JQuery PreventDefault and IE8 clarification

Question

I have been trying to understand why sometimes IE8 doesn't like PreventDefault and why sometimes it seems to be OK (no errors). From what I have read, including here at SO is that events in jquery are normalised so preventDefault will always exist with a jQuery event. However regular javascript event bindings is when the following workaround is needed for ie8:

event.preventDefault ? event.preventDefault() : event.returnValue = false

Is this correct?

So if you are using jQuery .click .bind .on etc to handle an event then PreventDefault will not cause errors in IE8, such as:

$('a').on('click', function(e) {
    e.preventDefault();    //no need for e.preventDefault ? e.preventDefault() : e.returnValue = false as jquery event?
    //code
});

However if it is a regular Javascript event, such onclick then the workaround is needed?

Hope that makes sense.

Thanks

Answer 1

Yes, your understanding sounds correct. Also, if you're using a "DOM0" event handler (eg someElement.onclick = function(e) { ... } ), there is a simpler way to prevent the browser default behaviour that works in all browsers that support events: return false .

var someElement = document.getElementById("someElementId");
someElement.onclick = function(e) {
    // Do some stuff
    return false;
};

However, in this case, the event is not passed to the event handler in IE <= 8 and you have to get it from window.event instead.