How do I check if the mouse is over an element in jQuery?

Question

Is there a quick & easy way to do this in jQuery that I\'m missing?

I don\'t want to use the mouseover event because I\'m already using it for something else. I

Answer 1

You can use jQuery's mouseenter and mouseleave events. You can set a flag when the mouse enters the desired area and unset the flag when it leaves the area.

Answer 2

I combined ideas from this topic and came up with this, which is useful for showing/hiding a submenu:

$("#menu_item_a").mouseenter(function(){
   clearTimeout($(this).data('timeoutId'));
   $("#submenu_a").fadeIn("fast");
}).mouseleave(function(){
   var menu_item = $(this);

   var timeoutId = setTimeout(function(){
      if($('#submenu_a').is(':hover'))
      {
        clearTimeout(menu_item.data('timeoutId'));
      }
      else
      {
        $("#submenu_a").fadeOut("fast");
      }
   }, 650);

    menu_item.data('timeoutId', timeoutId); 
});

 $("#submenu_a").mouseleave(function(){
   $(this).fadeOut("fast");
 });

Seems to work for me. Hope this helps someone.

EDIT: Now realizing this approach is not working correctly in IE.

Answer 3

You can use is(':visible'); in jquery And for $('.item:hover') it is working in Jquery also.

this is a htm code snnipet :

    <li class="item-109 deeper parent">
<a class="root" href="/Comsopolis/index.php/matiers"><span>Matiers</span></a>
<ul>
<li class="item-110 noAff">
<a class=" item sousMenu" href="/Comsopolis/index.php/matiers/tsdi">
<span>Tsdi</span>
</a>
</li>
<li class="item-111 noAff">
<a class="item" href="/Comsopolis/index.php/matiers/reseaux">
<span>Réseaux</span>
</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>

and this is the JS Code :

$('.menutop > li').hover(function() {//,.menutop li ul

    $(this).find('ul').show('fast');

},function() {
    if($(this).find('ul').is(':hover'))
    $(this).hide('fast');

});

 $('.root + ul').mouseleave(function() {
    if($(this).is(':visible'))
    $(this).hide('fast');

});

this what i was talking about :)

Answer 4

I needed something exactly as this (in a little more complex environment and the solution with a lot of 'mouseenters' and 'mouseleaves' wasnt working properly) so i created a little jquery plugin that adds the method ismouseover. It has worked pretty well so far.

//jQuery ismouseover  method
(function($){ 
    $.mlp = {x:0,y:0}; // Mouse Last Position
    function documentHandler(){
        var $current = this === document ? $(this) : $(this).contents();
        $current.mousemove(function(e){jQuery.mlp = {x:e.pageX,y:e.pageY}});
        $current.find("iframe").load(documentHandler);
    }
    $(documentHandler);
    $.fn.ismouseover = function(overThis) {  
        var result = false;
        this.eq(0).each(function() {  
                var $current = $(this).is("iframe") ? $(this).contents().find("body") : $(this);
                var offset = $current.offset();             
                result =    offset.left<=$.mlp.x && offset.left + $current.outerWidth() > $.mlp.x &&
                            offset.top<=$.mlp.y && offset.top + $current.outerHeight() > $.mlp.y;
        });  
        return result;
    };  
})(jQuery);

Then in any place of the document yo call it like this and it returns true or false:

$("#player").ismouseover()

I tested it on IE7+, Chrome 1+ and Firefox 4 and is working properly.

Answer 5

JUST FYI for future finders of this.

I made a jQuery plugin that can do this and a lot more. In my plugin, to get all elements the cursor is currently hovered over, simply do the following:

$.cursor("isHover"); // will return jQ object of all elements the cursor is 
                     // currently over & doesn't require timer

As I mentioned, it also has alot of other uses as you can see in the jsFiddle found here

Answer 6

I took SLaks' idea and wrapped it in a small class.

function HoverWatcher(selector){
  this.hovering = false;
  var self = this; 

  this.isHoveringOver = function() { 
    return self.hovering; 
  } 

    $(selector).hover(function() { 
      self.hovering = true; 
    }, function() { 
      self.hovering = false; 
    }) 
} 

var box1Watcher = new HoverWatcher('#box1');
var box2Watcher = new HoverWatcher('#box2');



$('#container').click(function() {
  alert("box1.hover = " + box1Watcher.isHoveringOver() +
        ", box2.hover = " + box2Watcher.isHoveringOver());
});