What are the considerations for handling user logout or window closure in a PHP chat application?

When a user logs out or closes the chat window in a PHP chat application, it is important to properly handle their session to ensure data consistency and security. This can be achieved by destroying the user's session and updating their status in the database to reflect that they are no longer active in the chat. 

// Check if the user clicked on logout button or closed the chat window
if(isset($_POST['logout']) || !isset($_POST['logout']) && !isset($_POST['message'])) {
    // Destroy the user's session
    session_start();
    session_destroy();

    // Update user's status in the database to show they are offline
    $userId = $_SESSION['user_id'];
    $sql = "UPDATE users SET status = 'offline' WHERE id = $userId";
    // Execute the query
}

Keywords

session management logout functionality window closure JavaScript event listeners server-side cleanup

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