Notes. From following the link in his name, I would imagine he might be a film guy, and I wouldn’t necessarily expect him to know anything at all about web dev. How do I return the response from an asynchronous call? I always used return false; In JavaScript event handling, why “return false” or “event.preventDefault()” and “stopping the event flow” will make a difference? jQuery Multiple Event Handlers-How to Cancel? Why “0” is equal to false in JavaScript ? I believe I will go with return false now, as that should be the faster and more efficient way. In Javascript, there are two methods- preventDefault() and Return false, that are used to stop default browser behaviour but their functionalities and uses are little different.

For example, if we have a hyperlink linked to a particular location. Event handlers have always worked this way, since the old days of Netscape Navigator.
Note: This behaviour differs from normal (non-jQuery) event handlers, in which, notably, return false does not stop the event from bubbling up. How to create a responsive Modal Sign-Up form for a Website?

Below are some examples to demonstrate the above: Example 1: Behaviour without PreventDefault( ) and Return false
So thanks again! Calling preventDefault() during any stage of event flow cancels the event, meaning that any default action normally taken by the implementation as a result of the event will not occur.. You can use Event.cancelable to check if the event is cancelable. Write Interview Example: This is a good example emphasizing the flexibility of e.preventDefault(). Apparently, yes: if you got 2 handlers on an element, return false prevents the execution of the second handler also. http://active.tutsplus.com/tutorials/actionscript/a-close-look-at-the-actionscript-30-event-framework/. It simply stops the execution of the function(). I am not sure why, but I always used preventDefault. Upload and Retrieve Image on MongoDB using Mongoose. :), Very useful ! This might be a little overkill but to play it safe maybe try this: e.preventDefault(); can actually be used to create drag & drop interfaces on touch screen devices to prevent the default scroll or zoom behavior. Stops callback execution and returns immediately when called. As always Chris, great article. They have courses on all the most important front-end technologies, from React to CSS, from Vue to D3, and beyond with Node.js and Full Stack. Event.preventDefault. Thanks Chris! This is not, as you've titled it, a "JavaScript" question; it is a question regarding the design of jQuery. I've used WordPress since day one all the way up to v17, This article shows how these two are different? I always thought that they are the same :P. I never understood “Bubbling Up” until now! Namely that it can be called at ny time. prevents the hyperlink from following the URL, prevents the submit button to submit the form. This comment thread is closed. The you-may-not-know-this bit is that whenever an event happens on an element, that event is triggered on every single parent element as well. Here is a simple example: That code would append the href attribute as text to the body every time a link was clicked but not actually go to that link. Does it always prevent the default action, or does it depend on the context? That's a good thing! When and why to ‘return false’ in JavaScript? Calling the preventDefault() method of the event object will cancel the default handling that the browser is programmed to execute. Returning false from a regular DOM event handler does absolutely nothing. Dude are you new to web development? The example doesn’t seem to work at all on Firefox 24.6.0? Form validation using HTML and JavaScript. Nice post Chris. Developers use the return false in many different cases.For example. Now that I’ve learned something for the day, I’m going back to sleep. It prevents the event from propagating the DOM. Note that the event.preventDefault() will just prevent the event from happening for that specific event.

Why “0” is not equal to false in if condition in JavaScript ? close, link