Web/API/Element/setCapture

Non-standard This feature is non-standard and is not on a standards track. Do not use it on production sites facing the Web: it will not work for every user. There may also be large incompatibilities between implementations and the behavior may change in the future.

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 document.releaseCapture() is called.

Warning: This interface never had much cross-browser support and you probably looking for element.setPointerCapture instead, from the Pointer Events API.

Syntax

element.setCapture(retargetToElement);

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

Example

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

<html>
<head>
  <title>Mouse Capture Example</title>
  <style type="text/css">
    #myButton {
      border: solid black 1px;
      color: black;
      padding: 2px;
      box-shadow: black 2px 2px;
    }
  </style>
  
  <script type="text/javascript">
    function init() {
      var btn = document.getElementById("myButton");
      if (btn.setCapture) {
        btn.addEventListener("mousedown", mouseDown, false);
        btn.addEventListener("mouseup", mouseUp, false);
      } else {
        document.getElementById("output").innerHTML
          = "Sorry, there appears to be no setCapture support on this browser";
      }
    }
    
    function mouseDown(e) {
      e.target.setCapture();
      e.target.addEventListener("mousemove", mouseMoved, false);
    }
    
    function mouseUp(e) {
      e.target.removeEventListener("mousemove", mouseMoved, false);
    }
    
    function mouseMoved(e) {
      var output = document.getElementById("output");
      output.innerHTML = "Position: " + e.clientX + ", " + e.clientY;
    }
  </script>
</head>
<body onload="init()">
  <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>
</body>
</html>

View Live Examples

Notes

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

Specification

Based on Internet Explorer's implementation.

Browser compatibility

Update compatibility data on GitHub

	Desktop						Mobile
	Chrome	Edge	Firefox	Internet Explorer	Opera	Safari	Android webview	Chrome for Android	Firefox for Android	Opera for Android	Safari on iOS	Samsung Internet
`setCapture` Deprecated'Non-standard'	Chrome No support No	Edge No support 12 — 79 Notes' No support 12 — 79 Notes' Notes' The `retargetToElement` parameter to `Element.setCapture()` was introduced in Edge 5.5.	Firefox Full support Yes	IE Full support 5 Notes' Full support 5 Notes' Notes' The `retargetToElement` parameter to `Element.setCapture()` was introduced in Internet Explorer 5.5.	Opera No support No	Safari ?	WebView Android No support No	Chrome Android No support No	Firefox Android ?	Opera Android No support No	Safari iOS ?	Samsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support: Full support
No support: No support
Compatibility unknown: Compatibility unknown
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.': Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.': Deprecated. Not for use in new websites.
See implementation notes.': See implementation notes.