Cannot Listen TAB key

**sh4dyPT** · 07-15-2009, 08:45 PM

Hello
I have JTextField which has KeyListener associated.
I can't understand why the TAB key is not captured with this KeyListener.

Here is my code.

Java Code:

         public void keyPressed(KeyEvent key) {
		if(key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_TAB)
			System.out.println("TAB!!!!!!!!!");
	}
	
	public void keyTyped(KeyEvent key) {
		if(key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_TAB)
			System.out.println("TAB!!!!!!!!!");
	}
	public void keyReleased(KeyEvent key) { 
		if(key.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_TAB)
			System.out.println("TAB!!!!!!!!!");
	}

I have already tried change to
<MyJTextField Component>.setFocusTraversalKeysEnabled(true);
<MyJTextField Component>.setFocusTraversalKeysEnabled(false);
without success, and the strange think is when I press CTRL+TAB, the TAB Key is capured.

Thank you!
Any help will be appreciated.

**hardwired** · 07-15-2009, 11:18 PM

The forum software will not accept the code I want to post to demonstrate what is happening with respect to the tab key. A key binding for the tab key is being used as a focusTraversalKey by the textField or an ancestor container.
I'll try for some selected snippets:

Java Code:

        // intercept all keyboard input
        KeyboardFocusManager kfm =
            KeyboardFocusManager.getCurrentKeyboardFocusManager();
        kfm.addKeyEventDispatcher(new KeyEventDispatcher() {
            public boolean dispatchKeyEvent(KeyEvent e) {
                if(e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_TAB)
                    System.out.println("TAB!!!!!!!!!");
                return false;
            }
        });

Java Code:

    private void exploreTraversalKeys(JComponent jc) {
        Set keys = jc.getFocusTraversalKeys(
            KeyboardFocusManager.FORWARD_TRAVERSAL_KEYS);
        Iterator it = keys.iterator();
        while(it.hasNext()) {
            System.out.println(it.next());
        }
    }

Java Code:

        JTextField textField = new JTextField(12);
        JPanel panel = new JPanel();
        panel.add(textField);
        // Look for a key binding of the tab key that might be
        // consuming the KeyEvent generated by the tab key
        // being pressed when the cursor is in textArea.
        // this method won't pass forum software filters
//        exploreKeyBindings(textField);
        exploreTraversalKeys(textField); // found
        return panel;
    }

**Fubarable** · 07-16-2009, 12:37 AM

Originally Posted by hardwired

The forum software will not accept the code I want to post to demonstrate what is happening with respect to the tab key.

I'm not sure why there's a glitch here, but one way around it is to create a JAR with source files, change the extension to .zip, and post the zip file. Best of luck!