What's the best way to prevent a double-click on a link with jQuery?

I have a link that triggers an ajax call and when that ajax call returns it shows a message.

The problem is if I double-click, or click it twice before the ajax call returns, I wind up with two messages on the page when I really want just one.

I need like a disabled attribute on a button. But that doesn't work on links.

$('a').on('click', function(e){
    e.preventDefault();

    //do ajax call
});

What's the best way to prevent a double-click on a link with jQuery?

I have a link that triggers an ajax call and when that ajax call returns it shows a message.

The problem is if I double-click, or click it twice before the ajax call returns, I wind up with two messages on the page when I really want just one.

I need like a disabled attribute on a button. But that doesn't work on links.

$('a').on('click', function(e){
    e.preventDefault();

    //do ajax call
});

• javascript
• jquery

• Can you add your code or jsFIddle? – Donovan Charpin Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 6:57
• I don't have any yet. – chovy Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 7:03
• 1 possible duplicate of Disabling links to stop double-clicks in JQuery – Ahsan Mahboob Shah Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 7:19
• That's what on() and off() are for -> jsfiddle/e8MzH – adeneo Commented Sep 29, 2013 at 7:23

9 Answers 9

You can use data- attributes, something like this:

$('a').on('click', function () {
   var $this = $(this);
   var alreadyClicked = $this.data('clicked');
   if (alreadyClicked) {
      return false;
   }
   $this.data('clicked', true);
   $.ajax({
      //some options
      success: function (data) { //or plete
         //stuff
         $this.data('clicked', false);
      }
   })
});

I came with next simple jquery plugin:

(function($) {
  $.fn.oneclick = function() {
    $(this).one('click', function() {
      $(this).click(function() { return false; });
    });
  };
  // auto discover one-click elements
  $(function() { $('[data-oneclick]').oneclick(); });
}(jQuery || Zepto));

// Then apply to selected elements
$('a.oneclick').oneclick();

Or just add custom data atribute in html:

<a data-oneclick href="/">One click</a>

You need async:false

By default, all requests are sent asynchronously (i.e. this is set to true by default). If you need synchronous requests, set this option to false.

$.ajax({
      async: false,
      success: function (data) { 

         //your message here
      }
   })

you can use a dummy class for this.

$('a#anchorID').bind('click',function(){
           if($(this).hasClass('alreadyClicked')){
              return false;
           }else{
                $(this).addClass('alreadyClicked);
                $/ajax({
                    success: function(){$('a#anchorID').removeClass('alreadyClicked');},
                    error: function(){$('a#anchorID').removeClass('alreadyClicked');}
                });
           }});

Check this example. You can disable the button via CSS attribute after the first click (and remove this attribute after an ajax request or with a setTimeout) or use the jQuery.one() function to remove the trigger after the first click (without disabling the button)

var normal_button = $('#normal'),
  one_button = $('#one'),
  disabled_button = $('#disabled'),
  result = $('#result');

normal_button.on('click', function () {
  result.removeClass('hide').append(normal_button.html()+'<br/>');
});

one_button.one('click', function () {
  result.removeClass('hide').append(one_button.html()+'<br/>');
});

disabled_button.on('click', function () {
  disabled_button.attr('disabled', true);
  setTimeout(function () {
    result.removeClass('hide').append(disabled_button.html()+'<br/>');
  }, 2000);
});

Although there are some good solutions offered, the method I ended up using was to just use a <button class="link"> that I can set the disabled attribute on.

Sometimes simplest solution is best.

You can disable click event on that link second time by using Jquery

$(this).unbind('click');

See this jsfiddle for reference Demo

You can disable your links (for instance, href="#" ), and use a click event instead, binded to the link using the jQuery one() function.

Bind all the links with class "button" and try this:

$("a.button").click(function() { $(this).attr("disabled", "disabled"); });
$(document).click(function(evt) {
     if ($(evt.target).is("a[disabled]"))
          return false;
});