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Which Key to use afteer data entry Tab or Enter

Ger Cannoll — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:24:43 GMT

Hi.
Just wondering what has become the standard in APPS .
In VFP. most of our users woud use the Enter Key, but Tab seems to be the default in Dot Net.

Most of our users are Heads Down using the Numeric Keyboard , and if they were to use the Tab, they would need three hands (assunimg Right Handed)....
...one they use for entering numbers using Numeric Keypad
... one they use for flicking the data entry pages
... one for the Tab Key, which is over on the LHS of keyboard,

Tia
Gerard

RE: Which Key to use afteer data entry Tab or Enter

Edhy Rijo — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 09:24:43 GMT

Hi Gerard,
I agree with Sam. Check out the TabOrderController, I use it on my forms and it does work as advertised. In my applications the standard is the "Tab" key, but I have a form or two where it make sense to use the "Enter" key so this SF control allow you to have that flexibility and if you want to go deep, you can even have a setup option for your users on which key to use and programatically configure the TabOrderController, of course that is more work for you :satisfied:

RE: Which Key to use afteer data entry Tab or Enter

Sam Tenney — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:44:46 GMT

Hi Gerald,

The TabOrderController controls the order in which controls are accessed when the tab key (or the enter key) is presssed similar to the TabIndex property on controls. But the TabOrderController is much better and easier to use. It is documented in the SF Help system.

In my opinion, the tab key is the standard way to advance for Winforms apps. I have tried the EnterAdvances property on the TabOrderController, but if you present a multiline textbox that should accept the enter key, I think there could be a problem because an enter will advance to the next control.

Sam Tenney

RE: Which Key to use afteer data entry Tab or Enter

Ger Cannoll — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:31:38 GMT

Hi Sam. Thanks for your reply.

I was really trying to get a handle as to what is the de facto standard in 'state of the art' apps.

If Tab is the 'standard', and 99.99 % of all apps behave this way, there may not be a need to do anything.

What does the TabOrderController do ??

RE: Which Key to use afteer data entry Tab or Enter

Sam Tenney — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 08:02:16 GMT

Hi Gerald,

If you drop a TabOrderController onto your form, it has a property named EnterAdvances that might be what you are looking for.

Sam Tenney