Event binding on dynamically created elements?

Question

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I have a bit of code where I am looping through all the select boxes on a page and binding a .hover event to them to do a bit of twiddling with their width on mouse on/off.

This happens on page ready and works just fine.

The problem I have is that any select boxes I add via Ajax or DOM after the initial loop won't have the event bound.

I have found this plugin (jQuery Live Query Plugin), but before I add another 5k to my pages with a plugin, I want to see if anyone knows a way to do this, either with jQuery directly or by another option.

Answer 1

As of jQuery 1.7 you should use jQuery.fn.on with the selector parameter filled:

$(staticAncestors).on(eventName, dynamicChild, function() {});

Explanation:

This is called event delegation and works as followed. The event is attached to a static parent (staticAncestors) of the element that should be handled. This jQuery handler is triggered every time the event triggers on this element or one of the descendant elements. The handler then checks if the element that triggered the event matches your selector (dynamicChild). When there is a match then your custom handler function is executed.

---

Prior to this, the recommended approach was to use live():

$(selector).live( eventName, function(){} );

However, live() was deprecated in 1.7 in favour of on(), and completely removed in 1.9. The live() signature:

$(selector).live( eventName, function(){} );

... can be replaced with the following on() signature:

$(document).on( eventName, selector, function(){} );

---

For example, if your page was dynamically creating elements with the class name dosomething you would bind the event to a parent which already exists (this is the nub of the problem here, you need something that exists to bind to, don't bind to the dynamic content), this can be (and the easiest option) is document. Though bear in mind document may not be the most efficient option.

$(document).on('mouseover mouseout', '.dosomething', function(){
 // what you want to happen when mouseover and mouseout 
 // occurs on elements that match '.dosomething'
});

Any parent that exists at the time the event is bound is fine. For example

$('.buttons').on('click', 'button', function(){
 // do something here
});

would apply to

<div class="buttons">
 <!-- <button>s that are generated dynamically and added here -->
</div>

• Felix Kling: Learn more about event delegation here: learn.jquery.com/events/event-delegation.
• Sebastian: That solution still brings errors in jQuery 3 and firefox as after clearing html and recreating it the event is fired twice,
• HoldOffHunger: While this solution mentions "event delegation" at least ten times, it no place does it actually show you how to delegate an event to an dynamically bound function.

Answer 2

2025 Update - Delegated Events Implementation for Pure Vanilla JS (no jQuery)

Example - a table #dataTable exists, but the rows are programmatically added / changed dynamically, the following code snippet will handle clicke events on the dinamically newly added rows:

document.querySelector("#dataTable tbody").addEventListener("click", function(event) {
 const row = event.target.closest("tr");
 if (row && this.contains(row)) {
 console.log(row.textContent.trim());
 }
});

That pattern is known as delegated event handling or event delegation.

✅ What is Event Delegation?

Instead of attaching an event listener to each child element (e.g., every <tr>), you attach one listener to a common ancestor (like <tbody>) and then use event.target or event.target.closest() to figure out which child element triggered the event.

Previous Answer (for jQuery):

There is a good explanation in the documentation of jQuery.fn.on.

In short:

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().

Thus in the following example #dataTable tbody tr must exist before the code is generated.

$("#dataTable tbody tr").on("click", function(event){
 console.log($(this).text());
});

If new HTML is being injected into the page, it is preferable to use delegated events to attach an event handler, as described next.

Delegated events have the advantage that they can process events from descendant elements that are added to the document at a later time. For example, if the table exists, but the rows are added dynamically using code, the following will handle it:

$("#dataTable tbody").on("click", "tr", function(event){
 console.log($(this).text());
});

In addition to their ability to handle events on descendant elements which are not yet created, another advantage of delegated events is their potential for much lower overhead when many elements must be monitored. On a data table with 1,000 rows in its tbody, the first code example attaches a handler to 1,000 elements.

A delegated-events approach (the second code example) attaches an event handler to only one element, the tbody, and the event only needs to bubble up one level (from the clicked tr to tbody).

Note: Delegated events do not work for SVG.

