Does canvas element have “change” event?

Question

Is there a way to attach event handler to a change of a canvas element? I need to fire a function whenever something draws anything on it.

Answer 1

I would actually wrap the canvas iff needed to track these commands. Here's a simple example tracking only for a few methods:

function eventOnDraw( ctx, eventName ){
  var fireEvent = function(){
    var evt = document.createEvent("Events");
    evt.initEvent(eventName, true, true);
    ctx.canvas.dispatchEvent( evt );
  }
  var stroke = ctx.stroke;
  ctx.stroke = function(){
    stroke.call(this);
    fireEvent();
  };
  var fillRect = ctx.fillRect;
  ctx.fillRect = function(x,y,w,h){
    fillRect.call(this,x,y,w,h);
    fireEvent();
  };
  var fill = ctx.fill;
  ctx.fill = function(){
    fill.call(this);
    fireEvent();
  };
}

...

var myContext = someCanvasElement.getContext('2d');
someCanvasElement.addEventListener( 'blargle', myHandler, false );
eventOnDraw( myContext, 'blargle' );