XHTML - Events

When users visit a website, they do things such as click on text, images and hyperlinks, hover-over things, etc. These are examples of what JavaScript calls events.

We can write our event handlers in JavaScript or VBScript and can specify these event handlers as a value of event tag attribute. The XHTML 1.0 has a similar set of events which is available in HTML 4.01 specification.

The <body> and <frameset> Level Events

There are only two attributes which can be used to trigger any JavaScript or VBScript code, when any event occurs at document level.

Attribute	Value	Description
onload	Script	Script runs when a XHTML document loads.
onunload	Script	Script runs when a XHTML document unloads.

Note − Here, the script refers to any function or piece of code of VBScript or JavaScript.

The <form> Level Events

There are following six attributes which can be used to trigger any JavaScript or VBScript code when any event occurs at form level.

Attribute	Value	Description
onchange	Script	Script executes when the element changes.
onsubmit	Script	Script executes when the form is submitted.
onreset	Script	Script executes when the form is reset.
onselect	Script	Script executes when the element is selected.
onblur	Script	Script executes when the element loses focus.
onfocus	Script	Script runs when the element gets focus.

Keyboard Events

The following three events are generated by keyboard. These events are not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, and title elements.

Attribute	Value	Description
onkeydown	Script	Script executes on key press.
onkeypress	Script	Script executes on key press and release.
onkeyup	Script	Script executes key release.

Other Events

The following seven events are generated by mouse when it comes in contact with any HTML tag. These events are not valid in base, bdo, br, frame, frameset, head, html, iframe, meta, param, script, style, and title elements.

Attribute	Value	Description
onclick	Script	Script executes on a mouse click.
ondblclick	Script	Script executes on a mouse double-click.
onmousedown	Script	Script executes when mouse button is pressed.
onmousemove	Script	Script executes when mouse pointer moves.
onmouseout	Script	Script executes when mouse pointer moves out of an element.
onmouseover	Script	Script executes when mouse pointer moves over an element.
onmouseup	Script	Script executes when mouse button is released.