HTML DOM Event Object

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Event Object

The event object gives you information about an event that has occurred.

The Event object represents the state of an event, such as the element in which the event occurred, the state of the keyboard keys, the location of the mouse, and the state of the mouse buttons.

Events are normally used in combination with functions, and the function will not be executed before the event occurs

Event Handlers

New to HTML 4.0 was the ability to let HTML events trigger actions in the browser, like starting a JavaScript when a user clicks on an HTML element. Below is a list of the attributes that can be inserted into HTML tags to define event actions.

IE: Internet Explorer, F: Firefox, O: Opera, W3C: W3C Standard.

Attribute The event occurs when... IE F O W3C
onblur An element loses focus 3 1 9 Yes
onchange The content of a field changes 3 1 9 Yes
onclick Mouse clicks an object 3 1 9 Yes
ondblclick Mouse double-clicks an object 4 1 9 Yes
onerror An error occurs when loading a document or an image 4 1 9 Yes
onfocus An element gets focus 3 1 9 Yes
onkeydown A keyboard key is pressed 3 1 No Yes
onkeypress A keyboard key is pressed or held down 3 1 9 Yes
onkeyup A keyboard key is released 3 1 9 Yes
onmousedown A mouse button is pressed 4 1 9 Yes
onmousemove The mouse is moved 3 1 9 Yes
onmouseout The mouse is moved off an element 4 1 9 Yes
onmouseover The mouse is moved over an element 3 1 9 Yes
onmouseup A mouse button is released 4 1 9 Yes
onresize A window or frame is resized 4 1 9 Yes
onselect Text is selected 3 1 9 Yes
onunload The user exits the page 3 1 9 Yes

Mouse / Keyboard Attributes

Property Description IE F O W3C
altKey Returns whether or not the "ALT" key was pressed when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
button Returns which mouse button was clicked when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
clientX Returns the horizontal coordinate of the mouse pointer when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
clientY Returns the vertical coordinate of the mouse pointer when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
ctrlKey Returns whether or not the "CTRL" key was pressed when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
metaKey Returns whether or not the "meta" key was pressed when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
relatedTarget Returns the element related to the element that triggered the event No 1 9 Yes
screenX Returns the horizontal coordinate of the mouse pointer when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
screenY Returns the vertical coordinate of the mouse pointer when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes
shiftKey Returns whether or not the "SHIFT" key was pressed when an event was triggered 6 1 9 Yes

Other Event Attributes

Property Description IE F O W3C
bubbles Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether or not an event is a bubbling event No 1 9 Yes
cancelable Returns a Boolean value that indicates whether or not an event can have its default action prevented No 1 9 Yes
currentTarget Returns the element whose event listeners triggered the event No 1 9 Yes
eventPhase Returns which phase of the event flow is currently being evaluated       Yes
target Returns the element that triggered the event No 1 9 Yes
timeStamp Returns the time stamp, in milliseconds, from the epoch (system start or event trigger) No 1 9 Yes
type Returns the name of the event 6 1 9 Yes

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