JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, Fourth Edition

Name

Link.onmouseover — the handler invoked when the mouse goes over a link

Availability

JavaScript 1.0

Synopsis

<a ... onmouseover="handler" ... >
<area ... onmouseover="handler" ...
> link.onmouseover

Description

The onmouseover property of a Link object specifies an event handler function that is invoked when the user moves the mouse over a hypertext link. The initial value of this property is a function that contains the JavaScript statements specified by the onmouseover attribute of the <a> or <area> tag that defined the Link object. When an event handler function is defined in this way by an HTML attribute, it is executed in the scope of element rather than in the scope of the containing window.

By default, the browser displays the URL that a hypertext link refers to in the status line whenever the mouse goes over the link. The onmouseover event handler is invoked before the URL is displayed. If the handler returns true, the browser does not display the URL. Thus, an event handler function that returns true can display a custom message in the status line by setting the Window.status property to any desired value.

Note that while this event handler returns true to tell the browser not to perform its default action (displaying the URL of a link), the onclick event handler of the Link object must return false to tell the browser not to take its default action (following the link). This incompatibility exists for historical reasons. The standard for Form and form element event handlers ...