doc/src/widgets-and-layouts/focus.qdoc
author Eckhart Koeppen <eckhart.koppen@nokia.com>
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/****************************************************************************
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**
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** Copyright (C) 2010 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
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** All rights reserved.
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** Contact: Nokia Corporation (qt-info@nokia.com)
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**
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** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
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**
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** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:LGPL$
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** No Commercial Usage
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** This file contains pre-release code and may not be distributed.
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** You may use this file in accordance with the terms and conditions
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** contained in the Technology Preview License Agreement accompanying
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** this package.
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**
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** GNU Lesser General Public License Usage
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** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Lesser
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** General Public License version 2.1 as published by the Free Software
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** Foundation and appearing in the file LICENSE.LGPL included in the
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** packaging of this file.  Please review the following information to
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** ensure the GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 requirements
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** will be met: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html.
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**
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** In addition, as a special exception, Nokia gives you certain additional
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** rights.  These rights are described in the Nokia Qt LGPL Exception
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** version 1.1, included in the file LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt in this package.
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**
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** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
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** Nokia at qt-info@nokia.com.
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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**
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** $QT_END_LICENSE$
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**
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****************************************************************************/
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/*!
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    \page focus.html
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    \title Keyboard Focus
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    \brief Keyboard focus management and handling.
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    \ingroup frameworks-technologies
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    \keyword keyboard focus
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    Qt's widgets handle keyboard focus in the ways that have become
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    customary in GUIs. 
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    The basic issue is that the user's key strokes can be directed at any
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    of several windows on the screen, and any of several widgets inside
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    the intended window. When the user presses a key, they expect it to go
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    to the right place, and the software must try to meet this
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    expectation. The system must determine which application the key stroke
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    is directed at, which window within that application, and which widget
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    within that window.
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    \section1 Focus Motion
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    The customs which have evolved for directing keyboard focus to a
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    particular widget are these: 
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    \list 1
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    \o The user presses \key Tab (or \key Shift+Tab).
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    \o The user clicks a widget.
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    \o The user presses a keyboard shortcut.
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    \o The user uses the mouse wheel.
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    \o The user moves the focus to a window, and the application must
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       determine which widget within the window should get the focus.
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    \endlist
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    Each of these motion mechanisms is different, and different types of
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    widgets receive focus in only some of them. We'll cover each of them
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    in turn.
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    \section2 Tab or Shift+Tab
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    Pressing \key Tab is by far the most common way to move focus
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    using the keyboard. (Sometimes in data-entry applications Enter
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    does the same as \key{Tab}; this can easily be achieved in Qt by
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    implementing an \l{Events and Event Filters}{event filter}.)
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    Pressing \key Tab, in all window systems in common use today,
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    moves the keyboard focus to the next widget in a circular
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    per-window list. \key Tab moves focus along the circular list in
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    one direction, \key Shift+Tab in the other. The order in which
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    \key Tab presses move from widget to widget is called the tab order.
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    You can customize the tab order using QWidget::setTabOrder(). (If
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    you don't, \key Tab generally moves focus in the order of widget
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    construction.) \l{Qt Designer} provides a means of visually
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    changing the tab order.
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    97
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    Since pressing \key Tab is so common, most widgets that can have focus
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    should support tab focus. The major exception is widgets that are
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    rarely used, and where there is some keyboard accelerator or error
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   101
    handler that moves the focus.
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   102
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    For example, in a data entry dialog, there might be a field that
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    is only necessary in one per cent of all cases. In such a dialog,
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    \key Tab could skip this field, and the dialog could use one of
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    these mechanisms: 
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   108
    \list 1
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   109
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    \o If the program can determine whether the field is needed, it can
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    move focus there when the user finishes entry and presses \gui OK, or when
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    the user presses Enter after finishing the other fields. Alternately,
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    include the field in the tab order but disable it. Enable it if it
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    becomes appropriate in view of what the user has set in the other
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   115
    fields.
