Ability to wrap DOM events to become jQuery events

[wheresrhys]

It'd be useful to be able to wrap DOM events in a jQuery wrapper, so

$.Event(event) = event which can be manipulated using the jQuery api.

I've come across the need to have this functionality recently when using Raphael.js. Say I have an event handler that can be triggered by clicking either a canvas element (event handled using Raphael) or a list item, (click handled using jQuery), then I have to write some convoluted code in order to handle both types of event. If there was a way to wrap events then I could simply use one line of code, something like

if (!event.jqueryEvent) { event = $.Event(event); }

... before continuing using the jQuery API

[dmethvin]

Can you provide some more description of what you mean?

[wheresrhys]

I've created a non-functioning jsFiddle to illustrate the difference it could make:  http://jsfiddle.net/wheresrhys/J8Cym/1/. Let me know if you need further clarification

[rwaldron]

Saw these updates just now, I was actually in the middle of creating a RaphaelJS + jQuery boilerplate for you to illustrate overlapping events:

 http://jsfiddle.net/rwaldron/bpWVM/

just "fork" and create your example.

[wheresrhys]

OK, this hopefully illustrates why the ability to wrap native DOM events would be useful

 http://jsfiddle.net/wheresrhys/E4NZW/

In a nutshell, other js libraries (in this case Raphael) use native DOM events, and if you want to write a handler it'd be nice to be able to call in the first line a jQuery method that takesa native DOM event/jquery event object, adn returns a jQuery event object so you can use the API no matter what library was used to attach the handler (provided the other library hasn't already wrapped the event in its own wrapper).

[dmethvin]

So is this what you are looking for?

 http://jsfiddle.net/E4NZW/2/

[john]

Nominating ticket for 1.7 discussion.

[rwaldron]

+0,

[jaubourg]

+1, Seems it would be good for interoperability

[timmywil]

+0,

[wheresrhys]

Replying to dmethvin:

So is this what you are looking for?

 http://jsfiddle.net/E4NZW/2/

Yep - something like that syntax, although the

if ( !(ev instanceof $.Event) )

check could be included inside the $.Event() method to make it an even easier API.

[dmethvin]

-1, How would jQuery do this? Raphael is delivering the event directly to myHandler, so how would we intervene to convert it to a jQuery event?

[rwaldron]

I think this is not reasonable

[john]

-1, Not really keen on this.

[ajpiano]

-1, I sympathise with the request, but I think that Dave's suggestion (or your own genericisation of) that approach is certainly reasonable, we can't "intercept" the Raphael event.. You don't even have to do the instanceof check, you can just unconditionally transform it into a jQuery event if you know that that will always be necessary.

[scott.gonzalez]

+0, isn't this exactly what $.event.fix does?