jsTree with support for label toggle_node action AND leaf HREF click actions

You can enable node opening/closing on the label click using the UI plugin and binding the select_node.jstree event to your tree. A consequence of this method means that any leafs with a valid HREF attribute will no longer click through as expected.

The method below demonstrates how to have a toggle action on clicking a node, and still allowing a click on a leaf node to (in this case) start a file download.

$('#tree').jstree({
  plugins: ['themes','xml_data'],
  xml_data: {
    ajax: {
      url: '/path/to/xmlresponse'
    }
  }
});
 
$("#tree").delegate("a","click", function (e) { 
  if (this.className.indexOf('icon') == -1) {  // is the node clicked a leaf?
    $("#tree").jstree("toggle_node", this); 
    e.preventDefault(); 
    return false;
  }
});