Accessing Oracle Application Express Using a Keyboard

This section describes how to access components in Oracle Application Express using a keyboard.

Important:

The Oracle Application Express interface is intended for use with the US keyboard layout. Users of other keyboard layouts should refer to the US keyboard layout in conjunction with this documentation as there may be incompatibilities regarding number and special character keys, such as the ' (quote) key.

• Using Date Pickers
  
• General Keyboard Shortcuts
  
• Keyboard Shortcuts in CSS Calendar
  
• Keyboard Shortcuts in Interactive Grid Regions
  
• About Configuring Interactive Grids to Support Multi-select
  
• Accessing Interactive Report Regions
  

Using Date Pickers

There are many keyboard shortcuts for the Date Picker.

To open a Date Picker:

1. Tab to the relevant input field.

2. Press CTRL+HOME to open the Date Picker.

3. Once the Date Picker is open, you have the following navigation options:

   • By month:

     • Press PAGE UP to go to the previous month.

     • Press PAGE DOWN to go to the next month.

     • Press CTRL +HOME to go to the current month.

   • By week:

     • Press CTRL+UP to go to the previous week.

     • Press CTRL+DOWN to go to the next week.

   • By day:

     • Press CTRL+LEFT to go to the previous day.

     • Press CTRL+RIGHT to go to the next day.

Once you are finished with the Date Picker:

1. Press ENTER to accept the selected date.
2. Press ESCAPE to close the date picker without selection.
3. Press CTRL+END to close the date picker and erase the date.

General Keyboard Shortcuts

Table 2-1 lists general Oracle Application Express keyboard shortcuts.

If a page incorporates specialized keyboard shortcuts, click the Help icon (located in the top-right of the page) and select Shortcuts. (Not all pages have specialized shortcuts.)

Table 2-1 Oracle Application Express Keyboard Shortcuts

Where	Keys	Action
Any page	Ctrl+Quote	Display Global Search
Any page with special keyboard shortcuts	Alt+Shift+F1	Display the list of valid Keyboard Shortcuts for the page
Page Designer, Layout	Ctrl+Alt+D	Display from here
Page Designer, Layout	Ctrl+Alt+T	Display from page
Page Designer	Alt+2	Go to Dynamic Actions
Page Designer	Alt+9	Go to Gallery, Buttons
Page Designer	Alt+8	Go to Gallery, Items
Page Designer	Alt+7	Go to Gallery, Regions
Page Designer	Alt+5	Go to Layout
Page Designer	Alt+F1	Go to Help
Page Designer	Ctrl+F1	Go to Messages
Page Designer	Alt+4	Go to Page Shared Components
Page Designer	Alt+3	Go to Processing
Page Designer	Alt+6	Go to Property Editor
Page Designer	Alt+1	Go to Rendering
Page Designer	Alt+Shift+F1	List Keyboard Shortcuts
Page Designer	Ctrl+Alt+F	Page Search
Page Designer	Ctrl+Y	Redo
Page Designer	Alt+F11	Restore/Expand
Page Designer	Ctrl+Alt+S	Save
Page Designer	Ctrl+Alt+R	Save and Run Page
Page Designer	Ctrl+Alt+E	Toggle Hide Empty Positions
Page Designer	Ctrl+Z	Undo
Page Designer with focus anywhere that has a context menu	Shift+F10 or Context menu key	Open context menu
Page Designer Layout Gallery and Icon List in wizards	Arrow keys	Move selection
Page Designer Property Editor with focus on a group heading	Up/Down Arrow keys	Move to previous/next group
Page Designer Property Editor with focus on a group heading	Home/End keys	Move to first/last group
Page Designer Property Editor with focus on a group heading	Left/Right Arrow keys or Enter or Space	Expand or collapse the group
Page Designer With focus on any tab	Arrow keys	Select previous/next tab
Focus on a splitter handle	Arrow keys	Move splitter
Focus on a splitter handle	Enter	Expand or collapse splitter if supported by splitter
On pages that have a splitter	Ctrl+F6	Move to next splitter
On pages that have a splitter	Ctrl+Shift+F6	Move to previous splitter
Focus on any field with a (?) help icon	Alt+F1	Open field help dialog
Focus on a field help dialog	Alt+F6	Move focus back to field without closing dialog
Focus in any dialog	Escape	Close dialog
Any page, focus on region display selector "tabs"	Arrow keys	Select the previous/next tab
SQL Commands	Ctrl+Enter	Run the current command
Code Editor	Ctrl+Z	Undo
Code Editor	Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo
Code Editor	Ctrl+F	Find
Code Editor	Ctrl+Shift+F	Replace
Code Editor with focus in find field	Up/Down Arrows	Find previous/next instance
Code Editor	Ctrl+Space	Auto complete when available
Code Editor	Alt+F6	Leave code editor and go to next tab stop
Code Editor	Alt+Shift+F6	Leave code editor and go to previous tab stop

Keyboard Shortcuts in CSS Calendar

Table 2-2 lists available Oracle Application Express keyboard shortcuts in CSS Calendar.

