[jquery] Click event doesn't work on dynamically generated elements

<html>
<head>
    <script type="text/javascript" src="jquery.js"></script>
    <script type="text/javascript">

        $(document).ready(function() {

            $("button").click(function() {
                $("h2").html("<p class='test'>click me</p>")
            });   

            $(".test").click(function(){
                alert();
            });
        });

    </script>
</head>
<body>
    <h2></h2>
    <button>generate new element</button>
</body>
</html>

I was trying to generate a new tag with class name test in the <h2> by clicking the button. I also defined a click event associated with test. But the event doesn't work.

Can anyone help?

This question is related to jquery events

The answer is


Reason:

In jQuery, Click() event binds the element only if the particular element exist in the Html code(after page loads).

It won't consider the future elements which are created dynamically(Future element). Dynamic elements are created with the help of javascript or jquery(not in Html).

So the normal click event won't fire on the dynamic element.

Solution :

To overcome this we should use on() function. on() Can delegate the event for both current and future elements.

delegate(),live() and on() functions have the advantages over the DOM elements.

delegate() and live() are deprecated(Don't use these).

on can only trigger both the existing and future elements.

on can consider all the elements which are present on the whole page.

You should use on function to trigger the event on dynamically(future) created elements.

Remove the code from $(document).ready:

$(".test").click(function(){

  alert();

});

Change into:

$(document).on('click','.test',function(){

  alert('Clicked');

});

Use the .on() method with delegated events

$('#staticParent').on('click', '.dynamicElement', function() {
    // Do something on an existent or future .dynamicElement
});

The .on() method allows you to delegate any desired event handler to:
current elements or future elements added to the DOM at a later time.

P.S: Don't use .live()! From jQuery 1.7+ the .live() method is deprecated.


.live function works great.

It is for Dynamically added elements to the stage.

$('#selectAllAssetTypes').live('click', function(event){
                    alert("BUTTON CLICKED");
                    $('.assetTypeCheckBox').attr('checked', true);
                });

Cheers, Ankit.


Try .live() or .delegate()

http://api.jquery.com/live/

http://api.jquery.com/delegate/

Your .test element was added after the .click() method, so it didn't have the event attached to it. Live and Delegate give that event trigger to parent elements which check their children, so anything added afterwards still works. I think Live will check the entire document body, while Delegate can be given to an element, so Delegate is more efficient.

More info:

http://www.alfajango.com/blog/the-difference-between-jquerys-bind-live-and-delegate/


Also you can use onclick="do_something(this)"inside element


Change

 $(".test").click(function(){

To

 $(".test").live('click', function(){

LIVE DEMO

jQuery .live()


If you have a dinamically added link to some container or the body:

var newLink= $("<a></a>", {
        "id": "approve-ctrl",
        "href": "#approve",
        "class": "status-ctrl",
        "data-attributes": "DATA"
    }).html("Its ok").appendTo(document.body);

you can take its raw javascript element and add an event listener to it, like the click:

newLink.get(0).addEventListener("click", doActionFunction);

No matter how many times you add this new link instance you can use it as if you where using a jquery click function.

function doActionFunction(e) {
    e.preventDefault();
    e.stopPropagation();

    alert($(this).html());
}

So you will receive a message saying

Its ok

It has better performance than other alternatives.

Extra: You could gain better performance avoiding jquery and using plain javascript. If you are using IE up to version 8 you should use this polyfill to use the method addEventListener

if (typeof Element.prototype.addEventListener === 'undefined') {
    Element.prototype.addEventListener = function (e, callback) {
      e = 'on' + e;
      return this.attachEvent(e, callback);
    };
  }

I found two solutions at the jQuery's documentation:

First: Use delegate on Body or Document

E.g:

 $("body").delegate('.test', 'click', function(){
 ...
  alert('test');
 });

Why?

Answer: Attach a handler to one or more events for all elements that match the selector, now or in the future, based on a specific set of root elements. link: http://api.jquery.com/delegate/

Second: Put the your function at the "$( document )", using "on" and attach it to the element that you want to trigger this. The first parameter is the "event handler", the second: the element and the third: the function. E.g:

 $( document ).on( 'click', '.test', function () {
 ...
  alert('test');
 });

Why?

Answer: Event handlers are bound only to the currently selected elements; they must exist on the page at the time your code makes the call to .on(). To ensure the elements are present and can be selected, perform event binding inside a document ready handler for elements that are in the HTML markup on the page. If new HTML is being injected into the page, select the elements and attach event handlers after the new HTML is placed into the page. Or, use delegated events to attach an event handler, as described next ... link: https://api.jquery.com/on/


Use 'on' as click gets bind to the elements already present.

For e.g

$('test').on('click',function(){
    alert('Test');
})

This will help.


