Why use Event.sinkEvents+Event.setEventListener rather than element.addEventListener?

[tbroyer]

Even weirder that addEventListener is actually used in the nav list detail archetype for the submenus, mixed with Event.sinkEvents and Event.setEventListener for top menu items.

[zak905]

The reason for that is because top menu items are of type com.google.gwt.dom.client.AnchorElement, so they have no such method as addEventListener. The submenus are of type com.vaadin.polymer.paper.PaperItemElement which happen to have addEventListener.

is there a better solution?

[tbroyer]

Use an Anchor widget? .cast() the AnchorElement into a Vaadin EventTarget? Use a Vaadin element or EventTarget as the @UiField?

[zak905]

I am going to give it a try. Are there any recommendations against using Event.setEventListener ?