Element: pointercancel event

Baseline Widely available

This feature is well established and works across many devices and browser versions. It’s been available across browsers since July 2020.

The pointercancel event is fired when the browser determines that there are unlikely to be any more pointer events, or if after the pointerdown event is fired, the pointer is then used to manipulate the viewport by panning, zooming, or scrolling.

Some examples of situations that will trigger a pointercancel event:

  • A hardware event occurs that cancels the pointer activities. This may include, for example, the user switching applications using an application switcher interface or the "home" button on a mobile device.
  • The device's screen orientation is changed while the pointer is active.
  • The browser decides that the user started pointer input accidentally. This can happen if, for example, the hardware supports palm rejection to prevent a hand resting on the display while using a stylus from accidentally triggering events.
  • The touch-action CSS property prevents the input from continuing.
  • When the user interacts with too many simultaneous pointers, the browser can fire this event for all existing pointers (even if the user is still touching the screen).

Note: After the pointercancel event is fired, the browser will also send pointerout followed by pointerleave.

Syntax

Use the event name in methods like addEventListener(), or set an event handler property.

js
addEventListener("pointercancel", (event) => { })

onpointercancel = (event) => { }

Event type

A PointerEvent. Inherits from Event.

Event UIEvent MouseEvent PointerEvent

Event properties

This interface inherits properties from MouseEvent and Event.

PointerEvent.altitudeAngle Read only

Represents the angle between a transducer (a pointer or stylus) axis and the X-Y plane of a device screen.

PointerEvent.azimuthAngle Read only

Represents the angle between the Y-Z plane and the plane containing both the transducer (a pointer or stylus) axis and the Y axis.

PointerEvent.persistentDeviceId Read only

A unique identifier for the pointing device generating the PointerEvent.

PointerEvent.pointerId Read only

A unique identifier for the pointer causing the event.

PointerEvent.width Read only

The width (magnitude on the X axis), in CSS pixels, of the contact geometry of the pointer.

PointerEvent.height Read only

The height (magnitude on the Y axis), in CSS pixels, of the contact geometry of the pointer.

PointerEvent.pressure Read only

The normalized pressure of the pointer input in the range 0 to 1, where 0 and 1 represent the minimum and maximum pressure the hardware is capable of detecting, respectively.

PointerEvent.tangentialPressure Read only

The normalized tangential pressure of the pointer input (also known as barrel pressure or cylinder stress) in the range -1 to 1, where 0 is the neutral position of the control.

PointerEvent.tiltX Read only

The plane angle (in degrees, in the range of -90 to 90) between the Y–Z plane and the plane containing both the pointer (e.g., pen stylus) axis and the Y axis.

PointerEvent.tiltY Read only

The plane angle (in degrees, in the range of -90 to 90) between the X–Z plane and the plane containing both the pointer (e.g., pen stylus) axis and the X axis.

PointerEvent.twist Read only

The clockwise rotation of the pointer (e.g., pen stylus) around its major axis in degrees, with a value in the range 0 to 359.

PointerEvent.pointerType Read only

Indicates the device type that caused the event (mouse, pen, touch, etc.).

PointerEvent.isPrimary Read only

Indicates if the pointer represents the primary pointer of this pointer type.

Examples

Using addEventListener():

js
const para = document.querySelector("p");

para.addEventListener("pointercancel", (event) => {
  console.log("Pointer event cancelled");
});

Using the onpointercancel event handler property:

js
const para = document.querySelector("p");

para.onpointercancel = (event) => {
  console.log("Pointer event cancelled");
};

Specifications

Specification
Pointer Events
# the-pointercancel-event
Pointer Events
# dom-globaleventhandlers-onpointercancel

Browser compatibility

desktop mobile
Chrome
Edge
Firefox
Opera
Safari
Chrome Android
Firefox for Android
Opera Android
Safari on iOS
Samsung Internet
WebView Android
WebView on iOS
pointercancel event
Chrome – Full support
Chrome 55 (Release date: 2016-12-01)
footnote Full support
Edge – No support
Edge 12 – 18 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
prefix
footnote Removed in 79 and later
prefix Implemented with the vendor prefix: ms
Edge – Full support
Edge 12 (Release date: 2015-07-29)
footnote Full support
Firefox – Full support
Firefox 59 (Release date: 2018-03-13)
footnote Full support
Opera – Full support
Opera 42 (Release date: 2016-12-13)
footnote Full support
Safari – Full support
Safari 13 (Release date: 2019-09-19)
footnote Full support
Chrome Android – Full support
Chrome Android 55 (Release date: 2016-12-06)
footnote Full support
Firefox for Android – Full support
Firefox for Android 79 (Release date: 2020-07-28)
footnote Full support
Opera Android – Full support
Opera Android 42 (Release date: 2017-01-21)
footnote Full support
Safari on iOS – Full support
Safari on iOS 13 (Release date: 2019-09-19)
footnote Full support
Samsung Internet – Full support
Samsung Internet 6 (Release date: 2017-08-23)
footnote Full support
WebView Android – Full support
WebView Android 55 (Release date: 2016-12-06)
footnote Full support
WebView on iOS – Full support
WebView on iOS 13 (Release date: 2019-09-19)
footnote Full support

Legend

Tip: you can click/tap on a cell for more information.

Full support
Full support
Requires a vendor prefix or different name for use.
Has more compatibility info.

See also