Navigating Standard Elements and Controls
The following sections describe how to navigate and use standard user interface elements
and controls from the keyboard.
Navigating Menus
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
menus.
|
|
Up arrow and down arrow |
Gives focus to the next or previous menu item on
a menu. |
Right arrow |
If the menu item that has focus is a submenu,
opens the submenu and gives focus to the first menu item on the
submenu. If the menu item that has focus is not a submenu, opens
the next menu on the menubar. |
Left arrow |
If the menu item that has focus
is a submenu item, switches the focus back to the submenu. If the menu
item that has focus is not a submenu item, opens the previous menu
on the menubar. |
Return |
Selects the focused menu item and closes the open menus. |
Access
key |
Selects the menu item that is associated with the access key and closes the
open menus. |
Spacebar |
Selects the focused menu item and closes the open menus except when
the menu item is a check box or radio button. If the
menu item is a check box or radio button, the menu does not
close. |
Esc |
Closes the open menus. |
|
Navigating Buttons
A button is a control that you use to start an action.
Most buttons are rectangular and contain a text label.
Figure 4-1 Sample Button
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
buttons.
|
|
Spacebar |
Activates the button that has focus. This is the equivalent of clicking on
the button. |
Return |
Activates the button that has focus or, if no button has
focus, performs the default action for the dialog. |
|
Navigating Radio Buttons
A radio button is a control that you use to select one
of several mutually-exclusive options.
Figure 4-2 Sample Radio Button
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
a set of radio buttons.
|
|
Arrow keys |
Selects the next or previous radio button
and deselects the other radio buttons in the group. |
|
Navigating Check Boxes
A check box is a control that you use to select or
deselect an option.
Figure 4-3 Sample Check Box
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
a check box.
|
|
Spacebar |
Selects or deselects the check box. |
|
Navigating Text Boxes
Text boxes are controls in which you type text.
Figure 4-4 Sample Single Line Text Box
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
a single line text box.
|
|
Left arrow |
Positions the cursor one character to the left. |
Right arrow |
Positions
the cursor one character to the right. |
Ctrl+left arrow |
Positions the cursor at the start
of the current word. Press and hold Ctrl and continue to press left arrow
to position the cursor at the start of the previous word. |
Ctrl+right arrow |
Positions the cursor
at the end of the current word. Press and hold Ctrl and
continue to press right arrow to position the cursor at the end of the
next word. |
Home |
Positions the cursor at the start of the line. |
End |
Positions the cursor
at the end of the line. |
Shift+left arrow or right arrow |
Selects one character at a
time to the left or right of the cursor. |
Shift+Ctrl+left arrow or right arrow |
Selects one
word at a time to the left or right of the cursor. |
Shift+Home |
Selects
all text to the left of the cursor. |
Shift+End |
Selects all text to the
right of the cursor. |
Ctrl+A |
Selects all text in the text box. |
|
In addition to the keyboard shortcuts listed in the previous table, use the
keyboard shortcuts in the following table to navigate multiline text boxes.
|
|
Page Up |
Positions the cursor
at the top of the current view. Press Page Up again to position
the cursor at the top of the previous view. |
Page Down |
Positions the cursor at the
end of the current view. Press Page Down again to position the cursor
at the end of the previous view. |
Ctrl+up arrow |
Positions the cursor at the start of
the current paragraph. Press and hold Ctrl and continue to press the up arrow
key to position the cursor at the start of the previous paragraph. |
Ctrl+down arrow |
Positions the
cursor at the end of the current paragraph. Press and hold Ctrl and
continue to press the down arrow key to position the cursor at the
end of the next paragraph. |
Ctrl+Page Up |
Positions the cursor one view width to the
left. |
Ctrl+Page Down |
Positions the cursor one view width to the right. |
Ctrl+Home |
Positions the cursor at
the start of the text box. |
Ctrl+End |
Positions the cursor at the end of
the text box. |
Ctrl+Tab |
Gives focus to the next control on the dialog. |
Shift+Page Up |
Selects the
text to the start of the current view. Press and hold Shift
and continue to press Page Up to extend the selection to the start of
the previous view. |
Shift+Page Down |
Selects the text to the end of the current view.
Press and hold Shift and continue to press Page Down to extend the selection
to the end of the next view. |
Shift+Home |
Selects the text to the start
of the line. |
Shift+End |
Selects the text to the end of the line. |
Shift+Ctrl+up arrow |
Selects the
text to the start of the paragraph, then to the start of the
previous paragraph. |
Shift+Ctrl+down arrow |
Selects the text to the end of the paragraph, then to
the end of the next paragraph. |
Shift+Ctrl+Home |
Selects the text to the start of the
text box. |
Shift+Ctrl+End |
Selects the text to the end of the text box. |
|
Navigating Spin Boxes
A spin box is a control that allows you to type a
numeric value or select a value from a list of all possible values.
Figure 4-5 Sample Spin Box
The keyboard shortcuts that you use to navigate the text box area of
a spin box are listed in Navigating Text Boxes. The following table lists the
keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate the up and down arrows
in the spin box.
|
|
Up arrow or down arrow |
Increases or decreases the value of the
spin box by a small amount. |
Page Up or Page Down |
Increases or decreases the value of
the spin box by a large amount. |
|
Navigating Drop-Down Lists
A drop-down list is a control that you use to select one
of several available items. The drop-down list contains a button that you use to
display the available items.
