Invokers (Explainer)

• Authors: Keith Cirkel

Invoker ButtonsSection titled Invoker%20Buttons

Pitch in CodeSection titled Pitch%20in%20Code

<button invoketarget="my-dialog">This opens a dialog</button>

<dialog id="my-dialog">This is the dialog</dialog>

IntroductionSection titled Introduction

Adding invoketarget and invokeaction attributes to <button> and <input type="button"> / <input type="reset"> elements would allow authors to assign behaviour to buttons in a more accessible and declarative way, while reducing bugs and simplifying the amount of JavaScript pages are required to ship for interactivity. Buttons with invoketarget will - when clicked, touched, or enacted via keypress - dispatch an InvokeEvent on the element referenced by invoketarget, with some default behaviours.

In addition, this proposals seeks to add an interesttarget attribute to interactive elements: starting with <button>, <input type="button">/<input type="reset">, and <a> (perhaps expanding to <area>, <input>, <textarea>, <select>, <summary> or maybe more, see #14). This would allow disclosure of high fidelity tooltips in a more accessible and declarative way. Elements with interesttarget will - when hovered, long pressed, or focussed - dispatch an InterestEvent on the element referenced by interesttarget, with some default behaviours.

BackgroundSection titled Background

All elements within the DOM are capable of having interactions added to them. A long while ago this took the form of adding inline JavaScript to an event attribute, such as <button onclick="other.open()"></button>. Inline JavaScript has (rightly so) fallen out of favour due to the security and maintainability concerns. Newer pages may instead introduce more JavaScript to imperatively discover elements and call addEventListener('click', ...) to invoke the same behaviour. These patterns reduce developer experience and introduce more boilerplate and friction, while remediating security and maintainability concerns. Some frameworks attempt to reintroduce the developer experience of inline handlers by introducing new JavaScript or HTML shorthands, such as React’s onClick={...}, Vue’s @click=".." or HTMX’s hx-trigger="click".

There has also been a rise in the desire to customise controls for components. Many sites, for example, introduce custom controls for File Uploads or dropdown menus. These often require a large amount of work to reintroduce the built in functionality of those controls, and often unintentionally sacrifice accessibility in doing so.

With the new popover attribute, we saw a straightforward declarative way to tell the DOM that a button was interested in being a participant of the popover interaction. popovertarget would indicate to a browser that if that button was interacted with, it should open the element the popovertarget value pointed to. This allows for popovers to be created and interacted with - in an accessible and reliable way - without writing any additional JavaScript, which is a very welcome addition. While popovertarget sufficiently captured the use case for popovers, it fell short of providing the same developer & user experience for other interactive elements such as <dialog>, <details>, <video>, <input type="file">, and so on. This proposal attempts to redress the balance.

TermsSection titled Terms

• Invoke/Invoked/Invoking: The action of Invoking refers to a complete press action of a button, using a Human Input Device (HID). If the HID is a mouse, this would be a click event. If the HID is a touch screen, this would be a press using a stylus or finger. If the HID is a keyboard this would be the Space or Enter (Carriage Return) key on the keyboard. For other HIDs such as eye tracking or pedals or game controllers, the equivalent expected “click” action should be used to invoke the element.
• Interest/Shows Interest: The action of Interest refers to the user “landing” on an element without invoking it, using a HID. If the HID is a mouse, this would be a hover event. If the HID is a touch screen, this would be a long press on the element using a stylus or finger, if the HID is a keyboard, this would be when the element is focussed. For other HIDs such as eye tracking or pedals or game controllers, the equivalent “focus or hover” action is used to take interest on the element.
• Loses/Lost Interest: The action of Loses Interest refers to the user “moving away” from an element, or its interestee, using a HID; in other words interest must be on a different element that is neither. Elements can only Lose Interest if they are in the state of Showing Interest. If the HID is a mouse, this would be a mouseout event. If the HID is a touch screen, this would be long pressing outside of the elements bounds. If the HID is a keyboard, this would be moving focus away from the element. For other HIDs such as eye tracking or game controllers, the equivalent “focusout or mouseout” action is used to Lose Interest on the element.
• Invoker: An invoker is a button element (that is a <button>, <input type="button">, or <input type="reset">) that has an invoketarget attribute set.
• Invokee: An element which is referenced to by an Invoker, via the invoketarget attribute.
• Interestee: An element which is referenced to by an Interest element, via the interesttarget attribute.

