Hi Greg, as always thanks for your answers ... > To me, this sounds like a use case for the action dictionary of a Window. > This dictionary maps keystrokes (including modifiers) to Actions. Ok, I have to try to use it.
> Do you mean that you want to prevent the browser from receiving the key event? In Applets, I don't know if Browser handled shortcuts are trapped by the browser (so they aren't usable inside the Applet), or if having the focus in the applet if they are available ... I've never tried this. Do you know if / how can works ? As soon as possible I'll try to make some experiment ... and report the results. > Do you mean that you want to set focus to a component when a given keystroke > is entered? e.g. Ctrl-N jumps immediately to the name field? Yes, could be useful (including optional usage function keys as shortcuts), but i agree that this only on fields is a minor case, while is more important with other elements, to avoid selecting the right form/screen via mouse (but always available, for users like us that uses many many applications everyday :-) ). >> -- attach the same shortcut for some common operations, like >>assign <F12> for the Save operation in many different forms where the >>control will be handled by the related element on the visual panel ... > > Sounds like another use case for the action dictionary... Great, so I have to define my shortcuts in every place i need, like: "global" shortcuts (menu elements, and other main elements, tabs, etc), and "local" shortcuts defined inside the screen, right ? And to apply also to first field in any form can i define in the "global" space ? >>- to handle fast and simple focus changing between form elements and >>between different forms (tabs, etc) using the tab key > > Yes, this is supported, though you may need to attach a key listener to your > tab pane in order to handle the keystrokes for tab switching. > TerraTabPaneSkin doesn't currently do this, though we could easily add it. Yes, having it could be great. Do you remember if there are other elements that need this (like spinners, accordion, lists, date picker, etc) ? Tell me if open an RFE in JIRA ... and if possible for the 1.3.x, ok ;-) ? I try to better explain my real use case (could be a start description to put in JIRA, or in the related future demo/tutorial): I'm targeting some new applications for specialized users that works mainly on Data Entry, so an assumption is that they remember all shortcuts they need ... but in any case my first requirement is to give them an user interface that can speed up their operations, using the mouse only a little, and usually do much of the work via keyboard, like their old applications via Terminal (Console). So focus/selection on an element (menu element, text field, tab, button, date picker, etc.) is a must. Then operations like focus change via the <Tab> key or other ( like fill the value in a text field and automatically or after pressing <Enter> or a chosen key/shortcut) should trigger validation (optional) then move the focus to the next field in the form ... etc. So my plan to implement with Pivot, maybe this is implementable also with web-2.0 (much Javascript stuff and ajax, ok using some standard, robust, and common library) but as written before I think could be much maintenable using a single language and framework. And if required, I could use the off-line mode of (Web Start) Applications, maybe also with a local Database. Otherwise i see solutions using dot NET, but I'm on the Java side of the force ... In last years I've seen (and written) many many times applications ported to web 1.0 or 2.0 where full time users works not-so-fast as before ... ok, there have many other advantages, but now we can use the best of both worlds (or use Pivot applications/applets where the web 2.0 stuff is not enough), reusing all the stuff on servers. Sorry for the long mail, but I think use cases like this should be handled in any detail by us (Pivot), to ensure a good/fast user productivity (or "experience", a la Microsoft). Tell me if I can help on this, or if not in the implementation, in a Demo (if wanted, or if not already in other existing demos/tutorials). Thanks very much, Sandro
