How can I include the selected element in delegated jQuery's .on()?

Question

I'm using jQuery's .on() with a selector to delegate to a filtered set of descendants, like this:

selectedElement.on("click", "[data-click]", clickHandler);

In this case, binding the clickHandler function to a click event on any descendant that has a "data-click" attribute (with any value).

If selectedElement itself has a "data-click" attribute, it is not bound. I can't use the selected element's parent instead, because it contains other children that I don't want bound. This bind is occurring inside a function that receives selectedElement as an argument, so I have no advance knowledge of what kind of element it is or what selector I would use to select it. I would prefer not to have to bind the selected element separately.

Is there a way to include the selected element itself in the set which is filtered and bound by .on?

Answer 1

Like @Joseph Silber said, you can't really do that. Here is what I would do in a similar situation:

selectedElement.on('click', function(ev) {
    // Alternatively, you could do $(this).is('[data-click]')
    if ( ev.target.hasAttribute('data-click') ) {
        clickHandler(ev);
    }
});

That way you can still use your clickHandler variable if that's what you're doing.