Proposed PlanSection titled Proposed%20Plan

In the style of popovertarget, this document proposes we add invoketarget, and invokeaction as available attributes to <button>, <input type="button"> and <input type="reset"> elements, as well as an interesttarget attribute to <button>, <a>, <area> and <input> elements.

interface mixin InvokerElement {
  [CEReactions] attribute Element? invokeTargetElement;
  [CEReactions] attribute DOMString invokeAction;
};
interface mixin InterestElement {
  [CEReactions] attribute Element? interestTargetElement;
}

HTMLButtonElement extends InvokerElement
HTMLInputElement extends InvokerElement

HTMLButtonElement extends InterestElement
HTMLInputElement extends InterestElement
HTMLAnchorElement extends InterestElement

The invoketarget value should be an IDREF pointing to an element within the document. .invokeTargetElement also exists on the element to imperatively assign a node to be the invoker target, allowing for cross-root invokers (in some cases, see the popovertarget attr-asociated element steps for more).

The invokeaction (and the .invokeAction reflected property) is a freeform hint to the Invokee. If invokeaction is a falsey value ('', null, etc.) then it will default to 'auto'. Values which are not recognised should be passed verbatim, and should not be assumed to be auto. This allows for custom actions. Built-in interactive elements have built-in behaviours (detailed below) which are determined by the invokeaction but also Invokees will dispatch events when Invoked, allowing custom code to take control of invocations without having to manually wire up DOM nodes for the variety of invocation patterns.

The interesttarget value should be an IDREF pointing to an element within the document. .interestTargetElement also exists on the element to imperatively assign a node to be the invoker target, allowing for cross-root invokers (in some cases, see the popovertarget attr-asociated element steps for more).

Elements with invoketarget set will dispatch an InvokeEvent on the Invokee (the element referenced by invoketarget) when the element is Invoked. The InvokeEvent’s type is always invoke. The event also contains a relatedTarget property that will reference the Invoker element. InvokeEvents are always non-bubbling, cancellable events.

[Exposed=Window]
interface InvokeEvent : Event {
  constructor(InvokeEventInit invokeEventInit);
  readonly attribute Element relatedTarget;
  readonly attribute DOMString type = "invoke";
  readonly attribute DOMString action;
};
dictionary InvokeEventInit : EventInit {
  DOMString action = "auto";
  Element relatedTarget;
};

Elements with interesttarget set will dispatch an InterestEvent on the Interestee (the element referenced by interesttarget) when the element Shows Interest or Loses Interest. When the element Shows Interest the event type will be 'interest'. If the element has Shown Interest, and interest moves away from both the Interest Element and the Interestee, then the element Loses Interest and an InterestEvent with the type of 'loseinterest' will be dispatched on the Interestee. The event also contains a relatedTarget property that will reference the Interest element. InterestEvents are always non-bubbling, cancellable events.

[Exposed=Window]
interface InterestEvent : Event {
  constructor(DOMString type, InterestEventInit interestEventInit);
  readonly attribute Element relatedTarget;
};
dictionary InterestEventInit : EventInit {
  Element relatedTarget;
};

Both interesttarget and invoketarget can exist on the same element at the same time, and both should be respected.

If an element also has both a popovertarget and invoketarget attribute, then popovertarget must be ignored: invoketarget takes precedence. An element with both interesttarget and popovertarget is valid and both actions will work.

If a <button> is a form participant, or has type=submit, then invoketarget must be ignored. interesttarget is still valid in these scenarios.

If an <input> is a form participant, or has a type other than reset or button, then invoketarget and interesttarget must be ignored. interesttarget additionally works with type of submit.

Example CodeSection titled Example%20Code

PopoversSection titled Popovers

When pointing to a popover, invoketarget acts much like popovertarget, allowing the toggling of popovers.

<button invoketarget="my-popover">Open Popover</button>
<!-- Effectively the same as popovertarget="my-popover" -->

<div id="my-popover" popover="auto">Hello world</div>

An interesttarget allows for tooltips using popover:

<button interesttarget="my-popover">Open Popover</button>

<div id="my-popover" popover="hint">Hello world</div>

DialogsSection titled Dialogs

When pointing to a <dialog>, invoketarget can toggle a <dialog>’s openness.

<button invoketarget="my-dialog">Open Dialog</button>

<dialog id="my-dialog">
  Hello world!

  <button invoketarget="my-dialog" invokeaction="close">Close</button>
</dialog>

DetailsSection titled Details

When pointing to a <details>, invoketarget can toggle a <details>’ openness.

<button invoketarget="my-details">Open Details</button>
<!-- Can be used to replicate the `<summary>` interaction -->

<details id="my-details">
  <summary>Summary...</summary>
  Hello world!
</details>

Customizing input type=fileSection titled Customizing%20input%20type%3Dfile

Pointing an invoketarget to an <input type="file"> acts the same as the rendered button within the input; and can be used to declare a customised alternative button to the input’s button.

