I have several forms which look like this:
<form id=myForm onsubmit="saveFormData(this);return false">
....
</form>
Upon submission, a custom function is executed and the default action (sending the data through http) is canceled.
But now I need to validate the form and if it validates ok, then trigger the custom function (saveFormData in this case, but it may be different for other forms), otherwise do nothing.
So the final event handler should work like this:
$('#myForm').submit(function(){
if(formValidatesOk(this))
saveFormData() ;
return false ;
}
However, I cant make changes to the HTML code, so I need a general way of redefining the onsubmit event by wrapping the hardcoded handler with a jquery event handler.
The first thing that comes to my mind is something like (untested):
var hardcodedHandler = $('#myForm').prop('onsubmit') ; // save the current handler
$('#myForm').prop('onsubmit',null) ; // remove the current handler
$('#myForm').submit(function(){
if(formValidatesOk(this)) // if the form is valid then...
Function(hardcodedHandler).call(this) ; // trigger the original handler
return false ;
}) ;
But that's not very elegant (to say the least).
Do you know of a better way of doing it?
You can just take the old function from the onsubmit property of the element, you don't need to eval it:
var form = $('#myForm');
var oldHandler = form.prop("onsubmit");
form.removeProp("onsubmit").submit(function(e){
e.preventDefault();
if(formValidatesOk(this))
oldHandler.call(this, e);
});
Demo at jsfiddle.net
Events are unpredictable (in the way they get fired). I think that handers, bounded to them, must not rely on order either. So binding a handler to a event which changes the previous added handler is certainly a (very) bad practice. And indeed, as you suggested, you can never be sure which handler will be triggered first. After all, events should have no notice of each other. One should use events and handlers to avoid high coupling of the code.
The best way to approach this issue (taking your constraints into account) is to decorate your 'old' handler with the new behaviour. Bergi posted a nice example of this.
Related
I am taking a web development class. Today the teacher gave us a piece of code that raised some questions that I haven't been able to satisfactorily solve through my own searching. The code in question was essentially this:
<script>
function selectmouse(e){
...
...
}
document.onmousedown = selectmouse;
</script>
My first question, is this a legitimate way of calling functions? Is this something that is done? I am of course familiar with the typical way of calling functions from HTML elements, for example
<body onmousedown="selectmouse(event)">
The code was supposed to be calling the function and passing it the event object for the onmousedown. After playing with the code for a while I found a few unusual things.
First, if I put parenthesis after the function call, like I am used to doing (i.e. selectmouse();), then the function resolved immediately upon loading the page, with a value of 'undefined' for the variable. This makes intuitive sense to me, because I assume the browser is treating it like a variable assignment and therefore calling the function as it parses the code, as it normally would to assign a variable.
However the part that is weird to me happened when I deleted the '()' and left it as it is coded above. In this instance it seemed to function like she wanted it to. It would call the function when the mouse was pressed in any part of the body, and it sent the event object as the variable for the function. But I can't figure out why. I can't find reference to anything similar to it online, and I've never seen anything like it before. Is this a legitimate way to do something like this? Or is this bad code that happens to be working for some reason and would probably cause problems in the future? Why is it working?
document.onmousedown = selectmouse; //note: never do this except in old browsers
However the part that is weird to me happened when I deleted the '()' and left it as it is coded above. In this instance it seemed to function like she wanted it to.
That's not weird. You are passing the reference of the function to the browser, not executing it.
For example, you have this function:
function callback(){
alert("clicked!");
}
document.body.onclick = callback;
You pass the reference to onclick and the browser will know what function to call when the event is triggered. But if you do it like this:
document.body.onclick = callback();
This will be evaluated into:
document.body.onclick = alert("clicked!");
//Note that this is simplified explanation to visualize what is happening.
//The returned value of alert() is not assigned to onclick.
//To be exact the returned value of callback() is the one that is being assigned.
//Similar to:
// ...onclick = (function(){ alert("clicked!"); })();
Then you will see an alert, and the browser will continue executing the rest of the code:
document.body.onclick = undefined;
<body onmousedown="selectmouse(event)"> <!-- Don't do this too -->
The parentheses are necessary because this code is not executed instantly. It is only executed when the event is triggered.
Anyway, you shouldn't attach events both using .onmousedown or onmousdown="...". There is a better way of doing it:
element.addEventListener("mousedown", callback, false);
Reason: If you use the onmousedown property, you can only attach one mousedown event. In most cases you would want to attach more than one.
Also attaching events inline might cause security problems (cross-site scripting), and that is exactly why Google decided to prohibit all developers from using them in developing Chrome apps/extensions.
This is legitimate code and is working as it should.
The way you are comfortable with is just a method we tried while the web was evolving, but at present we should better use the second way you showed, although its changed bit more to make you understand it in a better way using event bindings.
When you do
function selectmouse(e){
...
...
