addEventListener method

The addEventListener method allows you to assign event handlers to an element. With it, you can specify, for example, what to do when a button is clicked or what to do when typing in a text field. In the first parameter we specify the event type to be passed, in the second - the function that will be triggered after the event specified in the first parameter. In the third optional parameter, we pass the features of the object (once, capture, passive) or the parameter useCapture.

Syntax

element.addEventListener('event type', function, [object features]);
or
element.addEventListener('event type', function, [useCapture]);

Example

Let's make it so that when a button is clicked, a message is displayed:

<input type="button" id="button" value="click me">

let button = document.querySelector('#button');

button.addEventListener('click', function() {
	alert('message');
});

Example

Let's write code so that when focus is lost in an input, a message with the text of this input is displayed:

<input id="input" value="text">

let input = document.querySelector('#input');

input.addEventListener('blur', function() {
	alert(this.value);
});

Example

Let's make it so that when a button is clicked, a message is displayed in the console only once. To do this, we use the second parameter:

<input type="button" id="button" value="click me">

let button = document.querySelector('#button');

button.addEventListener('click',
	function() {
		console.log('message');
	},
	{
		once: true
	}
);

Example

The parameter passive prevents the event.preventDefault method from being called when handling the event. Let's apply the event.preventDefault method to the previous example, and also set the parameter passive to true:

<input type="button" id="button" value="click me">

let button = document.querySelector('#button');

button.addEventListener('click',
	function(event) {
		event.preventDefault();
		console.log('No message');
	},
	{
		passive: true
	}
);

After executing the code, we will see the following messages:

'No message';
'Unable to preventDefault inside passive event listener invocation.'

Example

The parameter useCapture set to true shows the bubbling up of events from an inner element to an outer element, with the value false - from the outer element to the inner element. When passing the parameter useCapture, its name is omitted and simply true or false is written. Let's see how events bubble in the parent and child elements when they are clicked:

<div id="parent">Parent
	<p id="child">Child</p>
</div>

#parent{
	width: 60px;
	padding: 10px;
	border: 1px solid red;
	text-align: center;
}
#child{
	width: 60px;
	marging-right: 40px;
	border: 1px solid blue;
	text-align: center;
}

let parent = document.querySelector('#parent');
let child = document.querySelector('#parent');

parent.addEventListener('click',
	() => alert('parent'), 
	true
);
child.addEventListener('click',
	() => alert('child'), 
	true
);

addEventListener method

Syntax

Example

Example

Example

Example

Example

See also