Enter key press behaves like a Tab in Javascript

Question

I\'m looking to create a form where pressing the enter key causes focus to go to the \"next\" form element on the page. The solution I keep finding on the web is...

Answer 1

There are problems with all of the implementations given here. Some don't work properly with textareas and submit buttons, most don't allow you to use shift to go backwards, none of them use tabindexes if you have them, and none of them wrap around from the last to the first or the first to the last.

To have the [enter] key act like the [tab] key but still work properly with text areas and submit buttons use the following code. In addition this code allows you to use the shift key to go backwards and the tabbing wraps around front to back and back to front.

Source code: https://github.com/mikbe/SaneEnterKey

CoffeeScript

mbsd_sane_enter_key = ->
  input_types = "input, select, button, textarea"
  $("body").on "keydown", input_types, (e) ->
    enter_key = 13
    tab_key = 9

    if e.keyCode in [tab_key, enter_key]
      self = $(this)

      # some controls should just press enter when pressing enter
      if e.keyCode == enter_key and (self.prop('type') in ["submit", "textarea"])
        return true

      form = self.parents('form:eq(0)')

      # Sort by tab indexes if they exist
      tab_index = parseInt(self.attr('tabindex'))
      if tab_index
        input_array = form.find("[tabindex]").filter(':visible').sort((a,b) -> 
          parseInt($(a).attr('tabindex')) - parseInt($(b).attr('tabindex'))
        )
      else
        input_array = form.find(input_types).filter(':visible')

      # reverse the direction if using shift
      move_direction = if e.shiftKey then -1 else 1
      new_index = input_array.index(this) + move_direction

      # wrap around the controls
      if new_index == input_array.length
        new_index = 0
      else if new_index == -1
        new_index = input_array.length - 1

      move_to = input_array.eq(new_index)
      move_to.focus()
      move_to.select()

      false

$(window).on 'ready page:load', ->
  mbsd_sane_enter_key()

JavaScript

var mbsd_sane_enter_key = function() {
  var input_types;
  input_types = "input, select, button, textarea";

  return $("body").on("keydown", input_types, function(e) {
    var enter_key, form, input_array, move_direction, move_to, new_index, self, tab_index, tab_key;
    enter_key = 13;
    tab_key = 9;

    if (e.keyCode === tab_key || e.keyCode === enter_key) {
      self = $(this);

      // some controls should react as designed when pressing enter
      if (e.keyCode === enter_key && (self.prop('type') === "submit" || self.prop('type') === "textarea")) {
        return true;
      }

      form = self.parents('form:eq(0)');

      // Sort by tab indexes if they exist
      tab_index = parseInt(self.attr('tabindex'));
      if (tab_index) {
        input_array = form.find("[tabindex]").filter(':visible').sort(function(a, b) {
          return parseInt($(a).attr('tabindex')) - parseInt($(b).attr('tabindex'));
        });
      } else {
        input_array = form.find(input_types).filter(':visible');
      }

      // reverse the direction if using shift
      move_direction = e.shiftKey ? -1 : 1;
      new_index = input_array.index(this) + move_direction;

      // wrap around the controls
      if (new_index === input_array.length) {
        new_index = 0;
      } else if (new_index === -1) {
        new_index = input_array.length - 1;
      }

      move_to = input_array.eq(new_index);
      move_to.focus();
      move_to.select();
      return false;
    }
  });
};

$(window).on('ready page:load', function() {
  mbsd_sane_enter_key();
}