}
javascript will create a variable named selectmouse and save the function in that variable. So selectmouse is a variable of type function with the function body as its value.
document on the other hand can be related to class or specifically an object which is an instance. Each document and each HTML element or DOM node can have in it variables to store the functions to be called on user events like onmousedown.
so when doing
document.onmousedown = selectmouse;
we are inturn saying
when mousedown happens in document, the function named selectmouse
should be called
If you do
document.onmousedown = selectmouse();
it means
run the function selectmouse immediately and get the result, assign
the result to onmousedown event of the DOM Node document.
And if you ask why this is taken apart from the form
<body onmousedown="selectmouse(event)">
To answer in a simple way, HTML is Hyper Text Markup Language, its sole purpose is to represent formatted data, the quick evolution of web inturn made it deranged with behaviours like this and presentation code like inline css. So to make behaviour and presentation out of HTML and thus a better design we do this.
Please take time to take a look at how you can bind a function to an event which is the current tradeoff in doing this same thing.
For a detailed explanation please check the events sectio of ppk blog here
I think that is correct, because the function is being called within the script as if it were an object, to me is not the best way to do it, I would have like this (with jquery):
$(document).mousedown(function (event) {
// here the content of the function
});
<body onmousedown="selectmouse(event)">
In this example the browser evaluates the result of the expression selectmouse(event) and assigns it to the onmousedown property of the body, event is undefined and the selectmouse doesn't return anything so it's result is undefined.
It is equivalent of the following if it was inside a script tag
<script>
function selectmouse(e) {
}
document.body.onmousedown = selectmouse(event);
</script>
<body onmousedown="selectmouse">
When you remove the () you are assigning a function to the onmousedown property. Now the browser fires your callback method whenever the mousedown event is raised and it bubbles up to the body, passing the current event as the parameter you're declaring as "e". If another element also had an onmousedown event handler declared but it cancelled the event ( by calling event.cancelBubble = true ) the body's onmousedown handler will not be invoked.
<script>
function selectmouse(e) {
}
document.body.onmousedown = selectmouse;
</script>
I'm trying to execute JavaScript functions that are called when a event (for example onClick event) is performed on a web page with JavaScript code. I'm getting the function from the event like this :
var attributval = document.getElementsByTagName("a").getAttribute('onClick');
and I'm trying to execute this object (which a JavaScript function in fact) as a function (suppose we have <a onClick = alert('whatever');> on this example, I tried:
var attributval = document.getElementsByTagName("a").getAttribute('onClick');
attributval() = function(){attributval};
attributval();
but it didn't work.
A DOM attribute is not the same as a JavaScript property (even though they can have the same name onclick). You should use
var attributval = document.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].onclick;
to retrieve a function (or null) from the JS object (as opposed to getAttribute(), which will most likely return a toString() for the property).
Now, attributval() = is illegal syntax, as attributval() is not an l-value (you cannot assign to it).
attributval(); will work but without the second line (which is illegal JavaScript) it will invoke the original A element onclick handler (if one is defined) or throw an exception (if the onclick handler is null).
Skip trying to create a function around the function. Just call it:
var attributval = document.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].onclick;
attributval();
try
var attributval = document.getElementsByTagName("a")[0].getAttribute('onClick');
By using get attribute you are returning a string so your only way is to use eval(onclickString) or var fn = new Function(onClickString); fn();
attributval is simply a string, correct? If you trust this code, execute it with eval(attributval) -- however any reference to this won't work.
What you probably want is to manually trigger an event. jQuery makes that easy.
If you want to do more than a click, then Chris McDonald's answer at Is it possible to trigger a link's (or any element's) click event through JavaScript? seems to fit the bill, although you might need to heed the third comment.
I thought I'd add a short answer on how to work with events using jQuery, since it seems relevant.
// Select the link using it's ID field (assuming it has one)
var myLink = $('a#myLink')
// Add a click event to the link
myLink.on('click', function(e) {
console.log("I've been clicked!");
});
// Trigger the click event manually. This would result in the above
// function being run. Interestingly, this will not cause the browser
// to follow the link like a real click would
myLink.trigger('click');
// Remove the click event (this removes ALL click events)
myLink.off('click');
// Add a click event to the link that only runs once, then removes itself
myLink.one('click', function() {
alert("I'll only bother you once!");
});
// Add a click event that you can identify from other click events.
// This means that you can trigger it or remove it without bothering other
// click events
myLink.on('click.myClick', function() {
alert("This click event has been identified as 'myClick'");
});
// Now you can trigger it without triggering other click events
myLink.trigger('click.myClick');
// And remove it, also with no harm coming to other click events
myLink.off('click.myClick');
Hope this helps
I'm working on a validation project and I currently have it set up where my inputs are listed as objects. I currently have this code to setup and run the events:
setup method and functions used
function setup(obj) {
obj.getElement().onfocus = function() {startVal(obj)}
obj.getElement().onblur = function() {endVal(obj)}
}
function startVal(obj) {
obj.getElement().onkeyup = validate(obj)
}
function endVal(obj) {
obj.getElement().onkeyup = ""
}
Take note to how I have it where the onkeyup event should set when the object is receives focus, However when I activate the input it acts like I tagged the validate() function directly to the onfocus and it only validates when I initially focus the input.
edit the reason I have it set up this way is so that I don't have every single one of my form elements validating each time I launch an onkeyup event(which would be a lot since forms usually involve a decent amount of typing). I got it to work by simply attaching the validate() function to the onkeyup event. I just would prefer limit it this way so the there's no unnecessary processing.
