jQuery mousedown – An Interactive Example of the jQuery mousedown Method

We can use the jQuery mousedown method to run a function when a user clicks down on their mouse. To do this we can add a function call to the mousedown() method.

$("#div1").mousedown(function() {
  //The user has clicked down on their mouse in #div1
});

Another way this can be done is to use the .on() method:

$("#div1").on("mousedown", function() {
  //The user has clicked down on their mouse in #div1
});

We will stick with the first method as we find it to be easier to read.

The jQuery mousedown() method is very similar to the mouseup() method, the main difference being that the mousedown() method will trigger when you click DOWN on the mouse, while the mouseup() method will only trigger AFTER you click AND release the mouse. We will show this in the example below.

An Example of Using the jQuery mousedown Method

In this example, we will have 2 divs set up next to each other. Both divs will be empty. We will add some CSS to float the divs next to each other and display the text in the center.

Here is the HTML setup:

<style>#div1, #div2 { float: left; height: 200px; width: 200px; border: 1px solid #444; margin-right: 20px; padding: 20px; } .clear { clear: both; }</style>
<div id="div1">jQuery mousedown - Click down on the mouse</div>
<div id="div2">jQuery mouseup - Click AND release the mouse</div>

When the user moves their mouse into each div and clicks, we will generate a random color and then change the background color of the div.

In the first div, we will be showing how the jQuery mousedown() method works. In the second div, we will show how the mouseup() method works.

Here is the JavaScript code:

//This function below will generate a random color
function genRandomColor() {
  var letters = '0123456789ABCDEF';
  var randomColor = '#';
  for (var i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
    randomColor += letters[Math.floor(Math.random() * 16)];
  }
  return randomColor;
}
$("#div1").mousedown(function() {
  $('#div1').css("background-color", genRandomColor());
});
$("#div2").mouseup(function() {
  $('#div2').css("background-color", genRandomColor());
});

The final code and output for this example of using the jQuery mousedown() method is below:

Code Output:

Full Code:

<style>#div1, #div2 { float: left; height: 200px; width: 200px; border: 1px solid #444; margin-right: 20px; padding: 20px; } .clear { clear: both; }</style>
<div id="div1">jQuery mousedown - Click down on the mouse</div>
<div id="div2">jQuery mouseup - Click AND release the mouse</div>
<div class="clear"></div>

<script>

function genRandomColor() {
  var letters = '0123456789ABCDEF';
  var randomColor = '#';
  for (var i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
    randomColor += letters[Math.floor(Math.random() * 16)];
  }
  return randomColor;
}
$("#div1").mousedown(function() {
  $('#div1').css("background-color", genRandomColor());
});
$("#div2").mouseup(function() {
  $('#div2').css("background-color", genRandomColor());
});

</script>

Hopefully this article has been useful to help you understand how to use the jQuery mousedown method.