ON KEY Virtual keys

Virtual keys are the key names that can be used in program instructions such as ON KEY and COMMAND KEY.

An ON KEY block defines one to four different action objects that will be identified by the key name in lowercase (ON KEY(F5,F6) = creates Action f5 + Action f6). Each action object will get an acceleratorName attribute assigned. In GUI mode, action defaults are applied for ON KEY actions by using the name of the key. You can define secondary accelerator keys, as well as default decoration attributes like button text and image, by using the key name as action identifier. The action name is always in lowercase letters.

Check carefully the ON KEY CONTROL-? statements because they may result in having duplicate accelerators for multiple actions due to the accelerators defined by action defaults. Additionally, it is recommended to avoid using ON KEY statements with ESC, TAB, UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, HELP, NEXT, PREVIOUS, INSERT, CONTROL-M, CONTROL-X, CONTROL-V, CONTROL-C, and CONTROL-A in GUI programs, because they are very likely to clash with default accelerators defined in the action defaults.

By default, ON KEY actions are not decorated with a default button in the action frame (i.e. default action view). You can show the default button by configuring a text attribute with the action defaults.

Table 1. Names of keys to be referenced in programs
Key Name	Description
`ACCEPT`	The validation key.
`INTERRUPT`	The interruption key.
`ESC` or `ESCAPE`	The ESC key (not recommended, use `ACCEPT` instead).
`TAB`	The TAB key (not recommended).
`Control-char`	A control key where char can be any character except A, D, H, I, J, K, L, M, R, or X.
`F1` through `F255`	A function key.
`DELETE`	The key used to delete a new row in an array.
`INSERT`	The key used to insert a new row in an array.
`HELP`	The help key.
`LEFT`	The left arrow key.
`RIGHT`	The right arrow key.
`DOWN`	The down arrow key.
`UP`	The up arrow key.
`PREVIOUS` or `PREVPAGE`	The previous page key.
`NEXT` or `NEXTPAGE`	The next page key.