how to re-enable default after doing event.preventDefault()

Question

I know this exact question was asked here, but the answer didn't work for what I needed to do so I figured I'd give some example code and explain a bit...

$(document).keypress(
    function (event) {
        // Pressing Up or Right: Advance to next video
        if (event.keyCode == 40 || event.keyCode == 39) {
            event.preventDefault();
            $(".current").next().click();
        }
        // Pressing Down or Left: Back to previous video
        else if (event.keyCode == 38 || event.keyCode == 37) {
            event.preventDefault();
            $(".current").prev().click();
        }
     }
 );

It basically disables the arrow keys to use them for something else, but doing:

$(document).keypress(function () { });

doesn't enable the default function again... I need it to scroll the page without having to create a scroll function for it...

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Matt

right... sry I wrapped the "here" in an a tag but forgot to include the link. I've done so now, thanks for pointing that out :) — Matt, Apr 09 '10 at 15:42
LOL, you know, when I read it I *thought* the phrasing looked like it was begging for a link... — T.J. Crowder, Apr 09 '10 at 16:01
possible duplicate of [How to reenable event.preventDefault?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1164132/how-to-reenable-event-preventdefault) — Paŭlo Ebermann, Nov 19 '11 at 18:59

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:36

6

Adding a new handler doesn't replace the previous one, it adds a new one. You may be looking for jQuery#unbind if you're trying to remove the previous handler, but if you're going to be turning this on and off a lot, you probably would be better off with a flag telling you whether to prevent the default or not in your existing handler.

Adding, and later removing, a handler looks like this:

function keypressHandler() { /* ... */};

$('#thingy').keypress(keypressHandler);

// ...elsewhere...
$('#thingy').unbind('keypress', keypressHandler);

answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:36

T.J. Crowder

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Your answer seemed to be a little closer to the proper way to do it, but I couldn't get it to work and danp's worked right away. – Matt Apr 09 '10 at 16:53
@Matt: Glad it got sorted. Actually, danp's answer is the same as the earlier one by Diodeus, it's just a *lot* more thoroughly described (which counts for a lot!). :-) – T.J. Crowder Apr 09 '10 at 16:59

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:39

I'm not sure this is the right way to handle it.

A better way to approach this problem would be to put some kind of check inside your document.keypress instructions.. like..

var enableKeys = false;

$(document).keypress(
    function (event) {
        // Pressing Up or Right: Advance to next video
        if (event.keyCode == 40 || event.keyCode == 39 && enableKeys) {
            event.preventDefault();

            $(".current").next().click();
        }
        // Pressing Down or Left: Back to previous video
        else if (event.keyCode == 38 || event.keyCode == 37 && enableKeys) {
            event.preventDefault();
            $(".current").prev().click();
        }
     }
 );

Then control the enablekeys wherever you feel necessary, either with a hover, or something along those lines.

+1 I am not sure if this is "a better way", but it is definitely a viable alternative if, for whatever reason, [T.J. Crowder's solution](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2608714/how-to-re-enable-default-after-doing-event-preventdefault/2608740#2608740) is unusable in some application. — Jørn Schou-Rode, Apr 09 '10 at 15:49
Worked right away, guess it helped that it matched up exactly to my code. Thanks! — Matt, Apr 09 '10 at 16:55

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Mar 17 '15 at 14:17

1

function(e){ e.preventDefault(); }

and its opposite

function(e){ return true; }

edited Mar 17 '15 at 14:17

Joost

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answered Nov 19 '11 at 17:48

foxybagga

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score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:36

0

Why not just wrap a condition around event.preventDefault(); in your current code?

answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:36

Diodeus - James MacFarlane

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1

What do you mean? How would that help re-enable the default action? – Matt Apr 09 '10 at 15:37
It would bypass "preventdefault()", would it not? – Diodeus - James MacFarlane Apr 09 '10 at 15:45

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:41

0

Try to unbind the keypress event from document.

I don't know of any other ways to do it.

HTH

answered Apr 09 '10 at 15:41

Raja

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how to re-enable default after doing event.preventDefault()

5 Answers5

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