Unbind all elements with jQuery.

Each time a user is working (click on the button) you set a variable or you set a class (for example active) to the button

in each button click event you check the variable OR if a button have the class (active)
if the variable is set OR button.class is found you break the execution: return false

To unbind is fairly easy, to rebind not so much (as far as I know)
Are you just trying to disable everything on the page while something else is happening?

One option is to use .on for all your bound events, then you can turn them on/off as you need.

p.s.
unbound

Rebinding is where I saw my obstacles.

.On is predominately used through the site -> .off() ?

That is why I asked if disabling all elements is an option, certainly a lot easier to implement.
As for .on/.off I will have to play with it because I've never come across a situation like this.
Another option would be to overlay your page with a transparent div that blocks any interaction

I believe disabling would work fine.

I've thought about using the empty div, but i don't feel like it's the right approach IF there's a more intelligent route by unbinding / rebinding or using .on()/.off() as a means to activate / deactivate. If no other means, I know I can fall back on that.

When a user clicks the help button, the idea is that they can then click on other elements of the dom. Instead of target elements firing their normal events, I would display something similar to a tool tip - element specific. I'm not too concerned with the logic of the display if I know that there's a good solution to this event firing issue ...

$("button.myclass").click(function(evt) {
   if($("button.myclass.active").length>0) return false; // cancel because the user is working
   doSomething1();
   doSomething2();
   doSomething3();
   $.post("url.php", params, function() { // some ajax call here or somewhere else
       $("button.myclass.active").remove("active"); // the user have finish to work, unlock, autorise new processing
   });
});

Select allOpen in new window

So you are attaching a new event to the objects? - this is making it more difficult

Gary,
I did not plan to attach any new events to any elements. my explanation was high-level, and probably should have clarified that better.

Leakim,
not sure that i understand your logic.
where does .active get added to the element, within one of the functions ?
i noticed that you're passing the event into the function, is there a reason ?



Thanks

Yes I miss to add it AFTER the test :

$("button.myclass").click(function(evt) {
   if($("button.myclass.active").length>0) return false; // cancel because the user is working
   $(this).addClass("active");
   doSomething1();
   doSomething2();
   doSomething3();
   $.post("url.php", params, function() { // some ajax call here or somewhere else
       $("button.myclass.active").remove("active"); // the user have finish to work, unlock, autorise new processing
   });
});

i noticed that you're passing the event into the function, is there a reason ?

Not this time.
Check signature, jQuery always provide it : eventObject
http://api.jquery.com/click/

Which step described above prevents other elements from firing, if they were clicked on, while this was in progress ?

every button should share the same logic (same selector or not)

$("button.myclass").click(function(evt) {
   if($("button.myclass.active").length>0) return false;

Maybe I've misunderstood.

I'm understanding your example in the sense that it's applied to each button & renders each individual button 'inactive' while it's active through the process.

If my understanding is correct, I don't see that fulfilling the objective. I can make the help button inactive, but I need all buttons / dom elements [click events mainly] to be disabled while that process [original click on the help button] is still live.

That might be a good solution Gary. That makes sense. Lemme try it out.

If my understanding is correct, I don't see that fulfilling the objective. I can make the help button inactive, but I need all buttons / dom elements [click events mainly] to be disabled while that process [original click on the help button] is still live.

you rigth.

Further to what @GaryC123 has said, by wrapping all your custom events for your elements in an Initialization function, would mean you can re-initialize later if you unbind the events.

I'm not sure how your page is laid out but you may need multiple initialization functions for different sections of the page.  The navigation, header, footer and body content for instance.  The body of the current page will have a different initialization to another page.  The navigation, header and footer though will more than likely have the same each page.

you would also have to remove any events specified in the tags as .off does not seem to remove them: http://jsbin.com/IsAxAX/1/edit

GaryC123 said :

Another option would be to overlay your page with a transparent div that blocks any interaction

What is the problem with this solution? It's very used with css popup/lightbox.

I understood that there was still to be some interaction with the rest of the page.. you couldn't click but the tooltips would appear.  something of a "how to use my page" when you click the help button.
I pondered the transparent div idea as well but it wanted the tooltips to work you'd need to be able to interact with the elements directly.

You can disable all bindings with
$("*",document).off()

Thanks Experts  !!