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    \o The label for the field can include a keyboard shortcut that moves
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   118
    focus to this field.
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    \endlist
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    Another exception to \key Tab support is text-entry widgets that
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   123
    must support the insertion of tabs; almost all text editors fall
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    into this class. Qt treats \key Ctrl+Tab as \key Tab and \key
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   125
    Ctrl+Shift+Tab as \key Shift+Tab, and such widgets can
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   126
    reimplement QWidget::event() and handle Tab before calling
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   127
    QWidget::event() to get normal processing of all other keys.
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   128
    However, since some systems use \key Ctrl+Tab for other purposes,
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   129
    and many users aren't aware of \key Ctrl+Tab anyway, this isn't a
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    complete solution.
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   132
    \section2 The User Clicks a Widget
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   134
    This is perhaps even more common than pressing \key Tab on
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   135
    computers with a mouse or other pointing device.
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   137
    Clicking to move the focus is slightly more powerful than \key
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   138
    Tab. While it moves the focus \e to a widget, for editor widgets
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   139
    it also moves the text cursor (the widget's internal focus) to
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    the spot where the mouse is clicked.
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   141
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   142
    Since it is so common and people are used to it, it's a good idea to
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   143
    support it for most widgets. However, there is also an important
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   144
    reason to avoid it: you may not want to remove focus from the widget
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   145
    where it was.
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   147
    For example, in a word processor, when the user clicks the 'B' (bold)
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   148
    tool button, what should happen to the keyboard focus? Should it
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   149
    remain where it was, almost certainly in the editing widget, or should
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   150
    it move to the 'B' button?
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   152
    We advise supporting click-to-focus for widgets that support text
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   153
    entry, and to avoid it for most widgets where a mouse click has a
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   154
    different effect. (For buttons, we also recommend adding a keyboard
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    shortcut: QAbstractButton and its subclasses make this very easy.)
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   157
    In Qt, only the QWidget::setFocusPolicy() function affects
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   158
    click-to-focus.
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   159
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   160
    \section2 The User Presses a Keyboard Shortcut
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   161
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   162
    It's not unusual for keyboard shortcuts to move the focus. This
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   163
    can happen implicitly by opening modal dialogs, but also
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   164
    explicitly using focus accelerators such as those provided by
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   165
    QLabel::setBuddy(), QGroupBox, and QTabBar.
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   167
    We advise supporting shortcut focus for all widgets that the user
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   168
    may want to jump to. For example, a tab dialog can have keyboard
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   169
    shortcuts for each of its pages, so the user can press e.g. \key
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   170
    Alt+P to step to the \underline{P}rinting page. It is easy to
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   171
    overdo this: there are only a few keys, and it's also important
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   172
    to provide keyboard shortcuts for commands. \key Alt+P is also
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   173
    used for Paste, Play, Print, and Print Here in the \l{Standard
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   174
    Accelerator Keys} list, for example.
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   175
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   176
    \section2 The User Rotates the Mouse Wheel
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   178
    On Microsoft Windows, mouse wheel usage is always handled by the
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   179
    widget that has keyboard focus. On Mac OS X and X11, it's handled by
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    the widget that gets other mouse events.
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   182
    The way Qt handles this platform difference is by letting widgets move
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   183
    the keyboard focus when the wheel is used. With the right focus policy
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   184
    on each widget, applications can work idiomatically correctly on
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   185
    Windows, Mac OS X, and X11.
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   187
    \section2 The User Moves the Focus to This Window
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   189
    In this situation the application must determine which widget within
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    the window should receive the focus.
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    This can be simple: If the focus has been in this window before,
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    then the last widget to have focus should regain it. Qt does this
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    automatically.
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   196
    If focus has never been in this window before and you know where
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   197
    focus should start out, call QWidget::setFocus() on the widget
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    which should receive focus before you call QWidget::show() it. If
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    you don't, Qt will pick a suitable widget.
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*/