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JavaScript - Events

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What is an Event ?

JavaScript's interaction with HTML is handled through events that occur when the user or the browser manipulates a page.

When the page loads, it is called an event. When the user clicks a button, that click too is an event. Other examples include events like pressing any key, closing a window, resizing a window, etc.

Developers can use these events to execute JavaScript coded responses, which cause buttons to close windows, messages to be displayed to users, data to be validated, and virtually any other type of response imaginable.

Events are a part of the Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 and every HTML element contains a set of events which can trigger JavaScript Code.

Please go through this small tutorial for a better understanding HTML Event Reference. Here we will see a few examples to understand a relation between Event and JavaScript −

onclick Event Type

This is the most frequently used event type which occurs when a user clicks the left button of his mouse. You can put your validation, warning etc., against this event type.

Example

Try the following example.

Live Demo 
<html>
   <head>   
      <script type = "text/javascript">
         <!--
            function sayHello() {
               alert("Hello World")
            }
         //-->
      </script>      
   </head>
   
   <body>
      <p>Click the following button and see result</p>      
      <form>
         <input type = "button" onclick = "sayHello()" value = "Say Hello" />
      </form>      
   </body>
</html>

Output

onsubmit Event Type

onsubmit is an event that occurs when you try to submit a form. You can put your form validation against this event type.

Example

The following example shows how to use onsubmit. Here we are calling a validate() function before submitting a form data to the webserver. If validate() function returns true, the form will be submitted, otherwise it will not submit the data.

Try the following example.

<html>
   <head>   
      <script type = "text/javascript">
         <!--
            function validation() {
               all validation goes here
               .........
               return either true or false
            }
         //-->
      </script>      
   </head>
   
   <body>   
      <form method = "POST" action = "t.cgi" onsubmit = "return validate()">
         .......
         <input type = "submit" value = "Submit" />
      </form>      
   </body>
</html>

onmouseover and onmouseout

These two event types will help you create nice effects with images or even with text as well. The onmouseover event triggers when you bring your mouse over any element and the onmouseout triggers when you move your mouse out from that element. Try the following example.

Live Demo 
<html>
   <head>   
      <script type = "text/javascript">
         <!--
            function over() {
               document.write ("Mouse Over");
            }            
            function out() {
               document.write ("Mouse Out");
            }            
         //-->
      </script>      
   </head>
   
   <body>
      <p>Bring your mouse inside the division to see the result:</p>      
      <div onmouseover = "over()" onmouseout = "out()">
         <h2> This is inside the division </h2>
      </div>         
   </body>
</html>

Output

HTML 5 Standard Events

The standard HTML 5 events are listed here for your reference. Here script indicates a Javascript function to be executed against that event.

Attribute Value Description
Offline script Triggers when the document goes offline
Onabort script Triggers on an abort event
onafterprint script Triggers after the document is printed
onbeforeonload script Triggers before the document loads
onbeforeprint script Triggers before the document is printed
onblur script Triggers when the window loses focus
oncanplay script Triggers when media can start play, but might has to stop for buffering
oncanplaythrough script Triggers when media can be played to the end, without stopping for buffering
onchange script Triggers when an element changes
onclick script Triggers on a mouse click
oncontextmenu script Triggers when a context menu is triggered
ondblclick script Triggers on a mouse double-click
ondrag script Triggers when an element is dragged
ondragend script Triggers at the end of a drag operation
ondragenter script Triggers when an element has been dragged to a valid drop target
ondragleave script Triggers when an element is being dragged over a valid drop target
ondragover script Triggers at the start of a drag operation
ondragstart script Triggers at the start of a drag operation
ondrop script Triggers when dragged element is being dropped
ondurationchange script Triggers when the length of the media is changed
onemptied script Triggers when a media resource element suddenly becomes empty.
onended script Triggers when media has reach the end
onerror script Triggers when an error occur
onfocus script Triggers when the window gets focus
onformchange script Triggers when a form changes
onforminput script Triggers when a form gets user input
onhaschange script Triggers when the document has change
oninput script Triggers when an element gets user input
oninvalid script Triggers when an element is invalid
onkeydown script Triggers when a key is pressed
onkeypress script Triggers when a key is pressed and released
onkeyup script Triggers when a key is released
onload script Triggers when the document loads
onloadeddata script Triggers when media data is loaded
onloadedmetadata script Triggers when the duration and other media data of a media element is loaded
onloadstart script Triggers when the browser starts to load the media data
onmessage script Triggers when the message is triggered
onmousedown script Triggers when a mouse button is pressed
onmousemove script Triggers when the mouse pointer moves
onmouseout script Triggers when the mouse pointer moves out of an element
onmouseover script Triggers when the mouse pointer moves over an element
onmouseup script Triggers when a mouse button is released
onmousewheel script Triggers when the mouse wheel is being rotated
onoffline script Triggers when the document goes offline
onoine script Triggers when the document comes online
ononline script Triggers when the document comes online
onpagehide script Triggers when the window is hidden
onpageshow script Triggers when the window becomes visible
onpause script Triggers when media data is paused
onplay script Triggers when media data is going to start playing
onplaying script Triggers when media data has start playing
onpopstate script Triggers when the window's history changes
onprogress script Triggers when the browser is fetching the media data
onratechange script Triggers when the media data's playing rate has changed
onreadystatechange script Triggers when the ready-state changes
onredo script Triggers when the document performs a redo
onresize script Triggers when the window is resized
onscroll script Triggers when an element's scrollbar is being scrolled
onseeked script Triggers when a media element's seeking attribute is no longer true, and the seeking has ended
onseeking script Triggers when a media element's seeking attribute is true, and the seeking has begun
onselect script Triggers when an element is selected
onstalled script Triggers when there is an error in fetching media data
onstorage script Triggers when a document loads
onsubmit script Triggers when a form is submitted
onsuspend script Triggers when the browser has been fetching media data, but stopped before the entire media file was fetched
ontimeupdate script Triggers when media changes its playing position
onundo script Triggers when a document performs an undo
onunload script Triggers when the user leaves the document
onvolumechange script Triggers when media changes the volume, also when volume is set to "mute"
onwaiting script Triggers when media has stopped playing, but is expected to resume
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