Make "scrollLeft" / "scrollTop" changes not trigger scroll event listener

Solution 1:

Easiest generic method? Just reset the flag in the event handler. You'll want to check first if you're actually changing the value, as otherwise an event won't be fired - as Rodrigo notes, a good practice here is to factor this out into so-called "setter" functions:

function setScrollLeft(x)
{
  if ( element.scrollLeft != x )
  {
    ignoreScrollEvents = true;
    element.scrollLeft = x;
  }
} 

...

function onScroll() 
{
  var ignore = ignoreScrollEvents;
  ignoreScrollEvents = false;

  if (ignore) return false;

  ...
}

But, depending on your needs, you may already be storing the scroll position somewhere; if so, just update and check that as your flag. Something like:

element.scrollLeft = currentScrollLeft = x;

...

function onScroll() 
{
  // retrieve element, etc... 

  if (element.scrollLeft == currentScrollLeft) return false;

  ...
}

Solution 2:

How about a setter?

var _preventEvent = false; // set global flag 

function setScrollTop(amount) {
  _preventEvent = true; // set flag
  document.documentElement.scrollTop = amount * Math.random();
}

function setScrollLeft(amount) {
  _preventEvent = true; // set flag
  document.documentElement.scrollLeft = amount * Math.random();
}

// scroll event listener
window.onscroll = function() {
  console.clear();
  
  if (_preventEvent) {
    _preventEvent = false; // reset flag
    return;
  }
  
  console.log('normal scroll');
}

html{ height:500%; width:500%; } 
button{ position:fixed; }
button + button{ top:50px; }  

<button onclick=setScrollTop(1000)>Random scrollTop</button>
<button onclick=setScrollLeft(1000)>Random scrollLeft</button>