Keyboard Shortcuts & Navigation

To make data entry more efficient dbFront includes a growing list of keyboard shortcuts.

Main Window

• The Tab key can be used to move between all application menu items, table records, and form fields,
• Selecting an element generally requires using the Enter key.

Table Grid

Grid Navigation

• Once a table field is selected, you can use the Tab, Shift-Tab, or the Left, Right, Up, or Down arrow keys to navigate between all records in a table,
• Page Up and Page Down will select the next or previous page of records.

Grid Editing

• Click Enter to edit an existing table field value,
• To overwrite a table field value simply start typing in the new value or number,
• Use the Spacebar to cycle between [Yes, No, Empty] on boolean (checkbox) field values,
• Click ESC to cancel the edit,
• Click Tab or Shift-Tab to cache the field change and move to the next or previous field.
• Type Cntrl-S to save the current record,
• Type Shift-Cntrl-S or Cntrl-Enter to save the current record and open a new blank form.

Grid Editing in Child Tables

Editing records in child tables is the most natural since you can easily and quickly move around between rows while editing records.  A save on the parent table will save all changes.

Grid Editing in Parent Tables

Editing multiple records in the parent grid is more cumbersome because you need to explicitly save your changes before starting the edit on another table row.  The plan is to make this easier in the future.  For the moment Cntrl-S is your friend.  Use the following steps:

• Make the needed field changes and hit Enter or Tab to exit the field,
• Type Cntrl-S to save the current row's changes,
• Move to the next field and continue.

Form

Form Navigation

• The Tab and Shift-Tab keys can be used to move sequentially between all editable form fields and active buttons,
• The Home & End keys will move the cursor to the beginning end of a field's contents.

Form Editing

• Type Cntrl-A to select the entire field's contents.  This can be followed by Delete to erase the value, or simply typing a new value,
• Click the Spacebar on boolean (checkbox) fields values to cycle between [Yes, No, Empty],
• Click the Spacebar on Lookup/Dropdown fields to display the list of options.  You can then type a value to filter the options or use the Up, and Down arrow keys to choose a value and the Enter key to select it.
• Type Cntrl-S to save the current record,
• Type Shift-Cntrl-S or Cntrl-Enter to save the current record and open a new blank form.