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 (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.