Tab order concern

I've not seen that behaviour before - though sometimes tab order can be frustrating to get right.

Have you tried resetting the tab order?

scderacjor - in case you don't know how to do what Jonom's suggested, to reset the Tab order - from the toolbar select View>Tab Order (last one on the menu). I've set mine up as a button in my toolbar because I use it all the time.Just threw this in because not very long ago I didn't know how to do this. But if you DO know how to do this, then you have another problem and I have no idea what that is.
Hope that wasn't useless.
Peta

I had the same problem as scderacjor, which is why I ended searching the forum for solutions (no luck). I am also using LiveCycle Designer 8.0.

Apparently, the problem lies with static text fields being included in the tab order such that after going through the "fillable" fields, the tab key cycles through the static text of these fields, making it appear that it is going through the form again.

If you will notice in the tab order (View - Tab Order) of the form, the sequence number is either blue or white. Again, I'm guessing white means that the object should not be included in the tab sequence, as they are usually assigned to static text, and the blue indicating objects that you can tab into (fillable fields). If, in the process of resetting the tab order, a static object (white) is clicked, it then becomes blue and therefore becomes part of the tab sequence. I've noticed this in my wayward form.

To solve this problem, remove the unwanted blue items by using [Shift]+[Ctrl] as you click on them. You might have to first establish the correct tab order before removing the unwanted items.

Hope it works with you. Cheers!

I looked into it and the only items that appear in the tab order are the items that are dynamic. There are no white numbers, and none of the static fields have numbers assigned to them.

When tabbing through the document, it does everything correctly. It does not tab to the static fields. The only problem lies within tabbing to a check box or a button. When you tab to one of these items and push the enter button (assuming you are tabbing because you do not want to use the mouse) then push the tab button again, the tabbing goes back to the first item.

If your fix IS for this problem, can you clarify? Because, right now, that solution does not make sense with my problem.

Thank you! I appreciate your input.


P.S. How do you reset tab order? I just switched it back to "automatic." Is that right?

Yes, reset to automatic and then tweak as necessary. I've sometimes needed to do this several times.

You can also check in the xml source for the ... tags and clear them out first as they seem to be part of the problem - it's like they don't get reset or something.I've found I still need to use setFocus() sometimes too.

Making sure, if possible, that your fields are ordered correctly in the Hierarchy can help (I think). But most important is the vertical position on the page, going left to right if an object to the right is even a tiny fraction above an object on the left, it will get precedence.

It seems to me that the tab order mechanism is still a little wonky but much improved in the latest release. Oh, that's something too - depends on your version of Designer - before the current (or one back?) release the tab order mechanism was seriously fubar'd.

I noticed that we are using different versions which is probably why we see things differently. For one, I do not have an automatic reset tab order option. Also, not having the white numbers (in my case assigned for for static text) makes more sense and is probably a fix to the previous version, which is why you don't see them now.

In any case my solution wasn't a 100%-fix since I still have some problems. The error happens when I select a hidden field that was activated by an option or radio button. If all hidden fields remain hidden, the tab order works normally, but once any hidden field becomes visible, the tab order fails.

I guess my solution will not really work in your case due to the version. Sorry.

Hey Jonom, I think you've hit the nail on the head. I think the tab order facility is most definitely fubar'd!!! Certainly in 8.2 anyway.

It's a lot better than it was!