Event.explicitOriginalTarget

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.

The explicit original target of the event. (Mozilla-specific)

If the event was retargeted for some reason other than an anonymous boundary crossing, this will be set to the target before the retargeting occurs. For example, mouse events are retargeted to their parent node when they happen over text nodes (see bug 185889), and in that case currentTarget will show the parent and explicitOriginalTarget will show the text node.

explicitOriginalTarget differs from originalTarget in that it will never contain anonymous content.

Example

This property can be used with <command> to get the event details of the original object calling the command.

function myCommand(ev) {
  alert(ev.explicitOriginalTarget.nodeName); // returns 'menuitem'
}
<xul:command id="my-cmd-anAction" oncommand="myCommand(event);"/>

<xul:menulist>
  <xul:menupopup>
    <xul:menuitem label="Get my element name!" command="my-cmd-anAction"/>
  </xul:menupopup>
</menulist>

Specifications

This is a Mozilla-specific property. Defined in /dom/public/idl/events/nsIDOMNSEvent.idl

This event property is not defined in the W3.org DOM Level 2 Events

Browser compatibility

DesktopMobile
ChromeEdgeFirefoxInternet ExplorerOperaSafariAndroid webviewChrome for AndroidFirefox for AndroidOpera for AndroidSafari on iOSSamsung Internet
explicitOriginalTarget
Non-standard
Chrome No support NoEdge No support NoFirefox Full support YesIE No support NoOpera No support NoSafari No support NoWebView Android No support NoChrome Android No support NoFirefox Android Full support YesOpera Android No support NoSafari iOS No support NoSamsung Internet Android No support No

Legend

Full support
Full support
No support
No support
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.
Non-standard. Expect poor cross-browser support.

See also