When the calendar grid (month, week or day view) is being focused, the arrow keys can be used to navigate within the calendar. There are 2 calendar browsing methods: Event Browsing that focuses the existing calendar events and Calendar Browsing that allows to freely select dates or date ranges. Initial mode is Event Browsing. The actual behavior depends on the current view.

Table 2-2 Oracle Application Express Keyboard Shortcuts in CSS Calendars

Where	Keys	Action
Event Browsing	Up Arrow	Go to the previous event. If on the first event in the given view, move to the last event.
Event Browsing	Down Arrow	Go to the next event. If on the last event in the given view, move to the first one.
Event Browsing	N	Switch to Calendar Browsing mode.
Event Browsing	Escape	Leave browsing mode. The calendar Grid is now being focused and [Tab] can be used to navigate to other application regions.
Month View	Left Arrow	Go to the previous day (if on the first day of a month, switch to the previous month).
Month View	Right Arrow	Go to the next day (if on the last day of a month, switch to the next month).
Month View	Down Arrow	Go to the next week; same day.
Month View	Up Arrow	Go to the Previous week; same day.
Month View	SHIFT + RIGHT	Extend the selection by one day. Only up to the end of the current view.
Month View	SHIFT + LEFT	Decrease the selection by one day. Only until the selection spans one day.
Month View	ENTER or SPACE	Execute the Create Link given as Plug-in attribute by the developer or fire Calendar Date Select event.
Month View	Escape	Leave Calendar Browsing and go back to Event Browsing.
Month View	Page Up or Page Down	Move to the next/previous month.
Week View	LEFT	Go to the previous day (if on the first day of a week, switch to the previous week).
Week View	RIGHT	Go to the next day (if on the last day of a month, switch to the next month).
Week View	SHIFT + RIGHT	Extend the selection by one day. Only up to the end of the current view.
Week View	SHIFT + LEFT	Decrease the selection by one day. Only until the selection spans one day.
Week View	UP	Move selection 30 minutes back in time.
Week View	DOWN	Move selection 30 minutes forward.
Week View	SHIFT+ DOWN	Extend selection range by 30 minutes
Week View	SHIFT+ UP	Decrease selection by 30 minutes as long as the minimum of 30 minutes is left.
Week View	ENTER or SPACE	Execute the Create Link given as plug-in attribute by the developer or fire Calendar Date Select event.
Week View	Escape	Leave Calendar Browsing and go back to Event Browsing.
Week View	Page Up or Page Down	Move to the next/previous month.
Day View	LEFT	Go to the previous day.
Day View	RIGHT	Go to the next day.
Day View	UP	Move selection 30 minutes back in time.
Day View	DOWN	Move selection 30 minutes forward.
Day View	SHIFT+ DOWN	Extend selection range by 30 minutes.
Day View	SHIFT+ UP	Decrease selection by 30 minutes as long as the minimum of 30 minutes is left.
Day View	ENTER or SPACE	Execute the Create Link given as plug-in attribute by the developer or fire Calendar Date Select event.
Day View	Escape	Leave Calendar Browsing and go back to Event Browsing.
Day View	Page Up or Page Down	Move to the next/previous day.
List View	Not Applicable	The list view has no special keyboard support. If an edit link is defined by the application developer, the Tab key can be used to navigate between the entries

Keyboard Shortcuts in Interactive Grid Regions

Interactive grid regions in Oracle Application Express come with many keyboard shortcuts and keyboard-specific features to help the keyboard-only, and power user. Specifically they are designed to provide all functionality that is available with the mouse, to be also available to keyboard users.

In addition, the grid containing the data provides two distinct modes of interaction: Navigation and Edit mode. Navigation mode is designed for use when the grid is not currently editable and allows fast and easy navigation around the grid using keyboard. Navigation mode is the default and the only mode if the interactive grid is not editable. Edit mode is designed for use when the grid is currently editable, and keyboard behavior differs slightly as described in the section that follows.

The following table lists available Oracle Application Express keyboard shortcuts in interactive grid regions. If the Mode states Any, the corresponding keyboard shortcut works in both Navigation and Edit modes.