<button invoketarget="my-file" invokeaction="showPicker">Pick a file...</button>

<input id="my-file" type="file" />

Customizing video/audio controlsSection titled Customizing%20video/audio%20controls

The <video> and <audio> tags have many interactions, here invokeaction shines, allowing multiple buttons to handle different interactions with the video player.

<button invoketarget="my-video" invokeaction="playpause">Play/Pause</button>
<button invoketarget="my-video" invokeaction="mute">Mute</button>

<video id="my-video"></video>

Custom behaviourSection titled Custom%20behaviour

Invokers will dispatch events on the Invokee element, allowing for custom JavaScript to be triggered without having to wire up manual event handlers to the Invokers.

<button invoketarget="my-custom">Invoke a div... to do something?</button>
<button invoketarget="my-custom" invokeaction="frobulate">Frobulate</button>

<div id="my-custom"></div>

<script>
  document.getElementById("my-custom").addEventListener("invoke", (e) => {
    if (e.action === "auto") {
      console.log("invoked an auto action!");
    } else if (e.action === "frobulate") {
      alert("Successfully frobulated the div");
    }
  });
</script>

Elements with Interest will dispatch events on the Interestee element, allowing for custom JavaScript to be triggered without having to wire up manual event handlers to the Interest elements.

<button interesttarget="my-custom">
  When this button shows interest, the below div will display.
</button>

<div id="my-custom" hidden>Supplementary information</div>

<script>
  const custom = document.getElementById("my-custom");
  custom.addEventListener("interest", (e) => {
    custom.hidden = false;
  });
  custom.addEventListener("loseinterest", (e) => {
    custom.hidden = true;
  });
</script>

AccessibilitySection titled Accessibility

Warning: This section is incomplete PRs welcome.

The Invoker implicitly receives aria-controls=IDREF or aria-details=IDREF (tbd) to expose the Invoker controls another element (the Invokee) for instances where the invokee is not a sibling to the invoker element.

If the Invokee has the popover attribute, the Invoker implicitly receives an aria-expanded state, as well as an aria-details association (for instances where the elements are not DOM siblings) which will match the state of the popover’s openness. It will be aria-expanded=true when the popover is :popover-open and aria-expanded=false otherwise.

If the Invokee is a <details> element the Invoker implicitly receives an aria-expanded state which will match the state of the Invokee’s openness. It will be aria-expanded=true when the Invokee is open and aria-expanded=false otherwise.

If the Invokee is a <dialog> element the Invoker implicitly receives an aria-expanded state which will match the state of the Invokee’s openness. It will be aria-expanded=true when the Invokee is open and aria-expanded=false otherwise.

TBD: Accessibility attributes for interesttarget.

DefaultsSection titled Defaults

Depending on the target set by invoketarget, invoking the button will trigger additional behaviours alongside the event dispatch. Invoking an invoketarget will always dispatch a trusted InvokeEvent, but in addition the following table represents how invocations on specific element types are handled. Note that this list is ordered and higher rules take precedence:

Note: The above table is an attempt at wide coverage, but ideas are welcome. Please submit a PR if you have one!

Depending on the target set by interesttarget, showing interest or losing interest can trigger additional behaviours alongside the event dispatch. Showing/losing interest on an interesttarget will always dispatch a trusted InterestEvent, but in addition the following table represents how interest on specific element types are handled. Note that this list is ordered and higher rules take precedence:

Note: The above table is an attempt at wide coverage, but ideas are welcome. Please submit a PR if you have one!

Invoke/Interest and Custom ElementsSection titled Invoke/Interest%20and%20Custom%20Elements

As the underlying system for invoke/interest elements uses event dispatch, Custom Elements can make use of InvokeEvent/InterestEvents for their own behaviours. Consider the following:

<button
  interesttarget="my-element"
  invoketarget="my-element"
  invokeaction="spin"
>
  Spin the widget
</button>

<spin-widget id="my-element"></spin-widget>
<script>
  customElements.define(
    "spin-widget",
    class extends HTMLElement {
      connectedCallback() {
        this.addEventListener("invoke", (e) => {
          if (e.action === "spin") {
            this.spin();
          }
        });
        this.addEventListener("interest", (e) => {
          this.style.transform = "rotate(1deg)";
        });
        this.addEventListener("loseinterest", (e) => {
          this.style.transform = "rotate(0)";
        });
      }
    },
  );
</script>

PAQ (Potentially Asked Questions)Section titled PAQ%20%28Potentially%20Asked%20Questions%29

Why the name invoker? Why not click?Section titled Why%20the%20name%20invoker%3F%20Why%20not%20click%3F

While click is a fairly well established name in the world of the web, it is quite specific to certain types of HID and is not a term which encompasses all viable methods of interaction. In addition a clickaction attribute is deemed to be a little too ambiguous as it conflates existing concepts. Given the opportunity to supply a new name, invoke was settled on.

