Element: setCapture() method

Call this method during the handling of a mousedown event to retarget all mouse events to this element until the mouse button is released or releaseCapture() is called.

[!WARNING] This interface never had much cross-browser support and you are probably looking for setPointerCapture instead, from the Pointer Events API.

Syntax

setCapture(retargetToElement)

Parameters

• retargetToElement
  • : If true, all events are targeted directly to this element; if false, events can also fire at descendants of this element.

Return value

None (undefined).

Examples

In this example, the current mouse coordinates are drawn while you mouse around after clicking and holding down on an element.

<p>This is an example of how to use mouse capture on elements in Gecko 2.0.</p>
<p><a id="myButton" href="#">Test Me</a></p>
<div id="output">No events yet</div>

#myButton {
  border: solid black 1px;
  color: black;
  padding: 2px;
  box-shadow: black 2px 2px;
}

function mouseDown(e) {
  e.target.setCapture();
  e.target.addEventListener("mousemove", mouseMoved);
}

function mouseUp(e) {
  e.target.removeEventListener("mousemove", mouseMoved);
}

function mouseMoved(e) {
  const output = document.getElementById("output");
  output.textContent = `Position: ${e.clientX}, ${e.clientY}`;
}

const btn = document.getElementById("myButton");
if (btn.setCapture) {
  btn.addEventListener("mousedown", mouseDown);
  btn.addEventListener("mouseup", mouseUp);
} else {
  document.getElementById("output").textContent =
    "Sorry, there appears to be no setCapture support on this browser";
}

View Live Examples

Notes

The element may not be scrolled completely to the top or bottom, depending on the layout of other elements.

Specifications

Not part of any specification.

Browser compatibility

See also

• releaseCapture()
• setPointerCapture