HTML prevent space bar from scrolling page

Question

I'm using the code:

window.onkeydown = function(e) { 
    return !(e.keyCode == 32);
};

which does exactly what I want, stops the page from scrolling when the spacebar is pressed. However it also prevents the user from typing spaces in a textbox

Is there a way to prevent the spacebar-scroll as well as retain the spacebar functionality while typing?

Answer 1

Try checking if target is the body:

 window.addEventListener('keydown', function(e) { if(e.keyCode == 32 && e.target == document.body) { e.preventDefault(); } }); 

 body { height: 100000px; } 

 <input /> <textarea></textarea> 

Demo

Answer 2

You could look into e.target and if it is the body you return false .

window.onkeydown = function(e) { 
  return !(e.keyCode == 32 && e.target == document.body);
}; 

Answer 3

window.onkeydown = function(e) { 
    e = e || window.event;  //normalize the evebnt for IE
    var target = e.srcElement || e.target;  //Get the element that event was triggered on
    var tagName = target.tagName;  //get the tag name of the element [could also just compare elements]
    return !(tagName==="BODY" && e.keyCode == 32);  //see if it was body and space
};

Answer 4

You can check the target of the event, and only run your code if it's not a 'type-able' element. For example:

window.onkeydown = function(e) {
    var elem = e.target.nodename;
    if( elem !== 'TEXTAREA' && elem != 'INPUT' ) {
        return !(e.keyCode == 32);
    }
};