Why the name interest? Why not hover or focus?Section titled Why%20the%20name%20interest%3F%20Why%20not%20hover%20or%20focus%3F

Much like click, hover or focus are specific to certain types of HID, and are not terms which encompass all viable methods of interaction. Lots of alternatives were discussed and it was deemed that interest is the best name to explain the concept of a “hover or focus or equivalent”.

What about adding Invoker defaults for <form>?Section titled What%20about%20adding%20Invoker%20defaults%20for%20%3Cform%3E%3F

Defaults for <form> are intentionally omitted as this proposal does not aim to replace Reset or Submit buttons. If you want to control forms, use those.

What about adding Invoker defaults for <a>?Section titled What%20about%20adding%20Invoker%20defaults%20for%20%3Ca%3E%3F

Defaults for <a> are intentionally omitted as this proposal does not aim to replace anchors. If you intend to produce a page navigation, use an <a> tag.

Why is invoketarget limited to buttons?Section titled Why%20is%20invoketarget%20limited%20to%20buttons%3F

This is by design, to allow for a “pit of success”; invoking actions on non-button elements such as <div>s or <a>s creates many problems, especially for non-interactive elements. While <a>s are interactive, they should only be used for page navigation and not for invoking other behaviours, and so invoketarget should not be allowed.

Why isn’t input[type=submit] included?Section titled Why%20isn%u2019t%20input%5Btype%3Dsubmit%5D%20included%3F

This is not added by design. Submit inputs already have a default action: submitting forms. If you want a button to control the submission of a form, use input[type=submit], if you want a button to control invocation of something other than a form then you should use input[type=button].

Why is input[type=reset] included?Section titled Why%20is%20input%5Btype%3Dreset%5D%20included%3F

It may stand to reason that if input[type=submit] is excluded then so should input[type=reset], however, there are valid use cases to resetting a form at the same time as some other action, for example closing the dialog that contains a form:

<dialog id="my-dialog">
  <form>
    <input type="text" />
    <!-- This button closes the dialog _and_ resets the form -->
    <input type="reset" invoketarget="my-dialog" value="Cancel" />
  </form>
</dialog>

Why is interesttarget less limited?Section titled Why%20is%20interesttarget%20less%20limited%3F

While invocation should only be limited to buttons, disclosure of supplementary information can be expanded to all interactive elements. There are many useful use cases for offering a tooltip on anchors, such as signalling that they are external, or that they will open in a new window, or to show preview information (think: preview windows on iOS Safari or the hovercards that display on GitHub over a user’s handle).

Why is interesttarget not unlimited, like title is?Section titled Why%20is%20interesttarget%20not%20unlimited%2C%20like%20title%20is%3F

It could be considered a mistake to allow title on all elements; as adding interactivity to non-interactive elements creates many problems. Limiting where interesttarget is allowed aims to create a “pit of success”, guiding developers to use it only on interactive elements, where it makes sense.

What does this mean for popovertarget?Section titled What%20does%20this%20mean%20for%20popovertarget%3F

Whilst invoketarget does replicate popovertarget’s functionality, the two will co-exist side by side for some while to enable a smooth transition. It is, however, intended that invoketarget will replace popovertarget leading to popovertarget’s eventual deprecation.

InvokeTarget seems limited, what if I wanted to add arguments?Section titled InvokeTarget%20seems%20limited%2C%20what%20if%20I%20wanted%20to%20add%20arguments%3F

invokeaction is a freeform text hint to your own elements. If you feel it necessary you can invent your own DSLs for passing extra data using this hint. For example:

<button invoketarget="my-counter" invokeaction="add:1">Add 1</button>
<button invoketarget="my-counter" invokeaction="add:2">Add 2</button>
<button invoketarget="my-counter" invokeaction="add:10">Add 10</button>

<input readonly id="my-counter" value="0" />

<script>
  const counter = document.getElementById("my-counter");
  counter.addEventListener("invoke", (e) => {
    let addMatch = /^add:(\d+)$/.match(e.action);
    if (addMatch) {
      counter.value = Number(counter.value) + Number(addMatch[1]);
    }
  });
</script>