Michael Santy wrote: > > We've created custom dialogs to manage a lot of the more complex XML > (mainly document level metadata) in our schema, and to simplify the > editor have hidden those elements from the user. In terms of usability, > this strategy has worked great. > > However, we've recently noticed that a user can move the cursor inside > of these hidden elements with the arrow keys. This poses a number of > problems for us.
The commands bound to Tab, Shift-Tab, Up and Down Arrow automatically skip hidden elements. For performance and complexity reasons, this is not the case for the commands bound to Left Arrow, Down Arrow, Ctrl-Left-Arrow, etc, (but also Delete and BackSpace for some caret positions). This is a limitation we do not intend to remove in the near future. > Is there any way to prevent the cursor from being moved inside of a > element with "display=none" or whose parents have this attribute set? > Even better yet, is there a way for the cursor to skip to the text node > of the next or previous displayed element? > Yes, but you need to replace the MoveDotTo command by an enhanced version of your own. http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/api/com/xmlmind/xmledit/command/MoveDotTo.html The DocumentView class has a number of methods which can help you implementing an enhanced MoveDotTo command: * java.awt.Rectangle modelToView(TextNode text, int offset) http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/api/com/xmlmind/xmledit/view/DocumentView.html#modelToView(com.xmlmind.xmledit.doc.TextNode,%20int) * boolean ensureDotIsVisible() http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/api/com/xmlmind/xmledit/view/DocumentView.html#ensureDotIsVisible() * etc. However such programming task is not an easy one and I would not recommend to attempt doing it. I would recommend to [1] Do not to use hidden elements. Instead use collapsible elements, which initially are displayed collapsed. See http://www.xmlmind.com/xmleditor/_distrib/doc/csssupport/collapsible_blocks.html The difference with hidden elements is subtle: unlike hidden elements, collapsed elements are a signal sent to the user meaning: we are really here but we don't want to bother you. [2] If this not possible, teach your users to live with the limitation. Note that the caret does not really disappear: when it is contained in a hidden element, it is displayed as a blinking red triangle found at the top/left of the first visible ancestor of the node containing the caret.