Table 2-3 Oracle Application Express Keyboard Shortcuts in Interactive Grid Regions

Mode	Location	Keys	Description
Any	Grid View	F8	Toggle selection mode between Row Selection and Cell Selection.
Any Note: In Edit mode, Tab may have special meaning in certain situations, such as when moving between editable cells.	General	Tab or Shift+Tab	Move to the next or previous tab stop in the interactive grid region. Note: The interactive grid region consists of multiple separate user interface elements, some of which handle tab stops differently depending on the element type and its expected keyboard semantics. For example, the toolbar and pagination controls are implemented as separate tab stops, whereas the grid view and icon view are implemented as a single tab stop where cursor key navigation is used to move around the view elements when the view has focus.
Any	Grid view, column header has focus	Enter or Space	Opens the column header menu, allowing quick actions on a specific column (for example filtering, aggregating, or hiding).
Any	Grid view, column header has focus	Windows: Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right Mac: Ctrl+Cmd+Left / Ctrl+Cmd+Right	Increase, or decrease column width. Sets the Minimum Column Width report setting for that column.
Any	Grid view, column header has focus	Shift+Left / Shift+Right	Move column to the next or previous column position. Sets the display order for that column.
Any	Grid view, column header has focus	Alt+Up / Alt+Down Shift+Alt+Up / Shift+Alt+Down	Sort ascending (up) or descending (down) on the current column. Use the shift key modifier to add to the existing search columns.
Any	Grid view, column header menu open	Tab or Shift+Tab	Move to next or previous tab stop in the column header menu. Focus is constrained in the menu widget, so tabbing on the last focusable element in the menu will loop focus back to the first focusable element. Note: This is not currently implemented as a single tab stop, so Tab / Shift+Tab must be used to navigate in the menu.
Any	Grid view, column header menu open	Escape	Close the column header menu.
Any	Grid view, single row view, focus on column	ALT+F1	Show help for an item. Note: Only shows help if help has been defined for that column.
Navigation	Grid view	Up/Down/Left/Right arrow keys	When focus is in the grid view, use the arrow cursor keys to move around the entire grid (including column headers). When a row is focused, the row will also automatically be selected. Note: The grid view will remember its last focused cell, so if you Tab away, then later move focus back to the grid view, you will be taken back to the last focused cell.
Navigation	Grid view	Windows: Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down, Space, Ctrl+Space Mac: Ctrl+Alt+Up /Ctrl+Alt+Down, Space, Ctrl+Alt+Space	Move without changing the selection. Use Space key to select or Ctrl+Space to toggle selection. See Also: "About Configuring Interactive Grids to Support Multi-select"
Navigation	Grid view	Shift+Up / Shift+Down	Range select and de-select multiple rows. See Also: "About Configuring Interactive Grids to Support Multi-select"
Navigation	Grid view	Page Up / Page Down	Move one page up or down in the current column.
Navigation	Grid view	Home / End	Move to first, or last cell in the current row.
Navigation	Grid view	Enter or F2	Switches from Navigation to Edit mode. Note: Only works if the interactive grid is defined as editable. See "Making an Existing Interactive Grid Editable" in Oracle Application Express App Builder User’s Guide.
Navigation	Editable grid	Insert	Will add a row after the last selected row or if no row is selected before the first row.
Navigation	Editable grid	Delete	Deletes the selected rows.
Navigation	Icon view	Up/Down/Left/Right arrow keys	When focus is in the icon view, use the arrow cursor keys to move around the icons. When an icon is focused, its corresponding row is automatically selected. Note: The icon view will remember its last focused icon, so if you Tab away, then later move focus back to the icon view, you will be taken back to the last focused icon.
Navigation	Icon view	Home / End	Move to first, or last icon.
Edit	Grid view	Tab or Shift+Tab	Row navigation. Move to the next, or previous cell on the same row, and automatically opens the edit control for that cell if applicable. Note: When at the end of a row, Tab takes the user to the first cell in the next row.
Edit	Grid view	Enter or Shift+Enter	Column navigation. Move to the next, or previous cell in the same column, and automatically opens the edit control for that cell if applicable. Note: If the edit control itself uses the Enter key (for example a text area), this shortcut will not work and the user will have Ctrl+F6 to close the popup without leaving edit mode then press Enter or Shift+Enter. Pressing Ctrl+F6 again will open the closed popup.
Edit	Grid view	Escape	Exits Edit mode, and goes back to Navigation mode. Note: If the edit control itself uses the Escape key (for example a radio group that uses a popup control, where Escape key closes the popup), then Escape will need to pressed twice to first close the popup, then exit Edit mode.

