Prevention of default events / event propagation not working

Prevention of default events or hindering event propagation doesn’t seem to be functional in cytoscape.js. I am trying to override the default event which happens upon clicking a node (the node is selected) with instead selecting the node’s neighborhood. None of the methods for hindering event propagation seem to work:

    cy.off("click");    
    cy.on("click", "node", null, function(e) {      
        e.stopPropagation();
        e.stopImmediatePropagation();
        e.preventDefault();     
        e.originalEvent.stopPropagation();
        e.originalEvent.stopImmediatePropagation();
        e.originalEvent.preventDefault();       

        e.cyTarget.neighbourhood("node").select();
    }

The result is that only the clicked node is selected. Using a setTimeout hack seems to confirm that the default event overrides the desired effect, i.e. replacing the last line of the event callback with

window.setTimeout(function() {
    e.cyTarget.neighbourhood("node").select();
}, 50);

works.

[maxkfranz]

For the effect you’re describing, I would argue that it’s the opposite: You want custom selection behaviour, so you don’t want selection state to be mutable by default. Otherwise, any number of user events would generate selection.

It’s far terser and more future-proof to selectify elements in the short window they need to be rather than hunt down every event (and at the right stage of the event) that could cause selection (both now and in future versions that may add things).

cy.nodes().unselectify();

cy.nodes().on('tap', function(e){
  e.cyTarget.closedNeighborhood().nodes()
    .selectify()
    .select()
    .unselectify()
  ;
});

This is far clearer, and it always works.

[tambeta]

Adding new events like those sound like a good idea, though keep in mind that only unselected elements would have select triggered afterwards.

OK. My idea is along the lines that a separate boxselect (or such) event would be fired for all nodes in the box, allowing the library user to implement any selection behavior. I.e. the box selection event would be similar to any other user input (click, tap, etc.).