Keyboard Navigation
- 2 minutes to read
You can use a keyboard instead of a pointing device to perform primary navigation operations (for example, access a grid within a form, move focus through grid rows, select a row, expand/collapse a row, paging). In addition, when you enable keyboard support within ASPxGridView, it allows you to create web pages that conform to accessibility guidelines.
Set the grid’s ASPxGridView.KeyboardSupport property to true to enable keyboard navigation. This activates the following grid features:
- Access Key - A user can press the defined keyboard shortcut to access (focus) the grid control. To compose this shortcut, hold Ctrl+Shift and press a single character string specified by the AccessKey property. For example, if you specify “G” as the grid control’s access key, users can navigate to the grid with the Ctrl+Shift+G key combination.
- Focused Row - The Focused Row feature is automatically activated, regardless of its corresponding property setting (ASPxGridViewBehaviorSettings.AllowFocusedRow). To move focus between rows, use the Up and Down arrow keys. You can also use the Left and Right arrow keys to move row focus, but these keys try to initially collapse/expand a row and move focus only if the row cannot be collapsed or expanded. The control changes the page when a user moves focus backward from the first visible row or forward from the last visible row (except for the start and end pages).
- Row Selection - Use the Space key to mark a focused row as selected or unselected. This works if a row can be selected - that is, if it is not a group or detail row, the ASPxGridViewBehaviorSettings.AllowMultiSelection property is enabled, or the row contains a command button, selection check box, or radio button. To select multiple rows, use the Arrow keys (Up/Down or Left/Right) to move row focus while holding the Shift key.
Expanding/Collapsing Rows - You can use the Plus and Minus keys to expand and collapse group and detail rows. To collapse and expand rows, use the Left and Right arrow keys, respectively.
Paging - Use the Shift+Page Up and Shift+Page Down key combinations to go to the next/previous grid page.
Note
You can use the Up/Down/Left/Right keys to navigate between grid-like control records if the control’s KeyboardSupport option is enabled. However, the control does not allow you to use these keys for keyboard navigation if the AccessibilityCompliant option is enabled.