Event

The Event interface represents any event of the DOM. It contains common properties and methods to any event.

A lot of other interfaces implement the Event interface, either directly or by implementing another interface which does so:

Constructor

Event()

Creates an Event object.

Properties

This interface doesn't inherit any property.

Event.bubbles Read only

A boolean indicating whether the event bubbles up through the DOM or not.

Event.cancelBubble

A nonstandard alternative to Event.stopPropagation().

Event.cancelable Read only

A boolean indicating whether the event is cancelable.

Event.currentTarget Read only

A reference to the currently registered target for the event.

Event.defaultPrevented Read only

Indicates whether or not event.preventDefault() has been called on the event.

Event.eventPhase Read only

Indicates which phase of the event flow is being processed.

Event.explicitOriginalTarget Read only

The explicit original target of the event (Mozilla-specific).

Event.originalTarget Read only

The original target of the event, before any retargetings (Mozilla-specific).

Event.returnValue

A nonstandard alternative to Event.preventDefault() and Event.defaultPrevented. (old Internet Explorer-specific)

Event.srcElement

A nonstandard alias for Event.target. (old Internet Explorer-specific)

Event.target Read only

A reference to the target to which the event was originally dispatched.

Event.timeStamp Read only

The time that the event was created.

Event.type Read only

The name of the event (case-insensitive).

Event.isTrusted Read only

Indicates whether or not the event was initiated by the browser (after a user click for instance) or by a script (using an event creation method, like event.initEvent)

Methods

This interface doesn't inherit any method.

Event.initEvent()

Initializes the value of an Event created. If the event has already being dispatched, this method does nothing.

Event.preventBubble() Obsolete since Gecko 24

Prevents the event from bubbling. Obsolete, use event.stopPropagation instead.

Event.preventCapture() Obsolete since Gecko 24

Obsolete, use event.stopPropagation instead.

Event.preventDefault()

Cancels the event (if it is cancelable).

Event.stopImmediatePropagation()

For this particular event, no other listener will be called. Neither those attached on the same element, nor those attached on elements which will be traversed later (in capture phase, for instance)

Event.stopPropagation()

Stops the propagation of events further along in the DOM.

Event.getPreventDefault()

Non-standard. Returns the value of Event.defaultPrevented. Use Event.defaultPrevented instead.

See also

• Types of events available: Event reference
• Comparison of Event Targets (target vs currentTarget vs relatedTarget vs originalTarget)
• Creating and triggering custom events
• For Firefox add-on developers:
  • Listening to events in Firefox extensions
  • Listening to events on all tabs