How to get the element clicked (for the whole document)?
JavascriptJqueryHtmlDomJavascript Problem Overview
I would like to get the current element (whatever element that is) in an HTML document that I clicked. I am using:
$(document).click(function () {
alert($(this).text());
});
But very strangely, I get the text of the whole(!) document, not the clicked element.
How to get only the element I clicked on?
Example
<body>
<div class="myclass">test</div>
<p>asdfasfasf</p>
</body>
If I click on the "test" text, I would like to be able to read the attribute with $(this).attr("myclass") in jQuery.
Javascript Solutions
Solution 1 - Javascript
You need to use the event.target which is the element which originally triggered the event. The this in your example code refers to document.
In jQuery, that's...
$(document).click(function(event) {
var text = $(event.target).text();
});
Without jQuery...
document.addEventListener('click', function(e) {
e = e || window.event;
var target = e.target || e.srcElement,
text = target.textContent || target.innerText;
}, false);
Also, ensure if you need to support < IE9 that you use attachEvent() instead of addEventListener().
Solution 2 - Javascript
event.target to get the element
window.onclick = e => {
console.log(e.target); // to get the element
console.log(e.target.tagName); // to get the element tag name alone
}
to get the text from clicked element
window.onclick = e => {
console.log(e.target.innerText);
}
Solution 3 - Javascript
use the following inside the body tag
<body onclick="theFunction(event)">
then use in javascript the following function to get the ID
<script>
function theFunction(e)
{ alert(e.target.id);}
Solution 4 - Javascript
You can find the target element in event.target:
$(document).click(function(event) {
console.log($(event.target).text());
});
References:
Solution 5 - Javascript
Use delegate and event.target. delegate takes advantage of the event bubbling by letting one element listen for, and handle, events on child elements. target is the jQ-normalized property of the event object representing the object from which the event originated.
$(document).delegate('*', 'click', function (event) {
// event.target is the element
// $(event.target).text() gets its text
});
Solution 6 - Javascript
I know this post is really old but, to get the contents of an element in reference to its ID, this is what I would do:
window.onclick = e => {
console.log(e.target);
console.log(e.target.id, ' -->', e.target.innerHTML);
}
Solution 7 - Javascript
$(document).click(function (e) {
alert($(e.target).text());
});
Solution 8 - Javascript
This is the esiest way to get clicked element in javascript.
window.addEventListener('click', (e) => console.log(e.target));
Solution 9 - Javascript
Here's a solution that uses a jQuery selector so you can easily target tags of any class, ID, type etc.
jQuery('div').on('click', function(){
var node = jQuery(this).get(0);
var range = document.createRange();
range.selectNodeContents( node );
window.getSelection().removeAllRanges();
window.getSelection().addRange( range );
});