ngClick but prevent any active inputs from losing focus

Question

In my Angular view I have an input field and some clickable goodies using ng-click.

Is there an angular way or simple vanilla js way to prevent the input field from LOSING focus (if it was in focus) when one of these ng-clicks is clicked?

<input type="text" class="form-control" ng-model="foo">

<button ng-click="someThing()">click me</button>

Answer 1

Not with ng-click, because by the time that fires, the clicked element has already taken the focus from the input.

But ng-mousedown should work, if you $event.preventDefault() in your event handler. Here's a demonstration in vanilla JS; the same should work in Angular:

    var preventBlur = function(event) {
      console.log("click");
      event.preventDefault();
    }

    <input type='text' onblur="alert('blurred')">
    <button onmousedown="preventBlur(event)">Click</button>
    

If you click the button while the input field is in focus, the mousedown will trigger without causing the input field to lose focus.