Triggering a javascript event with inline parameters

Question

I have a form on my website which is submitted by clicking a link. I am trying to create a custom context menu so that a user can open the submitted form in a new tab, if desired. Because the pages are generated dynamically with cgi, the parameters of the functions are different each time. I would like to trigger the function with those parameters after adding the attribute target="_blank" to the form element.

I am able to access the parameters by using document.getElementById("...").onclick and then using regexes to extract them. But this seems overcomplicated. I feel there must be a way to say, in effect, "do what you would have done if someone had left-clicked this a element". Here is some simplified code:

<a id = "link" style = "cursor:pointer" onclick = "postform('1')">link</a>
<FORM id = "remote"><input id = "input" type = "hidden" name = "firstkey" value = ""></FORM>

I have the JS in a separate file, it basically says:

function postform(valueone) {
document.getElementById("input").value = valueone;
document.getElementById("remote").submit();
}

what I have now for opening in a new tab is:

function contextmenu() {
  var parameters =document.getElementById("newtab").onclick;
  //regexes go here
  postform(parameters);
 }

What I am asking is, is there a way in a line or two to replace what I am doing inside the contextmenu function which would fire the onclick event attached to the link with its parameters?

lookup this and then pass it in for a reference to what was clicked — Rooster
– Rooster, Commented Apr 28, 2015 at 22:04
I'm not sure how that would look - my question as far as I can tell is not how to reference the element but how to trigger the event attached to it - if I wrote this.onclick for example, I would be in the same position I described in the question. — Jonathan Basile
– Jonathan Basile, Commented Apr 28, 2015 at 22:16
essentially, yes - whatever would get the "onclick" attached to that element to fire — Jonathan Basile
– Jonathan Basile, Commented Apr 28, 2015 at 22:26

Rooster · Accepted Answer · 2015-04-29 13:10:50Z

2

you can programmatically fire a click event of a node using its click method.

So for an element of id 'newtab':

document.getElementById("newtab").click();

*Note: wrap that in some error checking in case the node isnt found for some reason.

edited Apr 29, 2015 at 13:10

answered Apr 28, 2015 at 22:28

Rooster

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