Question

I would have an openlayers vector layer with features scattered all over the map. I want to be able to click on a feature and have a message display.

I’m not sure if there is a way to add a listener/handler to each feature.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Add SelectFeture control:

var selectFeature = new OpenLayers.Control.SelectFeature(vector_layer);
map.addControl(selectFeature);
selectFeature.activate();

After that you can listen to select/unselect events on vector layer:

vector_layer.events.on({
  'featureselected': function(feature) {
       //display your message here
  },
  'featureunselected': function(feature) {
       //hide message
  }
});