Answer 3

This is a pure JavaScript solution without any libraries or plugins:

document.addEventListener('click', function (e) {
 if (hasClass(e.target, 'bu')) {
 // .bu clicked
 // Do your thing
 } else if (hasClass(e.target, 'test')) {
 // .test clicked
 // Do your other thing
 }
}, false);

where hasClass is

function hasClass(elem, className) {
 return elem.className.split(' ').indexOf(className) > -1;
}

Live demo

Credit goes to Dave and Sime Vidas

Using more modern JS, hasClass can be implemented as:

function hasClass(elem, className) {
 return elem.classList.contains(className);
}

---

The same jsfiddle Live demo embeded below:

function hasClass(elem, className) {
 return elem.classList.contains(className);
}
document.addEventListener('click', function(e) {
 if (hasClass(e.target, 'bu')) {
 alert('bu');
 document.querySelector('.bu').innerHTML = '<div class="bu">Bu<div class="tu">Tu</div></div>';
 } else if (hasClass(e.target, 'test')) {
 alert('test');
 } else if (hasClass(e.target, 'tu')) {
 alert('tu');
 }
}, false);

.test,
.bu,
.tu {
 border: 1px solid gray;
 padding: 10px;
 margin: 10px;
}

<div class="test">Test
 <div class="bu">Bu</div>test
</div>

• zloctb: stackoverflow.com/questions/9106329/…
• Eugen Konkov: You may use Element.classList instead of splitting
• Ram Patra: @EugenKonkov Element.classList is not supported supported on older browsers. For example, IE < 9.
• Ram Patra: A nice article on how to get things done using vanilla script instead of jQuery - toddmotto.com/…
• Andreas Trantidis: how about bubbling? What if the click event happened on a child of the element you are interested in?

Answer 4

You can add events to objects when you create them. If you are adding the same events to multiple objects at different times, creating a named function might be the way to go.

var mouseOverHandler = function() {
 // Do stuff
};
var mouseOutHandler = function () {
 // Do stuff
};
$(function() {
 // On the document load, apply to existing elements
 $('select').hover(mouseOverHandler, mouseOutHandler);
});
// This next part would be in the callback from your Ajax call
$("<select></select>")
 .append( /* Your <option>s */ )
 .hover(mouseOverHandler, mouseOutHandler)
 .appendTo( /* Wherever you need the select box */ )
;

Answer 5

You could simply wrap your event binding call up into a function and then invoke it twice: once on document ready and once after your event that adds the new DOM elements. If you do that you'll want to avoid binding the same event twice on the existing elements so you'll need either unbind the existing events or (better) only bind to the DOM elements that are newly created. The code would look something like this:

function addCallbacks(eles){
 eles.hover(function(){alert("gotcha!")});
}
$(document).ready(function(){
 addCallbacks($(".myEles"))
});
// ... add elements ...
addCallbacks($(".myNewElements"))

• theflowersoftime: This post really helped me get a grasp on a problem I was having loading the same form and getting 1,2,4,8,16... submissions. Instead of using .live() I just used .bind() in my .load() callback. Problem solved. Thanks!

Answer 6

This is done by event delegation. Event will get bind on wrapper-class element but will be delegated to selector-class element. This is how it works.

$('.wrapper-class').on("click", '.selector-class', function() {
 // Your code here
});

And HTML

<div class="wrapper-class">
 <button class="selector-class">
 Click Me!
 </button>
</div> 

#Note: wrapper-class element can be anything ex. document, body or your wrapper. Wrapper should already exist. However, selector doesn't necessarily need to be present at page loading time. Selector may come/load later and the event will bind on it without fail.

• Asad Ali: Yes, but it'll create event propagation for elements. you need to add target the specific dynamic element and stop event propagation.
• Mustkeem K: In case you bind same event on parent and descendent element than you can stop it using event.stopPropagation()

Answer 7

For versions prior to 1.9 only. This no longer works.

Use .live() instead of .bind(); the .live() will bind .hover to your checkbox after the Ajax request executes.

Answer 8

Event binding on dynamically created elements

Single element:

$(document.body).on('click','.element', function(e) { });

Child Element:

 $(document.body).on('click','.element *', function(e) { });

Notice the added *. An event will be triggered for all children of that element.

I have noticed that:

$(document.body).on('click','.#element_id > element', function(e) { });

It is not working any more, but it was working before. I have been using jQuery from Google CDN, but I don't know if they changed it.

