How to stop event bubbling on checkbox click

Question

I have a checkbox that I want to perform some Ajax action on the click event, however the checkbox is also inside a container with it's own click behaviour that I don't want to run when the checkbox is clicked. This sample illustrates what I want to do:

$(document).ready(function() {
  $('#container').addClass('hidden');
  $('#header').click(function() {
    if ($('#container').hasClass('hidden')) {
      $('#container').removeClass('hidden');
    } else {
      $('#container').addClass('hidden');
    }
  });
  $('#header input[type=checkbox]').click(function(event) {
    // Do something
  });
});

#container.hidden #body {
  display: none;
}

<script type="text/javascript" src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.2/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="container">
  <div id="header">
    <h1>Title</h1>
    <input type="checkbox" name="test" />
  </div>
  <div id="body">
    <p>Some content</p>
  </div>
</div>

However, I can't figure out how to stop the event bubbling without causing the default click behaviour (checkbox becoming checked/unchecked) to not run.

Both of the following stop the event bubbling but also don't change the checkbox state:

event.preventDefault();
return false;

Answer 1

replace

event.preventDefault();
return false;

with

event.stopPropagation();

event.stopPropagation()

Stops the bubbling of an event to parent elements, preventing any parent handlers from being notified of the event.

event.preventDefault()

Prevents the browser from executing the default action. Use the method isDefaultPrevented to know whether this method was ever called (on that event object).

Answer 2

Use the stopPropagation method:

event.stopPropagation();

Answer 3

Don't forget IE:

if (event.stopPropagation) {    // standard
        event.stopPropagation();
    } else {    // IE6-8
        event.cancelBubble = true;
}

Answer 4

As others have mentioned, try stopPropagation().

And there is a second handler to try: event.cancelBubble = true; It's a IE specific handler, but it is supported in at least FF. Don't really know much about it, as I haven't used it myself, but it might be worth a shot, if all else fails.

Answer 5

When using jQuery you do not need to call a stop function separate.

You can just return false in the event handler

This will stop the event and cancel bubbling..

Also see event.preventDefault() vs. return false

From the jQuery docs:

These handlers, therefore, may prevent the delegated handler from triggering by calling event.stopPropagation() or returning false.

Answer 6

This is an excellent example for understanding event bubbling concept. Based on the above answers, the final code will look like as mentioned below. Where the user Clicks on checkbox the event propagation to its parent element 'header' will be stopped using event.stopPropagation();.

$(document).ready(function() {
            $('#container').addClass('hidden');
            $('#header').click(function() {
                if($('#container').hasClass('hidden')) {
                    $('#container').removeClass('hidden');
                } else {
                    $('#container').addClass('hidden');
                }
            });
          $('#header input[type=checkbox]').click(function(event) {
              if (event.stopPropagation) {    // standard
                   event.stopPropagation();
               } else {    // IE6-8
                    event.cancelBubble = true;
               }
          });     
  });

Answer 7

Credit to @mehras for the code. I just created a snippet to demonstrate it because I thought that would be appreciated and I wanted an excuse to try that feature.

$(document).ready(function() {
  $('#container').addClass('hidden');
  $('#header').click(function() {
    if ($('#container').hasClass('hidden')) {
      $('#container').removeClass('hidden');
    } else {
      $('#container').addClass('hidden');
    }
  });
  $('#header input[type=checkbox]').click(function(event) {
    if (event.stopPropagation) { // standard
      event.stopPropagation();
    } else { // IE6-8
      event.cancelBubble = true;
    }
  });
});

div {
  text-align: center;
  padding: 2em;
  font-size: 1.2em
}

.hidden {
  display: none;
}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.11.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="header"><input type="checkbox" />Checkbox won't bubble the event, but this text will.</div>
<div id="container">click() bubbled up!</div>

Answer 8

Here's a trick that worked for me:

handleClick = e => {
    if (e.target === e.currentTarget) {
        // do something
    } else {
        // do something else
    }
}

Explanation: I attached handleClick to a backdrop of a modal window, but it also fired on every click inside of a modal window (because it was IN the backdrop div). So I added the condition (e.target === e.currentTarget), which is only fulfilled when a backdrop is clicked.

Answer 9

In angularjs this should works:

event.preventDefault(); 
event.stopPropagation();