---
title: oncontextmenu Event
author: Daniela Gonzalez
description: We will be taking a look at an event known as the "oncontextmenu"event. This Event occurs when the user clicks on something.
published: "2025-01-22"
---
When learning JavaScript, we are often shown a variety of options when it comes to creating an interactive user experience. In the following article we will be looking into the following Javascript event, **oncontextmenu**, to give us an understanding of how to elevate our code.
**Oncontextmenu** allows a user to open a context menu in the browser. In order for the event to occur the user needs to **right-click** on the item in question to open the "context menu". A context menu is a pop-up menu after right-clicking.
We want to start off with the base of our code in the coding software you are using (personally I am using Visual Studio Code) create a file and copy the following code to get started:
```html
Research Paper Test
oncontextmenu Event
Right-click inside this the box
```
It's important to note that the code I provided about is just a basic HTML code clock, it will require alot of adjustment to make it an oncontextmenu event.
Below is the JavaScript code we will insert in the noted portion from above.
```js
document.getElementById("myDIV").oncontextmenu = function (){
ocm()
};
function ocm(){
let ocm = document.getElementById("try")
ocm.innerHTML = "you right-clicked";
}
```
Now if you run the code it should allow you to see a pop-up that says "you right-clicked".
An alternative code that has the more modern Javascript format is as follows:
```js
Research Paper Test
oncontextmenu Event
Right-click inside this the box
```
Either choice will give the same result.
When adding a oncontextmenu event notice that the pop-up menu will stay in place till the page is refreshed, in order to change that we should add a **timeout()** function.
```js
setTimeout(() => {
tryP.innerHTML = ""; /* clears the message */
}, 5000); /* sets timer to clear the message to 5 seconds */
```
add the code above inside the following:
```js
function ocm(){
tryP.innerHTML = "you right-clicked";
// add setTimeout() here
}
```
Here are a few articles that I found interesting when researching this event. These articles also helped in developing a working example of code.
1. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Element/contextmenu_event
1. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/html-dom-oncontextmenu-event/
1. https://www.w3schools.com/jsref/event_oncontextmenu.asp