• MadeInDreams: Yeap and they are not saying (document.body) its says ancestor wich could be pretty much anything

Answer 9

I prefer using the selector and I apply it on the document.

This binds itself on the document and will be applicable to the elements that will be rendered after page load.

For example:

$(document).on("click", 'selector', function() {
 // Your code here
});

• Mark Baijens: You should aim to bind it to the closest static parent not the whole document.

Answer 10

You can use the live() method to bind elements (even newly created ones) to events and handlers, like the onclick event.

Here is a sample code I have written, where you can see how the live() method binds chosen elements, even newly created ones, to events:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
 <head>
 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" />
 <title>Untitled Document</title>
 </head>
 <body>
 <script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-latest.js"></script>
 <script src="http://ajax.aspnetcdn.com/ajax/jquery.ui/1.8.16/jquery-ui.min.js"></script>
 <input type="button" id="theButton" value="Click" />
 <script type="text/javascript">
 $(document).ready(function()
 {
 $('.FOO').live("click", function (){alert("It Works!")});
 var $dialog = $('<div></div>').html('<div id="container"><input type ="button" id="CUSTOM" value="click"/>This dialog will show every time!</div>').dialog({
 autoOpen: false,
 tite: 'Basic Dialog'
 });
 $('#theButton').click(function()
 {
 $dialog.dialog('open');
 return('false');
 });
 $('#CUSTOM').click(function(){
 //$('#container').append('<input type="button" value="clickmee" class="FOO" /></br>');
 var button = document.createElement("input");
 button.setAttribute('class','FOO');
 button.setAttribute('type','button');
 button.setAttribute('value','CLICKMEE');
 $('#container').append(button);
 });
 /* $('#FOO').click(function(){
 alert("It Works!");
 }); */
 });
 </script>
 </body>
</html>

Answer 11

Another solution is to add the listener when creating the element. Instead of put the listener in the body, you put the listener in the element in the moment that you create it:

var myElement = $('<button/>', {
 text: 'Go to Google!'
});
myElement.bind( 'click', goToGoogle);
myElement.append('body');
function goToGoogle(event){
 window.location.replace("http://www.google.com");
}

• ddlab: Your code contains 1 mistake: myElement.append('body'); must be myElement.appendTo('body');. On the other hand, if there is no need for the further use of variable myElement it's easier and shorter this way: $('body').append($('<button/>', { text: 'Go to Google!' }).bind( 'click', goToGoogle));

Answer 12

Try like this way -

$(document).on( 'click', '.click-activity', function () { ... });

• Mark Baijens: You should aim to bind it to the closest static parent not the whole document.

Answer 13

Take note of "MAIN" class the element is placed, for example,

<div class="container">
 <ul class="select">
 <li> First</li>
 <li>Second</li>
 </ul>
</div>

In the above scenario, the MAIN object the jQuery will watch is "container".

Then you will basically have elements names under container such as ul, li, and select:

$(document).ready(function(e) {
 $('.container').on( 'click',".select", function(e) {
 alert("CLICKED");
 });
 });

Answer 14

You can attach event to element when dynamically created using jQuery(html, attributes).

As of jQuery 1.8, any jQuery instance method (a method of jQuery.fn) can be used as a property of the object passed to the second parameter:

function handleDynamicElementEvent(event) {
 console.log(event.type, this.value)
}
// create and attach event to dynamic element
jQuery("<select>", {
 html: $.map(Array(3), function(_, index) {
 return new Option(index, index)
 }),
 on: {
 change: handleDynamicElementEvent
 }
 })
 .appendTo("body");

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js">
</script>

Answer 15

you could use

$('.buttons').on('click', 'button', function(){
 // your magic goes here
});

or

$('.buttons').delegate('button', 'click', function() {
 // your magic goes here
});

these two methods are equivalent but have a different order of parameters.

see: jQuery Delegate Event

• Rory McCrossan: delegate() is now deprecated. Do not use it.

