Tech Stuff - DOM preventDefault

W3C Event Reference. Part of the Events Interface

preventDefault Method

Stops the event at this function, prevents both further upward bubbling and subsequent mouse related events even in the browser (e.g. right mouse click context menu). You can also stop the right click using the stopPropagation() method.

Syntax

object.preventDefault()

Related Commands

stopPropagation

Parameters

None

Examples

// set up click event handler
window.addEventListener("click", stopit, false);

function stopit(e)
{
	if(e.button & 2)	// allows multiple buttons 
	{
		// prevent right click context menu
		e.preventDefault());
	}
}

The function stopit() will be called every time the click event is triggered for the window. If the user has clicked with the right button (right button = 2) we stop the event propagation which prevents the browser from seeing it and hence inhibits output of the context menu. Note: We use & not == in the tests for the right button in case multiple buttons were pressed.

Notes:

None.

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