Click source in JavaScript and jQuery, human or automated?

Question

We all know that you can simulate click or any other event on an element using one of these ways:

$('#targetElement').trigger('eventName');
$('#targetElement').click();

I have encountered a situation in which, I should know how an element is clicked. I should know if it's been clicked automatically via code, or by pressing mouse button. Is there anyway I can do it without hacks or workarounds? I mean, is there anything built into browsers' event object, JavaScript, or jQuery that can tell us whether click has been initiated by a human action or by code?

Answer 1

Try this:

$('#targetElement').click(function(event, generated) {
    if (generated) {
        // Event was generated by code, not a user click.
    } else {
        // Event was generated by a user click.
    }
});

Then, to make this work, you have to trigger them like this:

$('#targetElement').trigger('click', [true]);

See this jsfiddle.