Best way to apply event on dynamically generated content by using delegation.

$(document).on("eventname","selector",function(){
    // code goes here
});

so your code is like this now

$(document).on("click",".test",function(){
    // code goes here
});

I'm working with tables adding new elements dynamically to them, and when using on(), the only way of making it works for me is using a non-dynamic parent as:

<table id="myTable">
    <tr>
        <td></td> // Dynamically created
        <td></td> // Dynamically created
        <td></td> // Dynamically created
    </tr>
</table>

<input id="myButton" type="button" value="Push me!">

<script>
    $('#myButton').click(function() {
        $('#myTable tr').append('<td></td>');
    });

    $('#myTable').on('click', 'td', function() {
        // Your amazing code here!
    });
</script>

This is really useful because, to remove events bound with on(), you can use off(), and to use events once, you can use one().


$(.surrounding_div_class).on( 'click', '.test', function () {
alert( 'WORKS!' );
});

Will only work if the DIV with the class .surrounding_div_class is the immediate parent to the object .test

If there is another object in the div that will be filled it wont work.


Add this function in your js file. It will work on every browser

_x000D_
_x000D_
$(function() {_x000D_
    $(document).on("click", '#mydiv', function() {_x000D_
        alert("You have just clicked on ");_x000D_
    });_x000D_
});
_x000D_
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>_x000D_
<div id='mydiv'>Div</div>
_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_


The problem you have is that you're attempting to bind the "test" class to the event before there is anything with a "test" class in the DOM. Although it may seem like this is all dynamic, what is really happening is JQuery makes a pass over the DOM and wires up the click event when the ready() function fired, which happens before you created the "Click Me" in your button event.

By adding the "test" Click event to the "button" click handler it will wire it up after the correct element exists in the DOM.

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(document).ready(function(){                          
        $("button").click(function(){                                  
            $("h2").html("<p class='test'>click me</p>")                          
            $(".test").click(function(){                          
                alert()                          
            });       
        });                                     
    });
</script>

Using live() (as others have pointed out) is another way to do this but I felt it was also a good idea to point out the minor error in your JS code. What you wrote wasn't wrong, it just needed to be correctly scoped. Grasping how the DOM and JS works is one of the tricky things for many traditional developers to wrap their head around.

live() is a cleaner way to handle this and in most cases is the correct way to go. It essentially is watching the DOM and re-wiring things whenever the elements within it change.


I couldn't get live or delegate to work on a div in a lightbox (tinybox).

I used setTimeout successfullly, in the following simple way:

$('#displayContact').click(function() {
    TINY.box.show({html:'<form><textarea id="contactText"></textarea><div id="contactSubmit">Submit</div></form>', close:true});
    setTimeout(setContactClick, 1000);
})

function setContactClick() {
    $('#contactSubmit').click(function() {
        alert($('#contactText').val());
    })
}

The Jquery .on works ok but I had some problems with the rendering implementing some of the solutions above. My problem using the .on is that somehow it was rendering the events differently than the .hover method.

Just fyi for anyone else that may also have the problem. I solved my problem by re-registering the hover event for the dynamically added item:

re-register the hover event because hover doesn't work for dynamically created items. so every time i create the new/dynamic item i add the hover code again. works perfectly

$('#someID div:last').hover(
    function() {
       //...
    },
    function() {
       //...
    }
);

An alternate and more succinct alternative (IMHO) is to use a raw javascript function that responds to an on click event, then pass the target element back to jQuery if you like. The advantage of this approach is that you can dynamically add your element anywhere, and the click handler will 'just work', and you need not concern yourself with delegating control to parent elements, and so on.

Step 1: Update the dynamic html to fire an onclick event. Be sure to pass the 'event' object as an argument


    $("button").click(function() {
        $("h2").html("<p class='test' onclick='test(event)'> click me </p>")
    });

Step 2: Create the test function to respond to the click event


    function test(e){
        alert();
    });

Optional Step 3: Given you are using jQuery I'm assuming it will be useful to get a reference back to the source button


    function test(e){
        alert();

        // Get a reference to the button
        // An explanation of this line is available here
        var target = (e.target)? e.target : e.srcElement;

        // Pass the button reference to jQuery to do jQuery magic
        var $btn = $(target);

    });


You CAN add on click to dynamically created elements. Example below. Using a When to make sure its done. In my example, i'm grabbing a div with the class expand, adding a "click to see more" span, then using that span to hide/show the original div.

$.when($(".expand").before("<span class='clickActivate'>Click to see more</span>")).then(function(){
    $(".clickActivate").click(function(){
        $(this).next().toggle();
    })
});

You need to use .live for this to work:

$(".test").live("click", function(){
   alert();
});

or if you're using jquery 1.7+ use .on:

$(".test").on("click", "p", function(){
   alert();
});