Keyboard Shortcuts

The keyboard_shortcut frontend event binds a key combination to a named backend event — the declarative equivalent of a sap.ui.core.CommandExecution shortcut, which needs a controller method and therefore has no place in a controller-less abap2UI5 app. The binding is pure data: the key combination and the name of the backend event it fires.

Registering a Shortcut

t_arg is positional — the key combination and the backend event name:

CLASS z2ui5_cl_sample_shortcut DEFINITION PUBLIC.

  PUBLIC SECTION.
    INTERFACES z2ui5_if_app.

  PROTECTED SECTION.
  PRIVATE SECTION.
ENDCLASS.

CLASS z2ui5_cl_sample_shortcut IMPLEMENTATION.
  METHOD z2ui5_if_app~main.

    IF client->check_on_navigated( ).

      client->follow_up_action( val   = client->cs_event-keyboard_shortcut
                                t_arg = VALUE #( ( `Ctrl+S` )
                                                 ( `SAVE` ) ) ).

      client->follow_up_action( val   = client->cs_event-keyboard_shortcut
                                t_arg = VALUE #( ( `Ctrl+D` )
                                                 ( `DELETE` ) ) ).

      DATA(view) = z2ui5_cl_ui5_view_builder=>factory(
          )->ele( n = `View` ns = `mvc`
              )->a( n = `xmlns`     v = `sap.m`
              )->a( n = `xmlns:mvc` v = `sap.ui.core.mvc`

              )->ele( `Page`
                  )->a( n = `title` v = `Keyboard Shortcuts`

                  )->tag( `Text`
                      )->a( n = `text` v = `Press Ctrl+S or Ctrl+D` ) ).

      client->view_display( view->stringify( ) ).

    ELSEIF client->check_on_event( `SAVE` ).
      client->message_toast_display( `Saved via Ctrl+S` ).

    ELSEIF client->check_on_event( `DELETE` ).
      client->message_toast_display( `Deleted via Ctrl+D` ).

    ENDIF.

  ENDMETHOD.
ENDCLASS.

Pressing the combination fires the backend event exactly like a button press would — and the browser default for the combination is suppressed.

Behavior

• Spelling follows the UI5 convention: Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Shift+D, F2. Common aliases are normalized (Cmd/Command → Meta, Control → Ctrl, Esc → Escape, Return → Enter, …), so registration and keypress match for any spelling.
• One registration per combination. Registering the same combination again rebinds it — no need to unregister first.
• Unregister a combination by sending it with an empty event name:

client->follow_up_action( val   = client->cs_event-keyboard_shortcut
                          t_arg = VALUE #( ( `Ctrl+S` )
                                           ( `` ) ) ).

• Lifetime: the registry lives in the frontend and survives every roundtrip until the app is left. Navigating to another app starts from an empty set.

The same registration also works without a backend roundtrip: write the follow_up_action( ) call where its result is consumed, as a view attribute, with the identical t_arg — see the two positions.

TIP

See demo app 471 in the samples repository for a complete example.

For controlling the soft keyboard on mobile devices, see Soft Keyboard.

Working Samples

Complete apps from the sample catalogue that use what this page describes. Each is a single class — pull the repository with abapGit and start it with ?app_start=<class>.

Sample	Class
Keyboard Shortcuts, Ctrl+S (A)	Z2UI5_CL_SMP_APP_471