Figure 4-6 Sample Drop-Down List
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
a drop-down list.
|
|
Spacebar |
This key performs one of the following functions:
If the drop-down list is not open, this key opens the drop-down list.
If the drop-down list is open, this key accepts the current selection and closes the list.
|
Up arrow |
Selects the previous
list item. |
Down arrow |
Selects the next list item. |
Esc |
Closes the list without changing the selection. |
|
Navigating Drop-Down Combination Boxes
A drop-down combination box is a text box with a drop-down list attached.
Figure 4-7 Sample Drop-Down Combination Box
When the text box has focus, use the keyboard shortcuts that are listed
in Navigating Text Boxes to navigate the text box area. When the text box has
focus, you can also use the keyboard shortcuts in the following table to
navigate the drop-down list area.
|
|
Up arrow |
Selects the previous item from the drop-down list without
displaying the list. |
Down arrow |
Selects the next item from the drop-down list without displaying the list. |
Ctrl+down arrow |
Opens
the drop-down list. |
|
When the drop-down list has focus, you can use the keyboard shortcuts that
are listed in the following table to navigate the drop-down list.
|
|
Up arrow |
Selects the previous
list item. |
Down arrow |
Selects the next list item. |
Home |
Selects the first item on the list. |
End |
Selects
the last item on the list. |
Page Up |
Selects the item at the top of
the current list view. |
Page Down |
Selects the item at the bottom of the current
list view. |
Spacebar |
Accepts the current selection and close the drop-down list. |
Ctrl+Page Up |
Scrolls to the
left of the list, if required. |
Ctrl+Page Down |
Scrolls to the right of the list,
if required. |
|
Navigating Sliders
A slider is a control that you use to set a value
in a continuous range of values.
Figure 4-8 Sample Slider
The following table describes the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
a slider.
|
|
Left arrow or up arrow |
Moves the slider left or up by a small
amount. |
Right arrow or down arrow |
Moves the slider right or down by a small amount. |
Page Up |
Moves
the slider left or up by a small amount. |
Page Down |
Moves the slider right
or down by a small amount. |
Home |
Moves the slider to the maximum value. |
End |
Moves
the slider to the minimum value. |
|
Navigating Tabbed Sections
Figure 4-9 Sample Dialog with Tabbed Sections
Windows and dialogs are sometimes divided into logical sections that are displayed one
section at a time on the window or dialog. The divisions are called
tabbed sections and are identified by a tab with a text label.
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
the tabbed sections of a window or dialog when a tab name has
focus.
|
|
Left arrow |
Gives focus to the previous tabbed section. |
Right arrow |
Gives focus to the next tabbed
section. |
Tab orCtrl+down arrow |
Gives focus to the first control on the active tabbed section. |
|
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
the tabbed sections of a window or dialog when a control on a
tabbed section has focus.
|
|
Ctrl+Alt+Page Up |
Gives focus to the previous tabbed section. |
Ctrl+Alt+Page Down |
Gives focus
to the next tabbed section. |
Ctrl+Tab |
Gives focus to the next control outside the
tabbed sections. |
|
Navigating Lists
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
multicolumn lists when a column header has focus.
|
|
Left arrow or right arrow |
Gives focus to
the previous or next column header. |
Spacebar |
Activates the header. This action usually sorts
the list by the column header. |
Tab |
Gives focus to the list contents. |
|
The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts that you can use to navigate
lists when the contents of the list has focus.
|
|
Arrow keys |
Selects the next
or previous row or column. |
Page Up |
Selects the top row of the list
contents that are in view. Press Page Up again to select the top
row of the previous view. |
Page Down |
Selects the bottom row of the list contents
that are in view. Press Page Down again to select the bottom row of the
next view. |
Home |
Selects the first row in the list. |
End |
Selects the last row in
the list. |
Shift+arrow keys |
For lists that support multiline selections, adds the next or
previous row or column to the current selection. For lists that only allow single-line
selections, selects the next or previous row or column. |
Shift+Page Up |
Selects all the rows between
the current selection and the top row of the view. |
Shift+Page Down |
Selects all the
rows between the current selection and the bottom row of the view. |
Shift+Home |
Selects
all the rows between the current selection and the first row in the
list. |
Shift+End |
Selects all the rows between the current selection and the last row
in the list. |
Ctrl+Arrow keys |
Gives focus to the next row or column
but does not extend the selection. |
Ctrl+Page Up |
Gives focus to the top row in the
view but does not extend the selection. |
Ctrl+Page Down |
Gives focus to the bottom row in
the view but does not extend the selection. |
Ctrl+Home |
Gives focus to the first row
in the list but does not extend the selection. |
Ctrl+End |
Gives focus to the last
row in the list but does not extend the selection. |
Return |
Activates the item. |
Ctrl+A |
For lists
that support multiline selections, selects all rows in the list. |
Shift+Tab |
Gives focus to the
column header, if applicable. |
|
Navigating Trees
A tree is a user interface control that contains sections that you can
expand and collapse. A tree usually represents a hierarchical structure.
Figure 4-10 Sample Tree Structure
To navigate trees, you can use the same keyboard shortcuts that are listed
in Navigating Lists. In addition, the following table lists the keyboard shortcuts you can use
for the tree items.
|
|
+ (plus) |
Expands the focused item. |
- (minus) |
Collapses the focused item. |
Back Spacebar |
Selects
the parent item. |
Ctrl+F |
Displays a search dialog. You can type the name of
the tree items that you want to find. |
|