JS: detect right click without jQuery (inline)

Question

I'm calling a function, that builds a table which includes several links.

I want to check if a link has been clicked with right or left mouse.

I tried to add the following part to the <a> hyperlink.

onmousedown="function mouseDown(e){
switch (e.which) {
   case 1: alert('left'); break;
   case 2: alert('middle'); break;
   case 3: alert('right'); break; }
}"

But nothing happens If I click on a link.

Answer 1

The html:

<a href="#" onmousedown="mouseDown(event);">aaa</a>​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The javascript:

function mouseDown(e) {
  e = e || window.event;
  switch (e.which) {
    case 1: alert('left'); break;
    case 2: alert('middle'); break;
    case 3: alert('right'); break; 
  }
}​

The demo.