[Feature]: widget keyboard shortcut support

[joaoacmota]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• [X] I have searched the existing issues

Summary

I would like to have some keyboard shortcut support for widgets where i could assign keybindings to the existing click actions. Example, when using the icon widget you can assign an on click action. i would also like to assign a keyboard shortcut that would allow users to avoid unnecessary clicks when doing some repeated tasks

Why should this be worked on?

A common aspect of internal tools is the repeatition of certain tasks that require a human evaluation. Having the ability to rely on keyboard shortcuts woud decrease the chances of RSI occurrence or the strain on already existing cases.

[Nikhil-Nandagopal]

@joaoacmota thanks for the feature request. This makes a lot of sense. Could you tell us about the tools you are building and which use cases you see a lot of repetitive actions in? This would help us prioritise and build this feature better.

[joaoacmota]

Hi @Nikhil-Nandagopal , in the particular scenario where this feature request came up, the users have to compare an image with a gallery of existing images and they are asking to use the arrow keys to navigate through the images in the gallery

[Nikhil-Nandagopal]

@joaoacmota so is the gallery like a sort of carousel that was built where you have 2 buttons that change the image being viewed? Would be great if you could share a screenshot. Is this typically for data tagging?

[eedwardsSGS]

Not to interrupt, but I could also use a feature like this. I'm using Appsmith for industrial manufacturing, with our operators using barcode scanners and keying in entries to move material through the manufacturing process. It is much easier for them to use keyboard than mouse for this process. (In addition to this we're hoping for some improvements to focus to allow us on submission to correctly refocus the right element for the next submission and to make sure tab progresses correctly.)

[Nikhil-Nandagopal]

@eedwardsSGS thank you for the context!

[aproft-rogontech]

I'd also like to vote for this feature. Our use case ... We use Appsmith for a computer vision project and have an application where our testers navigate through videos and annotate them. Basically a testing documentation tool. What they do ...

1. Open video
2. Add Expected Result
3. Add Root Cause in case of failure
4. Save + Next video OR Save + Close OR Cancel

Would be great if we could assign a shortcut to opening the video and the different saving options. That would increase the efficiency of the workflow. Also it would be amazing if we could navigate to the next input field by pressing "tab" and also be able to define the order of the input fields.

[joaoacmota]

@Nikhil-Nandagopal, indeed it is carousel with buttons to go through the images. we use it to compare reported damages with existing dataset of already known damages. I added a screenshot

[GreenFlux]

I was about to make a similar request for some keyboard shortcuts in the editor. There are lots of repetitive actions that would be so much faster with keyboard shortcuts. @Nikhil-Nandagopal would it be possible to implement any of these?

1. cmd+B/I: Set selected widget(s) label to bold/italics. Bulk operation would be AWESOME!
2. cmd+ (+/-): Change label font size for selected widget(s).
3. cmd+ (L/R/E): Align label text, left, right or center (same shortcut as MS Word)
4. cmd+ENTER: Edit widget name (set keyboard focus without needing mouse)
5. cmd+SHIFT+ENTER: Edit widget label (set keyboard focus without needing mouse)

This would save a ton of back and fort between the keyboard and mouse when laying out a bunch of widgets at once.

[Nikhil-Nandagopal]

@GreenFlux I think that's a different feature request about editor shortcuts. This is about enabling shortcuts for end users of the applications built.

[wawa79]

Hi. Keyboard navigation order would definitely be a must-have for end users productivity. hope this is coming soon.

[washcyclist]

In addition to making humans faster, most barcode scanners (for retail / inventory) can be programmed to send extra keystrokes along with the code scanned so that operators can "scan scan scan" rather than needing to scan, then select fields or press "save" buttons on the UI. So being able to have app smith react to these events would greatly facilitate barcode scanners.

[GreenFlux]

Hi @washcyclist , with the CodeScanner widget, there's an onCodeDetected event that you can connect to any action, like a database query or JavaScript function. You could use this to trigger saving the scanned value, and then open a new form. Would that work for your use case? https://docs.appsmith.com/reference/widgets/code-scanner#events