How do I close all child windows opened by a parent window?

>Also, keep in mind, I can't simply keep track of the windows as they are opened (for example, populate an array as they are opened), as the windows will be opened at different times. I don't think that makes a difference. Keep a global array of windows, and just push a window into it anytime the user clicks the button that opens the window. Just make sure you check that the window exists before you try to close it to avoid errors.

Someone asked something similar on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6340160/how-to-get-the-references-of-all-already-opened-child-windows. Short answer: you can't do it unless you store the windows' references in the first place. But I'm not clear on why you can't store them; as long as the user isn't reloading the original page in the main browser window, the (global) variables associated with it shouldn't be lost just because he/she switches to a child window. Define a global array and push each new reference returned by window.open() to it; you just need to be careful to check that the windows still exist before you try to close them (in case the user beat you to it).

... snap!

Expanding from the SO code linked above, if you want to cascade the close operation through the cihldren's children (all such children need to include this script):var openedWindows = [];window._open = window.open; // saving original functionwindow._close = window.close;window.open = function(url,name,params){ var w = window._open(url,name,params) openedWindows.push(w); return w;}window.close = function() { for (w in openedWindows) { //cascade to children w.close(); } window._close();}I haven't actually tested this code, so any bugs are your problem.

Oh, and you may want to wrap the for loop in the close function in try / catch.

Another approach would be to have the callee inform the caller whenever it was opened (presuming you have control over the callee). This would let you use regular links rather than JS calls through window.open. Define a registration function (say, register) on the parent that adds the passed window to the child list, then have the callee invoke it: if (window.parent) window.parent.register(window);

Note that you have a misconception in your statement. The parent window's global variables don't get lost they save state as long as the window is open so having a global "openedWindows" variable should save state the whole time. Small change to axioms code:window.close = function() { while (w = openedWindows.shift()) {// this both will grab a reference and empty the array //cascade to children w.close(); // Note in axioms code it should be openedwindows[w].close() } window._close();}