XUL:command

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A command element can be used to invoke an operation that can come from multiple sources. For example, a clipboard paste operation can be invoked from the Edit menu, a context menu and by pressing a keyboard shortcut. You attach the code to the command using the oncommand attribute. It will be called no matter how it is invoked by the user. In addition, disabling the command will automatically disable the menu items and keyboard shortcuts.

Commands are identified by their id. If you include the script chrome://global/content/globalOverlay.js in your window, you can use the function goDoCommand function to invoke the command. Using this function has the advantage that the command will be sent to the part of the UI which will respond to it. Typically, this will be the currently focused element.

Like a broadcaster, commands forward attributes to other elements.

More information is available in the XUL tutorial. See also: command attribute, commandset element

Attributes: disabled, label, oncommand

[edit] Examples

The following code will send a paste command (cmd_paste) to the currently focused element:

 goDoCommand("cmd_paste");

Example with two buttons

<command id="cmd_openhelp" oncommand="alert('Help');"/>
<button label="Help" command="cmd_openhelp"/>
<button label="More Help" command="cmd_openhelp"/>

[edit] Attributes

Inherited from XUL element
align, allowevents, allownegativeassertions, class, coalesceduplicatearcs, collapsed, container, containment, context, contextmenu, datasources, dir, empty, equalsize, flags, flex, height, hidden, id, insertafter, insertbefore, left, maxheight, maxwidth, menu, minheight, minwidth, mousethrough, observes, ordinal, orient, pack, persist, popup, position, preference-editable, querytype, ref, removeelement, sortDirection, sortResource, sortResource2, statustext, style, template, tooltip, tooltiptext, top, uri, wait-cursor, width

disabled: Type: boolean; Indicates whether the element is disabled or not. If this element is set to true the element is disabled. Disabled elements are usually drawn with grayed-out text. If the element is disabled, it does not respond to user actions, it cannot be focused, and the command event will not fire.

label: Type: string; The label that will appear on the element. If this is left out, no text appears.

oncommand: Type: script code; This event handler is called when the command is activated. This occurs when a user selects a menu item or presses a keyboard shortcut attached to the command.