The EventTarget interface is implemented by objects that can receive events and may have listeners for them. In other words, any target of events implements the three methods associated with this interface.
Element, and its children, as well as Document and Window, are the most common event targets, but other objects can be event targets, too. For example XMLHttpRequest, AudioNode, and AudioContext are also event targets.
Many event targets (including elements, documents, and windows) also support setting event handlers via onevent properties and attributes.
Constructor
-
EventTarget()
-
Creates a new EventTarget object instance.
Instance methods
-
EventTarget.addEventListener()
-
Registers an event handler of a specific event type on the EventTarget.
-
EventTarget.removeEventListener()
-
Removes an event listener from the EventTarget.
-
EventTarget.dispatchEvent()
-
Dispatches an event to this EventTarget.
Specifications
Browser compatibility
|
Desktop |
Mobile |
|
Chrome |
Edge |
Firefox |
Internet Explorer |
Opera |
Safari |
WebView Android |
Chrome Android |
Firefox for Android |
Opera Android |
Safari on IOS |
Samsung Internet |
EventTarget |
64 |
79 |
59 |
No |
51 |
14 |
64 |
64 |
59 |
47 |
14 |
9.0 |
EventTarget |
1 |
12 |
1 |
6 |
7 |
1window.EventTarget did not exist on versions of Safari before 10.1.
|
≤37 |
18 |
4 |
10.1 |
1window.EventTarget did not exist on versions of Safari iOS before 10.3.
|
1.0 |
addEventListener |
1Before Chrome 49, the type and listener parameters were optional.
|
12 |
1 |
9
6–11Older versions of IE supported an equivalent, proprietary EventTarget.attachEvent() method.
|
7 |
1 |
1Before Chrome 49, the type and listener parameters were optional.
|
18Before Chrome 49, the type and listener parameters were optional.
|
4 |
10.1 |
1 |
1.0Before Samsung Internet 5.0, the type and listener parameters were optional.
|
dispatchEvent |
4 |
12 |
2 |
9
6–11Older versions of IE supported an equivalent, proprietary EventTarget.fireEvent() method.
|
9 |
3.1 |
4 |
18 |
4 |
10.1 |
3 |
1.0 |
removeEventListener |
1 |
12 |
1 |
9
6–11Older versions of IE supported an equivalent, proprietary EventTarget.detachEvent() method.
|
7 |
1 |
4.4 |
18 |
4 |
10.1 |
1 |
1.0 |
See also