var a = document.createElement('a');
a.setAttribute('target','_blank');
a.click();

The above code doesn't work for me. Does setAttribute not work if the click event happens in JavaScript?

var a = document.createElement('a');
a.setAttribute('target','_blank');
a.click();

The above code doesn't work for me. Does setAttribute not work if the click event happens in JavaScript?

• javascript

Share Improve this question Follow edited Feb 22, 2016 at 21:57 stark 2,25622 gold badges2424 silver badges3535 bronze badges asked Feb 22, 2016 at 21:45 fauverismfauverism 1,99244 gold badges3535 silver badges6161 bronze badges 2

• I think it requires an href attribute. – Yogi Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 21:48
• This doesn't seem plete enough to do anything at all. – durbnpoisn Commented Feb 22, 2016 at 21:50

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2 Answers 2

Sorted by: Reset to default 4

Anchor elements without href attributes aren't linking to anywhere, so they aren't links, so clicking on one doesn't do anything.

When I added setAttribute("href", "something") it triggered a new window in my test.

IF you also set an href attribute

a.setAttribute('href','https://google.')

Then when you call a.click() what you will most likely see (in Chrome and Canary) is that the browser will block this popup. This is due to the fact that this is pretty much textbook annoying popup, and since the click was not initiated at first by a click from the user, it is seen as spammy.

If you need to do this, it will usually work if you are triggering the inner "click" from a user initiated (onclick) event handler of some type.