jQuery: How to get the event object in an event handler function without passing it as an argument?

by

Since the event object “evt” is not passed from the parameter, is it still possible to obtain this object?

No, not reliably. IE and some other browsers make it available as window.event (not $(window.event)), but that’s non-standard and not supported by all browsers (famously, Firefox does not).

You’re better off passing the event object into the function:

<a href="#" onclick="myFunc(event, 1,2,3)">click</a>

That works even on non-IE browsers because they execute the code in a context that has an event variable (and works on IE because event resolves to window.event). I’ve tried it in IE6+, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. Example: http://jsbin.com/iwifu4

But your best bet is to use modern event handling:

HTML:

<a href="#">click</a>

JavaScript using jQuery (since you’re using jQuery):

$("selector_for_the_anchor").click(function(event) {
    // Call `myFunc`
    myFunc(1, 2, 3);

    // Use `event` here at the event handler level, for instance
    event.stopPropagation();
});

…or if you really want to pass event into myFunc:

$("selector_for_the_anchor").click(function(event) {
    myFunc(event, 1, 2, 3);
});

The selector can be anything that identifies the anchor. You have a very rich set to choose from (nearly all of CSS3, plus some). You could add an id or class to the anchor, but again, you have other choices. If you can use where it is in the document rather than adding something artificial, great.

More Related Contents:

  1. jQuery Event Keypress: Which key was pressed?
  2. Definitive way to trigger keypress events with jQuery
  3. Remove array element based on object property
  4. Can I call jQuery’s click() to follow an link if I haven’t bound an event handler to it with bind or click already?
  5. How to add an object to an array
  6. What is the difference between the mouseover and mouseenter events?
  7. Difference between “change” and “input” event for an `input` element
  8. Resize event for textarea?
  9. How do you log all events fired by an element in jQuery?
  10. Jquery: change event to input file on IE
  11. Preventing click event with jQuery drag and drop
  12. Attach an event in a child iframe to a handler in the parent window
  13. Javascript with jQuery: Click and double click on same element, different effect, one disables the other
  14. jQuery: Unbind event handlers to bind them again later
  15. How do you detect the clearing of a “search” HTML5 input?
  16. break array of objects into separate arrays based on a property
  17. jQuery prevent change for select
  18. jQuery event that triggers after CSS is loaded?
  19. jQuery events .load(), .ready(), .unload()
  20. Performance difference between jQuery’s .live(‘click’, fn) and .click(fn)
  21. Drop event not firing in chrome
  22. Capture event onclose browser
  23. List all javascript events wired up on a page using jquery
  24. jQuery: How to listen for DOM changes?
  25. Is there an equivalent to e.PageX position for ‘touchstart’ event as there is for click event?
  26. Fire oninput event with jQuery
  27. Unloading/Removing content from an iFrame
  28. jquery keypress event object keyCode for firefox problem?
  29. How to capture browser close event?
  30. Find object having maximum value for the `id` property in an array of objects

Leave a Comment