Defining accelerator keys
You can define accelerator keys for controls to allow users to
change focus from one control to another. An accelerator key is
sometimes referred to as a mnemonic access key.
Users press Alt followed by the accelerator key to use an
accelerator. If the currently selected control is not an editable
control (such as a SingleLineEdit, MultiLineEdit, ListBox, or
DropDownListBox), users only have to press the accelerator key. They do
not need to press the Alt key.
How you define accelerator keys depends on whether the type of
control has displayed text associated with it. If there is no displayed
text, you must define the accelerator key in the control itself and in a
label that identifies the control.
To define an accelerator key for a CommandButton, CheckBox, or
RadioButton:
-
Click the control to display the control’s properties in the
Properties view. -
In the Text box on the General page, precede the letter that
you want to use as the accelerator key with an ampersand character
(&).When you perform your next action (such as tab to the next
property or select the window or a control in the Layout view), the
property is set and PowerBuilder displays an underline to indicate
the accelerator key.
Displaying an ampersand
If you want to display an ampersand character in the text of a
control, type a double ampersand. The first ampersand acts as an
escape character.
To define an accelerator key for a SingleLineEdit,
MultiLineEdit, ListBox, or DropDownListBox:
-
Click the control to display the control’s properties in the
Properties view. -
In the General tab page, type the letter of the accelerator
key in the Accelerator box.For example, if the control contains a user’s name and you
want to make Alt+N the accelerator for the control, type n in the
Accelerator box.At this point you have defined the accelerator key, but the
user has no way of knowing it, so you need to label the
control. -
Place a StaticText control next to the control that was
assigned the accelerator key. -
Click the StaticText control to display its properties in the
Properties view. -
In the Text box on the General page, precede the letter that
you want to use as the accelerator key with an ampersand character
(&).For example, if the StaticText control will display the label
Name, type &Name in the Text box so that the letter N is
underlined. Now your user knows that there is an accelerator key
associated with the control.