[javascript] jQuery - prevent default, then continue default

This is, IMHO, the most generic and robust solution (if your actions are user-triggered, eg 'user clicks on a button'):

  • the first time a handler is called check WHO triggered it:
    • if a user tiggered it - do your stuff, and then trigger it again (if you want) - programmatically
    • otherwise - do nothing (= "continue default")

As an example, note this elegant solution to adding "Are you sure?" popup to any button just by decorating a button with an attribute. We will conditionally continue default behavior if the user doesn't opt out.

1. Let's add to every button that we want an "are you sure" popup a warning text:

<button class="btn btn-success-outline float-right" type="submit"  ays_text="You will lose any unsaved changes... Do you want to continue?"                >Do something dangerous</button>

2. Attach handlers to ALL such buttons:

$('button[ays_text]').click(function (e, from) {
    if (from == null) {  // user clicked it!
        var btn = $(this);
        e.preventDefault();
        if (confirm() == true) {
            btn.trigger('click', ['your-app-name-here-or-anything-that-is-not-null']);
        }
    }
    // otherwise - do nothing, ie continue default
});

That's it.