sean Kendle]

Thanks for that explanation, but my question wasn't about the necessity to check for alert suppression, but why that code works to tell you that it's been suppressed. I'm not understanding why 3.5 milliseconds later it's clear that the alert was suppressed. Who can click an alert in 3.5 milliseconds? I'm confused.

[Sean Kendle]

Also: The "or die" phrase - is that a PHP inside joke? Haha!

[DeadlyChambers]

Oh, well it works for that very reason. Nobody could possibly click the ok/cancel button in 3.5 milliseconds. Unless they got it by hitting return and didn't remove the finger from the key. I got the idea from firefox which was checking if two alerts were opened within a second of each other then the checkbox is displayed. Anyways when a native popup is opened in the browser operations are halted until the dialog is resolved (closed or buttons are hit). Since the browser doesn't display a dialog it runs through these functions almost immediately. I hope this makes a little bit more sense.

[DeadlyChambers]

@SeanKendle I like to strike fear into the heart's of my users, I have found that death threats work pretty well.

[Hoàng Long]

@KjetilNordin: I think it has something to do with cookie/session. Incognito mode doesn't maintain your cookie. Of course a guy at Google read this answer and fix the problem.

[Guruprasad J Rao]

I don't think you need extensions for this, because the browser itself will have properties to set as in On startup you can choose to continue where you left off and you can find this in browser settings...

[Karthick Ramesh]

Welcome to SO. Please avoid adding comments in answers section