Prevent JavaScript keydown event from being handled multiple times while held down

Question

I have this code:

else if (e.keyCode == 32){       fired = true; 

In a keyDown function (I have added the document.addEventListener code). Now it works just fine, and does exactly what I want it to do. But here's the problem: if you hold down the key, it keeps making fired = true over and over again continuously until it is released. I just want it to set fired = true; once, even if the key is held down.

Answer 1

Edit: It is now fully supported in every browser. except for Internet Explorer

If browser compatibility is not your main concern*, you could try accessing the .repeat property of the KeyboardEvent, as documented here:
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/KeyboardEvent/repeat

By doing something like this in your handler function:

function keyDown (e) {   if (e.repeat) { return }    // do stuff here } 

you could avoid the repeated keystrokes.

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*: on the MDN site it states that it works in Firefox, and I have successfully used it in Chrome, so the two major browsers should have no problem with it

Answer 2

    var fired = false;      element.onkeydown = function() {          if(!fired) {             fired = true;             // do something         }     }; 

Then Use onkeyup event

    element.onkeyup = function() {      fired = false;     };