Appendix A - BluePrince - Keyboard Navigation

Appendix A: Keyboard Navigation

Keyboard Operations

BluePrince allows you to navigate forms quickly and efficiently by using the keyboard. This section describes the various keyboard operations available within BluePrince.

Form Navigation: TAB and SHIFT-TAB

When a form is in Edit Mode, the field or button that has focus is indicated by a yellow highlight. Pressing the TAB key will highlight the next button or field; pressing SHIFT-TAB will highlight the previous button or field. We call the order in which fields become highlighted the "TAB key sequence". Only editable fields and clickable buttons will be highlighted. Note that the Action buttons that appear in the top and bottom of the form are never part of the TAB Key Sequence. Action buttons are the Edit Mode, Reset, Save and Close buttons. Most of the forms have selectable Page tabs. On these forms the TAB key sequence will include the current tab. On pages with a table, the TAB key sequence will include one cell in the table.

Assign clicked with ENTER

Assign buttons are also not highlighted in the TAB key sequence. Assign buttons are activated from the field, or fields to the left of the Assign button. Tab to the field, enter the information and press ENTER to activate (click) the Assign button.

CTRL-letter key combinations

Action buttons in the top and bottom toolbars of each form may be clicked by pressing CTRL and the first letter of the button label. So, CTRL-r clicks the Reset button, CTRL-e clicks the Edit Mode button, and CTRL-s clicks the Save button. The one exception to this is CTRL-q which clicks the Close button. CTRL-c is commonly used to copy text to the Windows clipboard in many other applications. We expect that BluePrince users will already be in the work habit of using CTRL-c for that purpose, so we use CTRL-q to close (or quit).

ALT-letter key combinations

A button with an underlined character in its label indicates that pressing ALT and the underlined character activates the button. See Figure 9. In this example ALT-n clicks the New button, ALT-r clicks the Remove button and ALT-m clicks the Rename button on the Attachment Tab.

SPACE and ENTER

When a button is highlighted, it can be activated (clicked) by pressing SPACE or ENTER. In Figure 7, ENTER will click the highlighted Search button.

Selecting Page Tabs: ARROW Keys

When the highlight is on one of the Page Tabs, the other tabs can be opened by using the LEFT ARROW and RIGHT ARROW keys. Either key will move the highlight to the adjacent Page Tab and display the tab. So, in Figure 8, LEFT ARROW will open the Attachments Page tab.

Table Navigation: ARROW Keys and PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN

When the yellow highlight enters a row or cell in a table, the ARROW keys will move the highlight within the table. Once you have selected the row or cell you want, pressing the TAB key will move the highlight to one of the buttons associated with the table. The row or cell you selected will remain selected. Clicking the Change button will launch a form allowing you to change "Call Gas Co after CO is issued". Pressing PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN move you up and down the rows in the table by jumping the screen height or to the top and bottom lines displayed.

Table buttons and Check Boxes: SPACE and ENTER

When a table contains check boxes, you can use the keyboard to check or un-check the box. Select the row you want with the ARROW keys and press SPACE to check or un-check the box. When a table contains buttons, you can use the keyboard to click the buttons. Select the row you want with the ARROW keys and press ENTER to activate the button.

Drop Down Lists: ARROW keys

Drop-Down lists allow you to select a single choice from a fixed list. A text box with a downward pointing triangle button indicates a Drop-Down list. Highlight the drop down list you want with the TAB key. When the list is highlighted, you can use the ARROW keys to move up and down the list of choices. UP ARROW and LEFT ARROW move up the list, DOWN ARROW and RIGHT ARROW move down the list. The item selected from the list changes in the display. You can also use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys to jump up and down the list of choices. This jumps back or ahead in any of the longer lists, skipping some of the items in the list. Pressing PAGE DOWN or PAGE UP several times quickly brings you to the end or beginning of the list. Note that a Drop-Down List "drops-down" and shows the lists contents in a scroll box when the Drop-Down is clicked with the mouse. The "drop-down" is not visible when the list is accessed by the keyboard.

Special Keys for Permits and Cases: CTRL-n and PAGE UP, PAGE DOWN

On the New Permit, New Zoning Permit, New Zoning Relief, New Code Violation and New Zoning Complaint forms, data is organized in group boxes. Each group box contains a check box in the lower or upper right corner that is used to indicate you are finished with data entry for that Group. When the check box is checked, the highlight advances to the first element of the next Group.

You cannot jump ahead. This restriction actually improves the speed of data entry because BluePrince can pre-populate some of the data in subsequent group boxes from the selections made in preceding group boxes. Rather than tabbing to the check box and pressing SPACE, you may press CTRL-n to advance to the next group box.

For example, on the New Permit Form the Description field in the Summary group box has focus. Pressing CTRL-n will check the Summary check box and jump to the Work Class field in the Details group box.

Occasionally you may need to go back to a previous group box and make a correction. PAGE UP causes the highlight to jump back to the check box of the preceding group box. Press SPACE to un-check the box. The program responds by clearing any subsequent group boxes that have data dependent upon that Group.

For example, on the New Permit form, pressing PAGE UP twice would put the highlight on the Project check box. Pressing SPACE would cause data in the Property and Summary group boxes to be erased. PAGE DOWN causes the highlight to jump forward to the next checked check box. Both PAGEUP and PAGE DOWN will 'wrap' or 'cycle' around the form.

Closing a Form: ESC or CTRL-q

All forms with a Close or Cancel button can be closed by clicking the button or by pressing the ESC key or CTRL-q.