Is it possible to simulate key press events programmatically?
A non-jquery version that works in both webkit and gecko:
var keyboardEvent = document.createEvent('KeyboardEvent');var initMethod = typeof keyboardEvent.initKeyboardEvent !== 'undefined' ? 'initKeyboardEvent' : 'initKeyEvent';keyboardEvent[initMethod]( 'keydown', // event type: keydown, keyup, keypress true, // bubbles true, // cancelable window, // view: should be window false, // ctrlKey false, // altKey false, // shiftKey false, // metaKey 40, // keyCode: unsigned long - the virtual key code, else 0 0, // charCode: unsigned long - the Unicode character associated with the depressed key, else 0);document.dispatchEvent(keyboardEvent);
If you are ok to use jQuery 1.3.1:
function simulateKeyPress(character) { jQuery.event.trigger({ type: 'keypress', which: character.charCodeAt(0) });}$(function() { $('body').keypress(function(e) { alert(e.which); }); simulateKeyPress("e");});<script src="https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
You can dispatch keyboard events on an element like this:
element.dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent('keydown',{'key':'a'}));However, dispatchEvent might not update the input field value.
Example:
let element = document.querySelector('input');element.onkeydown = e => alert(e.key);element.dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent('keydown', { 'key': 'a'}));<input/>You can add more properties to the event as needed, like this answer:
element.dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent("keydown", { key: "e", keyCode: 69, // example values. code: "KeyE", // put everything you need in this object. which: 69, shiftKey: false, // you don't need to include values ctrlKey: false, // if you aren't going to use them. metaKey: false // these are here for example's sake.})); Also, since keypress is deprecated you can use keydown + keyup, for example:
element.dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent('keydown', {'key':'Shift'} ));element.dispatchEvent(new KeyboardEvent( 'keyup' , {'key':'Shift'} ));