Question

Hashchange is for when

index.php

Changes to, say

index.php#my-hash

i.e.

$(window).bind('hashchange', function() {
  // do stuff
});

But is there an event for when there is a ? after the url, i.e.

index.php?id=foo&something_else=bar...

Edit

Okay, it’s when I submit a form. I submit the form and then the URL changes to

index.php?id=blah#my-hash

However I tried listening for a) the hashchange and b) the form submit:

$('form').submit(function() {
        go_to_signup_form();
});

Neither of which work (I think the page is refreshing?). I can’t alter the php too much because it’s part of a cms and I don’t want to break anything that’s happening in say, the controller class so I would rather just try to see when:

index.php

changes to

index.php?id=blah#my-hash

Edit #2
Thanks everyone for the feedback, got it working with:

if (url.indexOf("?") !== -1) {
    go_to_signup_form();
}

Answer 1

Nope, that is because the parameters (?foobar) aren’t usually used for client-side code. Linking to a new parameter on the same url (index.php -> index.php?foo=bar) makes your browser load a new page, while adding a hash (index.php -> index.php#foo=bar) does not make the browser transmit any data to the server.

The hash section of a url, it’s a client-side piece of data. As such, it is useful to have a change event listener for it.

Try these in your console, on a random site that doesn’t have a hash in the url yet:

window.location.href += "?test"

and:

window.location.href += "#test"

You will see that the first one will reload the page (Send a new HTTP request), the second one will not appear to do anything.

To prevent a form from submitting:

$('#target').submit(function() {
    // Your onclick code here
    return false; // Do not submit.
});