Keyboard shortcuts for navigating Ruby on Rails

Is there a way to implement keyboard shortcuts with Ruby on Rails for my website? I want users to be able to navigate the site using keyboard commands rather than clicking buttons or links. Can anyone provide guidance on how to achieve this?

Answer №1

To easily assign a shortcut key to your elements, simply set a value for the accesskey attribute. In Rails, you can achieve this by adding an extra option to the submit_tag helper method:

<%= submit_tag("Save and Refresh", :accesskey => "R") %>
// This is equivalent to <input type="submit" value="Save and Refresh" accesskey="R" />

With this setup, pressing Alt+R (or Alt+Shift+R) will "click" the button. The accesskey attribute can be used with <input>, <button>, and <a> HTML elements.

For more advanced keyboard shortcuts like those in GMail, you'll need to implement some javascript. You can create an event handler that listens for keypress events on the document and then calls corresponding functions to execute desired actions based on the pressed key. Here's a basic example using Prototype, the default Javascript library in Rails (untested):

$(document.body).observe("keypress", function(event)
{
  var keyCode = event.which || event.keyCode;
  var keyChar = String.fromCharCode(keyCode);

  switch (keyChar)
  {
    case 'a':
      // Code to run when 'a' is pressed
      break;

    // Add more cases as needed
  }
});

For further insights on handling keyboard shortcuts with javascript, refer to this related SO question.

It's important to note that these solutions are independent of Rails framework.

Answer №2

Check out a webpage discussing the implementation of keyboard shortcuts in web applications. The website provides a JavaScript file that enables this feature.

Answer №3

Implementing keyboard shortcuts in your web application can be easily done with various JavaScript libraries. Since Rails comes with Prototype for its JavaScript helper methods, you may consider exploring prototype-hotkeys for this purpose.

Visit the linked website for some helpful examples on how to use these keyboard shortcuts effectively.

Similar questions

If you have not found the answer to your question or you are interested in this topic, then look at other similar questions below or use the search

Using JavaScript, you can add an article and section to your webpage

Currently, I am utilizing AJAX to showcase posts. My objective is to extract each property from a JSON object that is returned and generate an <article> for the title followed by a subsequent <section> for the content. While I can successfully ...

Error in parsing the HTML code

However, the issue persists on my website located at The following error message keeps appearing: HTML Parsing Error: Unable to modify the parent container element before ...

Posting several pictures with Protractor

In my test suite, I have a specific scenario that requires the following steps: Click on a button. Upload an image from a specified directory. Wait for 15 seconds Repeat Steps 1-3 for all images in the specified directory. I need to figure out how to up ...

ReactKonva does not have compatibility with the element type "div"

I am trying to create a circle with ReactKonva and display a tooltip when hovering over it. In React, we are required to return a single element from the render method. To achieve this, I attempted to wrap both the tooltip and the ReactKonva element within ...

Techniques for finding the total value of a JSON array

After retrieving values from a database, I am using them in JSON/javascript as an array. For example, see https://i.sstatic.net/nLzk9.png The issue arises when trying to calculate the sum of the array elements. I attempted to solve it with this code: v ...

Steps to configure caching settings to ensure no caching for the entire site during specific hours, and constant no-cache policy for a particular page

Managing cache for my website has become quite the challenge. Some pages need to be cached during certain hours to improve navigation speed, while others must not be cached during crucial data update times. And to add to the complexity, there are pages tha ...

Experiencing issues with autoungrabify or autolock in cytoscape.js?

I have been working on a web application using Cytoscape.js, and I recently integrated the Edgehandles extension to allow users to add edges. The two types of edges that can be added are undirected and directed. Adding directed edges is functioning as expe ...

Utilizing a promise instead of making a jQuery ajax request

A scenario I am facing involves a function that is set to execute jquery.ajax and return it as a promise for future processing. However, in certain cases, the function possesses enough information to proceed synchronously without triggering the ajax call. ...

Rearrange the elements in an array containing objects

I am working with an array of objects: const array = [ { id: "5a2524432b68c725c06ac987", customOrder: 1, name: "One", }, { id: "5a2524432b68sgs25c06ac987", customOrder: 2, name: "Two", }, { id: "5a252wfew32b68c725c06a ...

simulating interaction with databases within API routes

I am currently working on developing a full stack application using NextJS along with a MySQL database. Within my API routes, I interact with this database by making calls to various functions such as createOne(), which is responsible for creating new inst ...

Tips for utilizing the simple-peer module within a Node.js environment?

I recently started using Node.js and I'm interested in incorporating the simple-peer module into my application. However, I am struggling to understand how to implement it based on the provided documentation. Are there any resources available that can ...

Is it possible to deploy a build across various website subdomains without altering user data?

Currently, I am in the midst of developing a project for a client where I am responsible for both the front end and back end components. After much consideration, I have opted to use Remix due to my familiarity with React and proficiency in JavaScript/Type ...

Tips for using jQuery to slowly change a CSS property to "auto"

I've encountered a situation where I have an element styled with position:fixed, and bottom: auto;. When I apply the command .animate({bottom : '10%'});, it smoothly slides to the specified position. However, when I try to set it back to its ...

Using the cURL command to retrieve script content

Currently, I am utilizing cURL to access a specific website. However, I have encountered an issue where the content I require is generated by a script: function Button(){ ... document.getElementById("out").innerHTML = name; } <p id="out"></p> ...

Is it possible to use Ajax post with localhost on Wamp server?

Looking to execute a basic POST function using Ajax on my localhost WAMP server. Here's the code I have: function fill_table() { var xmlhttp; if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {// code for IE7+, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari ...

Showing Nested Numerical Objects Post RequestBeing Made

Currently, I am facing an issue with accessing nested objects referred to by numbers. After making a service call to retrieve a JSON object, I mapped each field to another object which will be used for displaying the fields in HTML. The problem arises whe ...

Deciding between Bull queue and Database Triggers

My current project requires creating records in the database for users on a recurring basis, such as every Monday weekly or biweekly. I have identified two potential solutions to achieve this goal. One option is to utilize Database Triggers to generate ...

The error message states: "Dygraph is not defined."

Currently, I am utilizing express.js in my application to render dygraph charts on the client side. You can take a look at my index.jade file here. Upon visiting my browser, an error pops up in the console: Uncaught ReferenceError: Dygraph is not defined. ...

Transforming items into an array

Creating a JSON object with the following structure is something I'm trying to accomplish: { "PROMO": { "ID": 1, "NAME": "PROMO ONE", "BUNDLES": { "0": { "BUNDLE": { ...

No Backend Detected for Tensorflow.js in Node

I've been attempting to develop a Discord bot that utilizes the @tensorflow-models/qna library, but I've hit a roadblock for the past 4 hours. Every time I run the script below: const qna = require('@tensorflow-models/qna'); (async () ...