Changing the Tabbing Order

The tabbing order is the order in which you move from page element to page element when you press the Tab key. You can change and save the default tabbing order of a page from the Page Personalization page, which displays an image of the current page with tabbing order numbers in the upper-left corner of each page element that you can change. (Page elements with smaller numbers precede page elements with larger numbers in the tabbing order.) You can modify collapsible section buttons and page elements within collapsed sections as long as the collapsed section is expanded when you select the Personalize Page option.

Note:

Tab order numbering may not begin with 1 and may appear to have gaps for page elements that are not currently visible.

Field or Control Description

Clear Tabbing Order

Click this button to define a new tabbing order. Clicking this button clears the current tabbing order and replaces the numbers for each relevant element (any element that you can tab to) with an X. The X indicates that no tab sequence number is applied for that field. You can then assign a new tabbing order to the page elements using the Include In Tabbing Order, Remove From Order, Move Up In Order, and Move Down In Order buttons.

Restore Default

Removes all tabbing order personalizations defined for the page and restores the original tabbing order.

Include In Tabbing Order, Remove From Order, Move Up In Order and Move Down In Order

These options enable you to control the tabbing order. Click the appropriate radio button and then click the page element you want to change.

To change the tabbing order:

  1. Select the Clear Tabbing Order button to remove all tabbing order settings for the page.

    The system replaces each tabbing order number with an X, indicating that the page element is no longer included in the tabbing order.

  2. Select the Include In Tabbing Order radio button.

  3. Select the page elements in the tabbing order you want.

    The system numbers each field that you select sequentially, beginning with 1.

  4. (Optional) If necessary, select the Move Up In Order or Move Down In Order radio buttons and click the page elements as needed to adjust the tab order you just set.

    These options either promote or demote a page element one step in the tabbing order sequence. The system automatically adjusts all other page element tabbing order numbers accordingly.

To remove specific fields from the current tabbing order:

  1. Select the Remove From Order radio button.

  2. Click each page element that you want to remove from the tabbing order.

    The tabbing order number for each element that you click is replaced with an X. At runtime, the system skips this page element as you tab through the page.

To save the new tabbing order:

  1. Make sure the Save tabbing order personalized below option is selected.

  2. Click the OK button.

    The original page appears with your new tabbing order and other personalizations applied.

Tabbing Order Exclusions

Tabbing order personalization applies only to elements within the page, such as edit boxes, grids, drop-down list boxes, push buttons, and so on. You cannot personalize the tabbing order for these elements:

  • Header icons.

  • Browser elements.

  • Page and related page links.

  • HTML areas.

  • Charts.

  • Grid columns that you hid using the grid personalization feature.

    If you reveal a column after you set the tabbing order personalization, you must personalize the page again to include that field in the tabbing order.

Collapsible Sections

You must expand all collapsible sections on a page before clicking the Personalize Page link for page elements in those sections to be available for tab ordering.

You can personalize the tabbing order of any allowed page elements within a collapsible area. However, if you then collapse this section, the system skips the page elements contained in the collapsed area. Collapsing an area effectively removes any of its page elements from the tabbing order.

Grids and Scroll Areas

Page elements within a grid are treated as a group at runtime, even if they are not numbered consecutively. For example, if a page has four fields, two of which are in a grid, then the tabbing sequence will keep the grid fields together regardless of the tabbing order that you specify. If fields A and B are outside the grid, fields C and D are inside the grid, and you set the tabbing order to be A, C, B, and D, then the system will automatically revert to an A, C, D, and then B tabbing order to keep the items within the grid (C and D) together.

Note:

If you select View All from the navigation bar when multiple levels of scroll areas exist, then the page tabbing order may not behave as you would expect after tabbing through the page for the first time.

Grid and scroll area navigation bar elements such as First, Previous, View All, and so on are included in tabbing order personalization.

Oracle recommends that you do not include the add row ( [+] ) or delete row ( [–] ) buttons in the tab sequence; instead, use the Alt+7 and Alt+8 keys to navigate through these elements.