Change the mouse pointer using JavaScript
I wanted to use a script to change the mouse pointer on my website using JavaScript. It's better done by CSS but my requirement is of a script that can be distributed to many people to embed in the head section of their websites. Through CSS, this can be manipulated by
html
{
cursor: *cursorurl*
}
How to do the same in JavaScript?
Answer
Javascript is pretty good at manipulating css.
document.body.style.cursor = *cursor-url*;
//OR
var elementToChange = document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0];
elementToChange.style.cursor = "url('cursor url with protocol'), auto";
or with jquery:
$("html").css("cursor: url('cursor url with protocol'), auto");
Firefox will not work unless you specify a default cursor after the imaged one!
Also remember that IE6 only supports .cur and .ani cursors.
If cursor doesn't change: In case you are moving the element under the cursor relative to the cursor position (e.g. element dragging) you have to force a redraw on the element:
// in plain js
document.getElementById('parentOfElementToBeRedrawn').style.display = 'none';
document.getElementById('parentOfElementToBeRedrawn').style.display = 'block';
// in jquery
$('#parentOfElementToBeRedrawn').hide().show(0);
working sample:
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<head>
<title>First jQuery-Enabled Page</title>
<style type="text/css">
div {
height: 100px;
width: 1000px;
background-color: red;
}
</style>
<script type="text/javascript" src="jquery-1.3.2.js"></script></head>
<body>
<div>
hello with a fancy cursor!
</div>
</body>
<script type="text/javascript">
document.getElementsByTagName("body")[0].style.cursor = "url('http://wiki-devel.sugarlabs.org/images/e/e2/Arrow.cur'), auto";
</script>
</html>