Can you not set events with other events or is there something more specific that I'm doing wrong?
Any help is appreciated!
Here is some additional information that might help:
getElement Method
function getElement() {
return document.getElementById(this.id)
}
setEvents function
function setEvents() {
firstName.setup(firstName)
}
You are calling validate directly. Unless it is returning a function, it won't work (maybe you should have read my other answer more thoroughly ;)). I think you want:
obj.getElement().onkeyup = function() {validate(obj)};
And as I stated in my comment, there is no reason to add or remove the event handler on focus. The keyup event is only raised if the element receives input, so not when other elements receive input.
Is there a way to run a function only if event.preventDefault() is called on an event (by another unknown function). This is for a jQuery plugin, so I don't have any knowledge of what other parts of the page might be doing. I've tried this:
Event.test = Event.preventDefault;
Event.preventDefault = function () {
alert('Success');
this.test();
}
but it doesn't work... just behaves as normal, with no errors.
Conversely, I want the opposite too... to call a function only if event.preventDefault() isn't called. In effect, to add a function to the default action for an event. Any ideas? Is all this at all possible?
Edit: Based on the comment, I've got a solution to the first problem: http://jsfiddle.net/nathan/VAePB/9/. It works in Chrome (alerts function preventDefault() { [native code] }, but IE alerts undefined. So IE won't let me define Event.prototype.test, but it will let me redefine Event.prototype.preventDefault. Weird. I'm sure I can come up with a solution to the the second problem based on this one if I can just get it to work in IE.
I'm not sure I've understand. Can't you just use event.isDefaultPrevented() like this
For the first problem, try something like this:
oldPreventDefault = Event.prototype.preventDefault;
Event.prototype.preventDefault = function() {
//do stuff
oldPreventDefault.call(this);
}
I don't know if that will work, but it might be worth a shot.
For the second problem, I would try something similar to live event handling. Put a listener on a parent element (i.e. body or a top-level div). If you can get your hook into preventDefault as noted before, you can use that to set a flag. If the event bubbles up to that element and your flag isn't set, do your extended behavior. Though this won't work with all events, since not all events bubble. Another way to tackle this problem might be to delay execution until the current stack has finished using setTimeout(0,...) and then checking the flag.
Maybe I'm totally missing something about even handling in jQuery, but here's my problem.
Let's assume there are some event binding, like
$(element).bind("mousemove", somefunc);
Now, I'd like to introduce a new mousemove binding that doesn't override the previous one, but temporarily exclude (unbind) it. In other words, when I bind my function, I must be sure that no other functions will ever execute for that event, until I restore them.
I'm looking for something like:
$(element).bind("mousemove", somefunc);
// Somefunc is used regularly
var savedBinding = $(element).getCurrentBinding("mousemove");
$(element).unbind("mousemove").bind("mousemove", myfunc);
// Use myfunc instead
$(element).unbind("mousemove", myfunc).bind("mousemove", savedBindings);
Of course, the somefunc is not under my control, or this would be useless :)
Is my understanding that is possible to bind multiple functions to the same event, and that the execution of those functions can't be pre-determined.
I'm aware of stopping event propagation and immediate event propagation, but I'm thinking that they are useless in my case, as the execution order can't be determined (but maybe I'm getting these wrong).
How can I do that?
EDIT: I need to highlight this: I need that the previously installed handler (somefunc) isn't executed. I am NOT defining that handler, it may be or may be not present, but its installed by a third-party user.
EDIT2: Ok, this is not feasible right now, I think I'm needing the eventListenerList, which is not implemented in most browsers yet. http://www.w3.org/TR/2002/WD-DOM-Level-3-Events-20020208/changes.html
Another way could be to use custom events, something along these lines:
var flag = 0;
$(element).bind("mousemove", function() {
if(flag) {
$(this).trigger("supermousemove");
} else {
$(this).trigger("magicmousemove");
}
}).bind("supermousemove", function() {
// do something super
}).bind("magicmousemove", function() {
// do something magical
});
$("#foo").click(function() {
flag = flag == 1 ? 0 : 1; // simple switch
});
Highly annoying demo here: http://jsfiddle.net/SkFvW/
Good if the event is bound to multiple elements:
$('.foo').click(function() {
if ( ! $(this).hasClass('flag')) {
do something
}
});
(add class 'flag' to sort of unbind, add it to 'bind')