About Configuring Interactive Grids to Support Multi-select

Interactive grids must be configured to support multi-select. When multi-select is enabled, users can use arrow keys to move around an entire grid, use the Space key to select, or use Ctrl+Space to toggle selections.

To configure an interactive grid to support multi-select:

• Editable interactive grid - Configure the APEX$ROW_SELECTOR column which is automatically created for you when you make an interactive grid editable. Under Settings, set the Enable Multi Select attribute to Yes (the default).

• Non-editable interactive grid - Use an advanced JavaScript configuration. To see an example, install the Sample Interactive Grids packaged application and see Multiple Selection example under Reporting.

See Also:

• "Making an Existing Interactive Grid Editable" in the Oracle Application Express App Builder User’s Guide

• "Installing a Packaged Application" in the Oracle Application Express App Builder User’s Guide

Accessing Interactive Report Regions

This section describes how to access common features within Interactive Report regions.

• Searching Data in an Interactive Report
  
• Using the Actions Menu
  
• Managing Bulk Updates
  
• Utilizing Drill Down Links
  
• Editing Existing Filters
  
• Loading Saved Reports
  

Searching Data in an Interactive Report

If a search bar displays above an interactive report then the Include Search Bar attribute has been enabled in Report Attributes. This attribute is enabled by default when a new interactive report is created.

To execute a search:

1. Press TAB until the search field has focus.

2. Type your search keywords into the search field.

3. Press ENTER to invoke the search.

4. To refine your search to a specific column:

   1. Press TAB to access the magnifying glass icon to the left of the search field.

   2. Press ENTER to activate the pull down menu and display a list of all available columns to search.

   3. Press the DOWN or UP arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the list of columns.

   4. Press ENTER to select the column you want to search on. This sets the context of the subsequent search as specific to the column selected.

5. Repeat steps 1 and 2 to execute your column specific search.

Using the Actions Menu

By default, new interactive reports include both a search bar and Actions menu. Both of these features are controlled by the developer by enabling the Include Search Bar and Actions menu attributes on the Report Attributes page. Depending upon how the developer creates the report, the Action menu can contain different options.

To access the Actions menu using a keyboard:

1. Press TAB until the Actions menu has focus.
2. Press ENTER to open the menu.
3. Once the menu is open, you have the following navigation options:

   • Press the DOWN arrow key to go down the menu.

   • Press the UP arrow key to go up the menu.

   • Press the RIGHT arrow key to open a submenu (indicated by a right arrow) and move focus to the first item in the submenu.

   • Press the LEFT arrow key to close a submenu and move focus back to the appropriate item in the parent menu.

4. To exit the Action menu:

   • Press ENTER to load the action specific dialog. Focus is set to the first focusable element within the dialog box.

   • Press ESC to close the menu without selection.

See Also:

"About the Actions Menu" in the Oracle Application Express App Builder User’s Guide

Managing Bulk Updates

Some interactive reports in Oracle Application Express contain form items for applying bulk updates to components. All form items within the report and buttons to apply the changes are keyboard accessible. Also some pages feature a check box in the first row to perform bulk processing and corresponding Select All and Deselect All links below the report. All of these items are keyboard accessible.

Utilizing Drill Down Links

Some interactive reports in Oracle Application Express contain at least one link to edit or view a specific sub-components. These are all standard links and are therefore keyboard accessible.

Editing Existing Filters

When an existing search filter is applied to an interactive report, a search filter displays below the Search bar.

You can access the search filter using the keyboard to:

• Edit the search filter.

  Press TAB to navigate to the search filter and then press ENTER to open the Filter dialog box. Focus is automatically set to first focusable element in the dialog box.

• Disable or enable the search filter.

  Press TAB to navigate to the check box to the left of the filter and SPACEBAR to disable or enable the filter.

• Delete the search filter.

  Press TAB to navigate to the search filter and then ENTER to open the Filter dialog box. Press TAB or SHIFT+TAB to navigate to the Delete button and then press ENTER.

Loading Saved Reports

If an Interactive Report includes a Search bar, Actions menu, and support for saved reports, then these options have been enabled by the developer on the Report Attributes page.

To load a saved report:

1. Press TAB until the Reports select list has focus. Note that the Reports select list only displays if there are saved reports.
2. Press the UP and DOWN keys to select the specific saved report you want to view.
3. Press ENTER to view the saved report.

See Also:

"Managing Interactive Report Attributes" in the Oracle Application Express App Builder User’s Guide