addEventListener in Internet Explorer

Question

What is the equivalent to the Element Object in Internet Explorer 9?

if (!Element.prototype.addEventListener) {
    Element.prototype.addEventListener = func         


        

Answer 1

John Resig, author of jQuery, submitted his version of cross-browser implementation of addEvent and removeEvent to circumvent compatibility issues with IE's improper or non-existent addEventListener.

function addEvent( obj, type, fn ) {
  if ( obj.attachEvent ) {
    obj['e'+type+fn] = fn;
    obj[type+fn] = function(){obj['e'+type+fn]( window.event );}
    obj.attachEvent( 'on'+type, obj[type+fn] );
  } else
    obj.addEventListener( type, fn, false );
}
function removeEvent( obj, type, fn ) {
  if ( obj.detachEvent ) {
    obj.detachEvent( 'on'+type, obj[type+fn] );
    obj[type+fn] = null;
  } else
    obj.removeEventListener( type, fn, false );
}

Source: http://ejohn.org/projects/flexible-javascript-events/

Answer 2

As Delan said, you want to use a combination of addEventListener for newer versions, and attachEvent for older ones.

You'll find more information about event listeners on MDN. (Note there are some caveats with the value of 'this' in your listener).

You can also use a framework like jQuery to abstract the event handling altogether.

$("#someelementid").bind("click", function (event) {
   // etc... $(this) is whetver caused the event
});