Answer 16

Here is why dynamically created elements do not respond to clicks :

var body = $("body");
var btns = $("button");
var btnB = $("<button>B</button>");
// `<button>B</button>` is not yet in the document.
// Thus, `$("button")` gives `[<button>A</button>]`.
// Only `<button>A</button>` gets a click listener.
btns.on("click", function () {
 console.log(this);
});
// Too late for `<button>B</button>`...
body.append(btnB);

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button>A</button>

As a workaround, you have to listen to all clicks and check the source element :

var body = $("body");
var btnB = $("<button>B</button>");
var btnC = $("<button>C</button>");
// Listen to all clicks and
// check if the source element
// is a `<button></button>`.
body.on("click", function (ev) {
 if ($(ev.target).is("button")) {
 console.log(ev.target);
 }
});
// Now you can add any number
// of `<button></button>`.
body.append(btnB);
body.append(btnC);

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button>A</button>

This is called "Event Delegation". Good news, it's a builtin feature in jQuery :-)

var i = 11;
var body = $("body");
body.on("click", "button", function () {
 var letter = (i++).toString(36).toUpperCase();
 body.append($("<button>" + letter + "</button>"));
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<button>A</button>

• Sebastian Simon: It’s also possible to assign var body = $("body").on( ... ); directly.

Answer 17

Any parent that exists at the time the event is bound and if your page was dynamically creating elements with the class name button you would bind the event to a parent which already exists

$(document).ready(function(){
 //Particular Parent chield click
 $(".buttons").on("click","button",function(){
 alert("Clicked");
 }); 
 
 //Dynamic event bind on button class 
 $(document).on("click",".button",function(){
 alert("Dymamic Clicked");
 });
 $("input").addClass("button"); 
});

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div class="buttons">
 <input type="button" value="1">
 <button>2</button>
 <input type="text">
 <button>3</button> 
 <input type="button" value="5"> 
 </div>
<button>6</button>

Answer 18

Bind the event to a parent which already exists:

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

Answer 19

Use the .on() method of jQuery http://api.jquery.com/on/ to attach event handlers to live element.

Also as of version 1.9 .live() method is removed.

Answer 20

I prefer to have event listeners deployed in a modular function fashion rather than scripting a document level event listener. So, I do like below. Note, you can't oversubscribe an element with the same event listener so don't worry about attaching a listener more than once - only one sticks.

var iterations = 4;
var button;
var body = document.querySelector("body");
for (var i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
 button = document.createElement("button");
 button.classList.add("my-button");
 button.appendChild(document.createTextNode(i));
 button.addEventListener("click", myButtonWasClicked);
 body.appendChild(button);
}
function myButtonWasClicked(e) {
 console.log(e.target); //access to this specific button
}

• William: I prefer this implementation; I just have to set up a call back

Answer 21

Another flexible solution to create elements and bind events (source)

// creating a dynamic element (container div)
var $div = $("<div>", {id: 'myid1', class: 'myclass'});
//creating a dynamic button
 var $btn = $("<button>", { type: 'button', text: 'Click me', class: 'btn' });
// binding the event
 $btn.click(function () { //for mouseover--> $btn.on('mouseover', function () {
 console.log('clicked');
 });
// append dynamic button to the dynamic container
$div.append($btn);
// add the dynamically created element(s) to a static element
$("#box").append($div);

Note: This will create an event handler instance for each element (may affect performance when used in loops)

Answer 22

<html>
 <head>
 <title>HTML Document</title>
 <script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.12.0/jquery.min.js"></script>
 </head>
 <body>
 <div id="hover-id">
 Hello World
 </div>
 <script>
 jQuery(document).ready(function($){
 $(document).on('mouseover', '#hover-id', function(){
 $(this).css('color','yellowgreen');
 });
 $(document).on('mouseout', '#hover-id', function(){
 $(this).css('color','black');
 });
 });
 </script>
 </body>
</html>

• Palec: While this code snippet may solve the problem, it doesn't explain why or how it answers the question. Please include an explanation for your code, as that really helps to improve the quality of your post. Remember that you are answering the question for readers in the future, and those people might not know the reasons for your code suggestion.

Answer 23

I was looking a solution to get $.bind and $.unbind working without problems in dynamically added elements.

As on() makes the trick to attach events, in order to create a fake unbind on those I came to:

const sendAction = function(e){ ... }
// bind the click
$('body').on('click', 'button.send', sendAction );
// unbind the click
$('body').on('click', 'button.send', function(){} );

• Fabian Bigler: The unbinding does not work, this simply adds another event which points to an empty function...