My JavaScript is active on a regular basis. When the user does not view the site (that is, the window or tab does not have focus), it is best not to run.

Is there a way to do this with JavaScript?

My reference point: if the window you are using is not activated, Gmail chat will play sound.

#1 building

Since the initial writing of this answer, the new specification has reached the recommended state due to the W3C. Now, Page visibility API (in On MDN )Enables us to more accurately detect when the page is hidden from the user.

document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", onchange);

Current browser support:

• Chromium 13+
• Internet Explorer 10+
• Firefox 10+
• Opera 12.10+ [ Reading notes ]

The following code will revert to unreliable blur / focus methods in incompatible browsers:

(function() {
  var hidden = "hidden";

  // Standards:
  if (hidden in document)
    document.addEventListener("visibilitychange", onchange);
  else if ((hidden = "mozHidden") in document)
    document.addEventListener("mozvisibilitychange", onchange);
  else if ((hidden = "webkitHidden") in document)
    document.addEventListener("webkitvisibilitychange", onchange);
  else if ((hidden = "msHidden") in document)
    document.addEventListener("msvisibilitychange", onchange);
  // IE 9 and lower:
  else if ("onfocusin" in document)
    document.onfocusin = document.onfocusout = onchange;
  // All others:
  else
    window.onpageshow = window.onpagehide
    = window.onfocus = window.onblur = onchange;

  function onchange (evt) {
    var v = "visible", h = "hidden",
        evtMap = {
          focus:v, focusin:v, pageshow:v, blur:h, focusout:h, pagehide:h
        };

    evt = evt || window.event;
    if (evt.type in evtMap)
      document.body.className = evtMap[evt.type];
    else
      document.body.className = this[hidden] ? "hidden" : "visible";
  }

  // set the initial state (but only if browser supports the Page Visibility API)
  if( document[hidden] !== undefined )
    onchange({type: document[hidden] ? "blur" : "focus"});
})();

For IE 9 and earlier, you need to onfocusin and onfocusout, and all other functions need to use onfocus and onblur except iOS using onpageshow and onpagehide iOS.

#2 building

A slightly more complex approach is to use setInterval() to check the mouse position and compare it with the previous check. If the mouse does not move within the set time, the user may be idle.

This has the added advantage of telling the user if they are idle, and It's not just about checking that the window is active.

As many people have pointed out, this is not a good way to check whether the user or browser window is free, because the user may not even be using the mouse or watching videos, etc. I just suggest a possible way to check the idle state.

#3 building

This is an adaptation of Andy E's answer.

This performs a task, such as refreshing the page every 30 seconds, provided that the page is visible and focused.

If visibility cannot be detected, only focus is used.

If the user focuses the page, it will be updated immediately

The page will not be updated again until 30 seconds after any ajax call

var windowFocused = true;
var timeOut2 = null;

$(function(){
  $.ajaxSetup ({
    cache: false
  });
  $("#content").ajaxComplete(function(event,request, settings){
       set_refresh_page(); // ajax call has just been made, so page doesn't need updating again for 30 seconds
   });
  // check visibility and focus of window, so as not to keep updating unnecessarily
  (function() {
      var hidden, change, vis = {
              hidden: "visibilitychange",
              mozHidden: "mozvisibilitychange",
              webkitHidden: "webkitvisibilitychange",
              msHidden: "msvisibilitychange",
              oHidden: "ovisibilitychange" /* not currently supported */
          };
      for (hidden in vis) {
          if (vis.hasOwnProperty(hidden) && hidden in document) {
              change = vis[hidden];
              break;
          }
      }
      document.body.className="visible";
      if (change){     // this will check the tab visibility instead of window focus
          document.addEventListener(change, onchange,false);
      }

      if(navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer")
         window.onfocus = document.onfocusin = document.onfocusout = onchangeFocus
      else
         window.onfocus = window.onblur = onchangeFocus;

      function onchangeFocus(evt){
        evt = evt || window.event;
        if (evt.type == "focus" || evt.type == "focusin"){
          windowFocused=true; 
        }
        else if (evt.type == "blur" || evt.type == "focusout"){
          windowFocused=false;
        }
        if (evt.type == "focus"){
          update_page();  // only update using window.onfocus, because document.onfocusin can trigger on every click
        }

      }

      function onchange () {
        document.body.className = this[hidden] ? "hidden" : "visible";
        update_page();
      }

      function update_page(){
        if(windowFocused&&(document.body.className=="visible")){
          set_refresh_page(1000);
        }
      }


  })();
  set_refresh_page();
})

function get_date_time_string(){
  var d = new Date();
  var dT = [];
  dT.push(d.getDate());
  dT.push(d.getMonth())
  dT.push(d.getFullYear());
  dT.push(d.getHours());
  dT.push(d.getMinutes());
  dT.push(d.getSeconds());
  dT.push(d.getMilliseconds());
  return dT.join('_');
}

function do_refresh_page(){

// do tasks here

// e.g. some ajax call to update part of the page.

// (date time parameter will probably force the server not to cache)

//      $.ajax({
//        type: "POST",
//        url: "someUrl.php",
//        data: "t=" + get_date_time_string()+"&task=update",
//        success: function(html){
//          $('#content').html(html);
//        }
//      });

}

function set_refresh_page(interval){
  interval = typeof interval !== 'undefined' ? interval : 30000; // default time = 30 seconds
  if(timeOut2 != null) clearTimeout(timeOut2);
  timeOut2 = setTimeout(function(){
    if((document.body.className=="visible")&&windowFocused){
      do_refresh_page();
    }
    set_refresh_page();
  }, interval);
}

#4 building

You can use:

(function () {

    var requiredResolution = 10; // ms
    var checkInterval = 1000; // ms
    var tolerance = 20; // percent


    var counter = 0;
    var expected = checkInterval / requiredResolution;
    //console.log('expected:', expected);

    window.setInterval(function () {
        counter++;
    }, requiredResolution);

    window.setInterval(function () {
        var deviation = 100 * Math.abs(1 - counter / expected);
        // console.log('is:', counter, '(off by', deviation , '%)');
        if (deviation > tolerance) {
            console.warn('Timer resolution not sufficient!');
        }
        counter = 0;
    }, checkInterval);

})();

#5 building

var visibilityChange = (function (window) {
    var inView = false;
    return function (fn) {
        window.onfocus = window.onblur = window.onpageshow = window.onpagehide = function (e) {
            if ({focus:1, pageshow:1}[e.type]) {
                if (inView) return;
                fn("visible");
                inView = true;
            } else if (inView) {
                fn("hidden");
                inView = false;
            }
        };
    };
}(this));

visibilityChange(function (state) {
    console.log(state);
});

http://jsfiddle.net/ARTsinn/JTxQY/