preventDefault() overruled by window.location

Question

I have process in my website which contains a few steps. To navigate I have "previous" and "next" buttons. These buttons are <a> elements with an href attribute (to visit the previous and next step).

The next button works as a door to the next step, but also to validate some fields in the current step, before it continues.

So this is what happens when clicking the next button:

1. The href value got saved in a variable $url.
2. preventDefault() prevents the link from opening the URL.
3. There are some validation checks done.
4. If they return "true", the $url will be loaded in window.location.

For some steps I need to do another check to the user with a confirm box. But here comes the problem:

Problem:

When the confirm() returns "false", the user should not go to the next page. But the window.location of function 1 "overrules" the preventDefault() of function 2 now.

1. Default next button function:

$('#next_link').click(function(e) {
    var url = $(this).attr('href');
    e.preventDefault();             
    if(wiz_validate_required() && wiz_is_step_done()) {
        window.location = url;  
    } 
}); 

2. Confirm box function:

$('.dimensions-check').click(function(e) {
    if(confirm('Have you specified the dimensions in millimeters?') == false) {
        e.preventDefault();
    }
});

Answer 1

I would do something like that. If you have any question for the code please ask!

fiddle

    // These can be changed for each step if you want or not a confirmation 
   var needs_confirm = true;
   var cb_message = 'Have you specified the dimensions in millimeters?';

   $('#next_link').click(function(e) {

     var url = $(this).attr('href');
     e.preventDefault();

     if (needs_confirm === true) {
       if (confirm_box(cb_message) === true) {
         redirect_window(url);
       }
     } else {
       redirect_window(url);
     }

   });


   function confirm_box(cb_message) {
     if (confirm(cb_message) === true) {
       return true;
     } else {
       return false;
     }
   }

   function redirect_window(url) {
     if (wiz_validate_required() && wiz_is_step_done()) {
       window.location = url;
     }
   }

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<div id="next_link"><a href="#">link</a>
</div>