Use javascript to click on a pseudo-element?

17
votes

I'm wondering how to enable the clicking on a :before pseudo-element (the orange part of the div on the JSfiddle I link to below). I've read that since pseudo-elements aren't in the DOM you would need a hack for this. Unfortunately, I can't find an existing Stackoverflow Q&A that actually shows working code.

Link: http://jsfiddle.net/Vv6Eb/4/

HTML:

<div></div>

CSS:

div { position:relative; background-color:#333;
      padding:20px; margin:20px; float:left; 
}

div:before { content:""; display:block; 
    padding:5px; background-color:#f60; border:2px solid white; 
    position: absolute; top:-2px; right:-2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; 
}
5
javascriptjquerycsspseudo-element
Perhaps you could include more information on what you want to happen? It's possible there is some other workaround to achieve the intended result. – James Montagne
You can't bind directly to a pseudo-element, but you can bind to the element that's creating it and clicking the pseudo-element will always trigger the event that's bound to the generating element. If you specifically must only bind to the orange part, you need to create a new element. – BoltClock♦
@JamesMontagne, all i'm interested in is being able to click on the pseudo-element like one would click on a <a> or <button>. ComputerArts suggestion works for me though is there something else you're thinking? – tim peterson
@timpeterson I think I may have misunderstood your intent. The question sounded as though you were trying to trigger a click on the element in javascript. I was wondering what purpose that served. Now I see that you were in fact looking to attack a click handler. – James Montagne
Possible duplicate of Only detect click event on pseudo-element – Daut

5 Answers

13
votes

A workaround for this would be to dynamically append a <span> to the item and assigning a click method to it. Like this fiddle.

var item = $('<span />');
item.click(function() { alert('click'); });
$('div').append(item);

CSS

div { position:relative; background-color:#333;
      padding:20px; margin:20px; float:left;
}

div span { content:""; display:block;
    padding:5px; background-color:#f60; border:2px solid white;
    position: absolute; top:-2px; right:-2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px;
}
16
votes

If you know where the circle "should" be, you can use trigonometry to see if the click is within the circle: http://jsfiddle.net/Vv6Eb/19/

$("div").click(function(e){
    var $me = $(this),
        width = $me.outerWidth(),
        height = $me.outerHeight(),
        top = $me.position().top,
        left = $me.position().left;

    var len = Math.sqrt(Math.pow(width - e.offsetX, 2) + Math.pow(e.offsetY, 2));

    if (len < 10)
        alert('ding');
});​
2
votes

I know you are trying to use :before, but for this situation, can't you just create a new div with a class to use as a hook and append it to the original div?

Something like this might work:

var newDiv = $("<div class='orangeCircle'>");
$(".parentDivToOrangeCircle").append(newDiv);

And the CSS:

.parentDivToOrangeCircle { position:relative; background-color:#333;
    padding:20px; margin:20px; float:left; 
}

.orangeCircle {
    padding:5px; background-color:#f60; border:2px solid white; 
    position: absolute; top:-2px; right:-2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; 
}
1
votes

Do simply like using jquery

  $(document).on("click", "span", function(e){
         if (e.offsetX > $(this)[0].offsetWidth) {
               alert('clicked on after');
    } 
    else
    {
    alert('clicked on main span');
    }
        
    })
div { margin: 20px; }
span:after { content: 'AFTER'; position: absolute; }
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div><span>ELEMENT</span></div>
0
votes

My purpose was solved by another workaround which is just adding a child DIV. Wrapping up all child elements inside the parent into this new child DIV:

My working sample as same as the problem statement: See Fiddle

HTML:

<div class="parentDiv">
    :before
    <div class="childDiv">
        <!-- child elements -->
    </div>
</div>

**Note: Ignore the :before in the HTML, just showing to understand.

CSS: 

div.parentDiv{position:relative; background-color:#333; padding:0; margin:20px; float:left; }
div.parentDiv:before { content:""; display:block; padding:5px; background-color:#f60; border:2px solid white; position: absolute; top:-2px; right:-2px; border-bottom-left-radius: 10px; cursor:pointer}

div.childDiv{padding:20px; margin:0}

jQuery:

jQuery(document).ready(function($){
    $('div.parentDiv').click(function(e){
        if( $(e.target).closest('.childDiv').length==0 ){
            //so clicked on psudo :before element!
            //do your work here ;)
            alert('Psudo :before element is clicked!');
        }
    });
});