KeyboardEvent.initKeyEvent()

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.

Deprecated
This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The KeyboardEvent.initKeyEvent() method is used to initialize the value of an event created using document.createEvent("KeyboardEvent"). Events initialized in this way must have been created with the document.createEvent("KeyboardEvent") method. initKeyEvent() must be called to set the event before it is dispatched.

Do not use this method anymore, use the KeyboardEvent() constructor instead.

This method is based on early drafts of Document Object Model (DOM) Level 2 Events Specification and is implemented in Gecko-based browsers; other browsers implemented KeyboardEvent.initKeyboardEvent based on early drafts of Document Object Model (DOM) Level 3 Events Specification. Favor the modern constructor structure as the only cross-browser way of building events.

Syntax

event.initKeyEvent (type, bubbles, cancelable, viewArg,
                    ctrlKeyArg, altKeyArg, shiftKeyArg, metaKeyArg,
                    keyCodeArg, charCodeArg)

Parameters

type: Is a DOMString representing the type of event.
bubbles: Is a Boolean indicating whether the event should bubble up through the event chain or not (see bubbles).
cancelable: Is a Boolean i indicating whether the event can be canceled (see cancelable).
viewArg: Specifies the UIEvent.view; this value may be null.
ctrlKeyArg: Is a Boolean that is true if the virtual key to be generated is a combination of keys containing the Ctrl key.
altKeyArg: Is a Boolean that is true if the virtual key to be generated is a combination of keys containing the Alt key.
shiftKeyArg: A Boolean that is true if the virtual key to be generated is a combination of keys containing the Shift key.
metaKeyArg: Is a Boolean that is true if the virtual key to be generated is a combination of keys containing the Meta key.
keyCodeArg: Is a unsigned long representing the virtual key code value of the key which was depressed, otherwise 0. See KeyboardEvent.keyCode for the list of key codes.
charCodeArg: Is a unsigned long representingthe Unicode character associated with the depressed key otherwise 0.

Example

var event = document.createEvent('KeyboardEvent'); // create a key event
// define the event
event.initKeyEvent("keypress",       // typeArg,
                   true,             // canBubbleArg,
                   true,             // cancelableArg,
                   null,             // viewArg,  Specifies UIEvent.view. This value may be null.
                   false,            // ctrlKeyArg,
                   false,            // altKeyArg,
                   false,            // shiftKeyArg,
                   false,            // metaKeyArg,
                    9,               // keyCodeArg,
                    0);              // charCodeArg);

document.getElementById('blah').dispatchEvent(event);

Specification

This implementation of keyboard events is based on the key events spec in the early versions of DOM 2 Events, later removed from that spec.

The initKeyEvent is the current Gecko equivalent of the DOM Level 3 Events (initially drafted and also deprecated in favor of KeyboardEvent() Keyboard.initKeyboardEvent() method with the following arguments :

typeArg of type DOMString
canBubbleArg of type boolean
cancelableArg of type boolean
viewArg of type views::AbstractView
keyIdentifierArg of type DOMString
keyLocationArg of type unsigned long
modifiersList of type DOMString);