JS: detect right click without jQuery (inline)

Question

I call a function that builds a table that contains several links.

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

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

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 the link.

Answer 1

html:

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

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; 
  }
}​

demonstration .

Answer 2

Here is a modification of the xdazz answer, which supports browsers that use e.button, normalize the value and save it in e.which. Added lines are what is used in the jQuery library.

function mouseDown(e) {
  e = e || window.event;
  if ( !e.which && e.button !== undefined ) {
    e.which = ( e.button & 1 ? 1 : ( e.button & 2 ? 3 : ( e.button & 4 ? 2 : 0 ) ) );
  }
  switch (e.which) {
    case 1: alert('left'); break;
    case 2: alert('middle'); break;
    case 3: alert('right'); break; 
  }
}​