Revision 898761 of EventTarget

<p>{{ ApiRef("DOM Events") }}</p>

<p><code>EventTarget</code> is an interface implemented by objects that can receive events and may have listeners for them.</p>

<p>{{domxref("Element")}}, {{domxref("document")}}, and {{domxref("window")}} are the most common event targets, but other objects can be event targets too, for example {{domxref("XMLHttpRequest")}}, {{domxref("AudioNode")}}, {{domxref("AudioContext")}}, and others.</p>

<p>Many event targets (including elements, documents, and windows) also support setting <a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/DOM/Events/Event_handlers" title="/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/DOM/Events/Event_handlers">event handlers</a> via <code>on...</code> properties and attributes.</p>

<h2 id="Methods" name="Methods">Methods</h2>

<dl>
 <dt>{{domxref("EventTarget.addEventListener()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Register an event handler of a specific event type on the <code>EventTarget</code>.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("EventTarget.removeEventListener()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Removes an event listener from the <code>EventTarget</code>.</dd>
 <dt>{{domxref("EventTarget.dispatchEvent()")}}</dt>
 <dd>Dispatch an event to this <code>EventTarget</code>.</dd>
</dl>

<h3 id="Additional_methods_for_Mozilla_chrome_code">Additional methods for Mozilla chrome code</h3>

<p>Mozilla extensions for use by JS-implemented event targets to implement on* properties. See also <a href="/en-US/docs/Mozilla/WebIDL_bindings" title="/en-US/docs/Mozilla/WebIDL_bindings">WebIDL bindings</a>.</p>

<ul>
 <li>void <strong>setEventHandler</strong>(DOMString type, EventHandler handler) {{ non-standard_inline() }}</li>
 <li>EventHandler <strong>getEventHandler</strong>(DOMString type) {{ non-standard_inline() }}</li>
</ul>

<h2 id="Specification" name="Specification">Specifications</h2>

<table class="standard-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th scope="col">Specification</th>
   <th scope="col">Status</th>
   <th scope="col">Comment</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM WHATWG', '#interface-eventtarget', 'EventTarget')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM WHATWG')}}</td>
   <td>No change.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM3 Events', 'DOM3-Events.html#interface-EventTarget', 'EventTarget')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM3 Events')}}</td>
   <td>A few parameters are now optional (<code>listener</code>), or accepts the <code>null</code> value (<code>useCapture</code>).</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>{{SpecName('DOM2 Events', 'events.html#Events-EventTarget', 'EventTarget')}}</td>
   <td>{{Spec2('DOM2 Events')}}</td>
   <td>Initial definition.</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

<h2 id="Browser_Compatibility" name="Browser_Compatibility">Browser compatibility</h2>

<p>{{ CompatibilityTable() }}</p>

<div id="compat-desktop">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Chrome</th>
   <th>Firefox (Gecko)</th>
   <th>Internet Explorer</th>
   <th>Opera</th>
   <th>Safari (WebKit)</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
   <td>{{ CompatGeckoDesktop("1") }}</td>
   <td>9.0</td>
   <td>7</td>
   <td>1.0 Note: window.EventTarget does not exist</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<div id="compat-mobile">
<table class="compat-table">
 <tbody>
  <tr>
   <th>Feature</th>
   <th>Android</th>
   <th>Firefox Mobile (Gecko)</th>
   <th>IE Mobile</th>
   <th>Opera Mobile</th>
   <th>Safari Mobile</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
   <td>Basic support</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
   <td>{{ CompatGeckoMobile("1") }}</td>
   <td>9.0</td>
   <td>6.0</td>
   <td>1.0</td>
  </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>
</div>

<h2 id="See_Also">See Also</h2>

<ul>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Reference/Events" title="/en-US/docs/Web/Reference/Events">Event reference</a> - the events available in the platform.</li>
 <li><a href="/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/DOM/Events" title="/en-US/docs/Web/Guide/DOM/Events">Event developer guide</a></li>
 <li>{{domxref("Event")}} interface</li>
</ul>