Document: createEvent() method

{{APIRef("DOM")}}{{deprecated_header}}

[!WARNING] Many methods used with createEvent, such as initCustomEvent, are deprecated. Use event constructors instead.

Creates an event of the type specified. The returned object should be first initialized and can then be passed to {{domxref("EventTarget.dispatchEvent")}}.

Syntax

createEvent(type)

Parameters

• type
  • : A string that represents the type of event to be created. Possible event types include "UIEvents", "MouseEvents", "MutationEvents", and "HTMLEvents". See Notes section for details.

Return value

An Event object.

Examples

// Create the event.
const event = document.createEvent("Event");

// Define that the event name is 'build'.
event.initEvent("build", true, true);

// Listen for the event.
elem.addEventListener("build", (e) => {
  // e.target matches elem
});

// Target can be any Element or other EventTarget.
elem.dispatchEvent(event);

Notes

Event type strings suitable for passing to createEvent() are listed in the DOM standard — see the table in step 2. Bear in mind that most event objects now have constructors, which are the modern recommended way to create event object instances.

Specifications

{{Specifications}}

Browser compatibility

{{Compat}}

See also

• Creating and dispatching events