JavaScript: remove event listener

Question

I'm trying to remove an event listener inside of a listener definition:

canvas.addEventListener('click', function(event) {
    click++;
    if(click == 50) {
        // remove this event listener here!
    }
// More code here ...

How could I do that? this = event...

Answer 1

You need to use named functions.

Also, the click variable needs to be outside the handler to increment.

var click_count = 0;

function myClick(event) {
    click_count++;
    if(click_count == 50) {
       // to remove
       canvas.removeEventListener('click', myClick);
    }
}

// to add
canvas.addEventListener('click', myClick);

---

EDIT: You could close around the click_counter variable like this:

var myClick = (function( click_count ) {
    var handler = function(event) {
        click_count++;
        if(click_count == 50) {
           // to remove
           canvas.removeEventListener('click', handler);
        }
    };
    return handler;
})( 0 );

// to add
canvas.addEventListener('click', myClick);

This way you can increment the counter across several elements.

---

If you don't want that, and want each one to have its own counter, then do this:

var myClick = function( click_count ) {
    var handler = function(event) {
        click_count++;
        if(click_count == 50) {
           // to remove
           canvas.removeEventListener('click', handler);
        }
    };
    return handler;
};

// to add
canvas.addEventListener('click', myClick( 0 ));

EDIT: I had forgotten to name the handler being returned in the last two versions. Fixed.

Answer 2

   canvas.addEventListener('click', function(event) {
      click++;
      if(click == 50) {
          this.removeEventListener('click',arguments.callee,false);
      }

Should do it.

Answer 3

You could use a named function expression (in this case the function is named abc), like so:

let click = 0;
canvas.addEventListener('click', function abc(event) {
    click++;
    if (click >= 50) {
        // remove event listener function `abc`
        canvas.removeEventListener('click', abc);
    }
    // More code here ...
}

Quick and dirty working example: http://jsfiddle.net/8qvdmLz5/2/.

More information about named function expressions: http://kangax.github.io/nfe/.

Answer 4

If @Cybernate's solution doesn't work, try breaking the trigger off in to it's own function so you can reference it.

clickHandler = function(event){
  if (click++ == 49)
    canvas.removeEventListener('click',clickHandler);
}
canvas.addEventListener('click',clickHandler);

Answer 5

element.querySelector('.addDoor').onEvent('click', function (e) { });
element.querySelector('.addDoor').removeListeners();


HTMLElement.prototype.onEvent = function (eventType, callBack, useCapture) {
this.addEventListener(eventType, callBack, useCapture);
if (!this.myListeners) {
    this.myListeners = [];
};
this.myListeners.push({ eType: eventType, callBack: callBack });
return this;
};


HTMLElement.prototype.removeListeners = function () {
if (this.myListeners) {
    for (var i = 0; i < this.myListeners.length; i++) {
        this.removeEventListener(this.myListeners[i].eType, this.myListeners[i].callBack);
    };
   delete this.myListeners;
};
};

Answer 6

I think you may need to define the handler function ahead of time, like so:

var myHandler = function(event) {
    click++; 
    if(click == 50) { 
        this.removeEventListener('click', myHandler);
    } 
}
canvas.addEventListener('click', myHandler);

This will allow you to remove the handler by name from within itself.

Answer 7

If someone uses jquery, he can do it like this :

var click_count = 0;
$( "canvas" ).bind( "click", function( event ) {
    //do whatever you want
    click_count++;
    if ( click_count == 50 ) {
        //remove the event
        $( this ).unbind( event );
    }
});

Hope that it can help someone. Note that the answer given by @user113716 work nicely :)

Answer 8

I ended up creating a helper function for that:

function addDisposableEventListener({ target, eventType, eventHandler }) {
  target.addEventListener(eventType, eventHandler)
  return { dispose: () => target.removeEventListener(eventType, eventHandler) }
}

Usage Examples:

const button = document.querySelector('#button')
const buttonClickListener = addDisposableEventListener({
  target: button,
  eventType: 'click',
  eventHandler: event => {
    event.preventDefault()
    // ... code to handle the event
    buttonClickListener.dispose() // listener can be disposed here
  }
})

// ... more code
buttonClickListener.dispose() // listener can be disposed here