Weird behavior with ALT-[key] Keyboard Shortcut for buttons

[Statey603]

PB 11.0

It is me again with more weird behavior.

We have a screen with 2 Tabs. There are buttons on the screen for various operations - some common between Tabs and some unique.

At Runtime, Tab 1 keyboard shortcuts work as expected:
ALT-C: Closes screen, ALT-O: Opens detail screen, etc.
Tab 2 keyboard shortcuts do NOT work with the ALT key. they work with the single desginated key.
C: closes screen, O: Opens detail screen.

I cannot figure out why Tab 2 has lost the ALT part of the shortcut. I appreciate any information concerning where ALT is defined as part of the short-cut and/or how this works.

 

[mbalent]

I wonder if you switched the tabs if tab 2 would work fine and tab 1 would be broken.

Matt

"Nature forges everything on the anvil of time"

http://www.anvil-of-time.com

 

[Statey603]

Apparently if a non-editable field has focus, then the ALT key is not needed for the shortcut//accelerator. I have confirmed that other screens that we have with buttons with accelerators exhibit this behavior if the focus is not on an editable field. The accelerators do work with ALT key and without (which I mistakenly said was not working in my original description above). The ALT is just not required if not on an editable field.

Refer to:

http://www.sybasebuilder.info/accelerator-key-handling.

 

[Statey603]

Here is more info......

This even happens in windows.
Go to Control Panel - Display - Screen Saver tab
- the [Settings], [Preview] & [Power] button accelerators work without holding down the ALT key.

 

[Statey603]

NOTE:
The example above with the Windows XP Screen Saver Tab assumes that the screensaver is disabled so the dropdown is not selectable.


Another Windows screen that exhibits this accelerator behavior is Control Panel - Accessibility Options. The following button accelerators work without using the ALT key:
Settings 'S' (StickyKeys)
Settings 'e' (FilterKeys)
Settings 'n' (ToggleKeys)

 

[miguelleeuwe]

as an add-on:

no need to assign any key at all for a button's shortcut when using &:
if you have text like "&Close" as the button text. alt+C will also work.

carefull with attributes 'default' (enter will execute button)
and 'cancel' attribute of button. (escape will execute button)

(I suppose you allready knew)

regards,
Miguel L.