Javascript sending key codes to a <textarea> element

Question

I can\'t figure out how to trigger a keydown event on a textarea element, e.g. imagine i have two textarea elements and when i type something in the first one, I want the se

Answer 1

The event is sent, the browser just doesn't react to it (i.e., put characters in the textarea)

Not all browsers (that I know of) allow you to dispatch events, not just trigger them. But even doing that is far from perfect

// Gecko only
$("#first").keypress(function(event)
{
  var evt = document.createEvent('KeyEvents');
  evt.initKeyEvent(
      event.type
    , event.bubbles
    , event.cancelable
    , event.view
    , event.ctrlKey
    , event.altKey
    , event.shiftKey
    , event.metaKey
    , event.keycode
    , event.charCode
  );
  $('#second')[0].dispatchEvent( evt );
});

Try this example and you'll see what I mean by how it's far from perfect. Basically, the way to do what you're asking is also the way you say you can't - by value.

However, you can pass custom data along with the event, which leads to a solution that looks like this

$("#first").bind( 'keyup change', function(event)
{
  $('#second').trigger( 'mimic', $(this).val() );
});
$("#second").bind( 'mimic', function( event, value )
{
  $(this).val( value );
})

Is that good enough?