When would this popstate event handler NOT be triggered?
window.addEventListener('popstate', function(event) {
console.log('Navigation occurred');
console.log(event.state);
// Update content based on the current URL
const path = window.location.pathname;
const searchParams = new URLSearchParams(window.location.search);
const hash = window.location.hash;
// Use the URL components to determine what to show
updateContent(path, searchParams, hash, event.state);
});
The popstate event is NOT triggered when history.pushState() is called: 1) popstate fires when the active history entry changes through browser navigation (back/forward buttons), 2) It also fires when programmatic navigation occurs via history.go(), history.back(), or history.forward(), 3) Crucially, it does NOT fire when history.pushState() or history.replaceState() are called, 4) This is because these methods change the URL without actually performing navigation, 5) Applications must update their UI manually after calling pushState() or replaceState(), 6) This behavior is often misunderstood, leading to bugs in single-page applications, 7) A common pattern is to have a separate function that both updates the history state and the UI, 8) Understanding this distinction is critical for correctly implementing client-side routing.