DevExtreme React - Keyboard Support

An end user can use the following keys to interact with the widget.

Key Action
Alt + ↓ Opens the drop-down list.
Alt + ↑ Closes the drop-down list.
Esc Closes the drop-down list and removes focus from the widget.
↑ / ↓ If the drop-down list is opened, moves focus to the previous/next item; otherwise, selects the previous/next item.
Page Up / Page Down Moves focus to the first/last item.
Enter or Space Selects the item.

You can implement a custom handler for a key using the registerKeyHandler(key, handler) method.

jQuery
JavaScript
function registerKeyHandlers () {
    const selectBox = $("#selectBoxContainer").dxSelectBox("instance");
    selectBox.registerKeyHandler("backspace", function(e) {
        // The argument "e" contains information on the event
    });
    selectBox.registerKeyHandler("space", function(e) {
        // ...
    });
}
Angular
TypeScript
import { ..., ViewChild, AfterViewInit } from '@angular/core';
import { DxSelectBoxModule, DxSelectBoxComponent } from 'devextreme-angular';
// ...
export class AppComponent implements AfterViewInit {
    @ViewChild(DxSelectBoxComponent, { static: false }) selectBox: DxSelectBoxComponent;
    // Prior to Angular 8
    // @ViewChild(DxSelectBoxComponent) selectBox: DxSelectBoxComponent;

    ngAfterViewInit () {
        this.selectBox.instance.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information on the event
        });
        this.selectBox.instance.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}
@NgModule({
    imports: [
        // ...
        DxSelectBoxModule
    ],
    // ...
})
Vue
<template>
    <DxSelectBox :ref="mySelectBoxRef" />
</template>
<script>
import 'devextreme/dist/css/dx.common.css';
import 'devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css';

import DxSelectBox from 'devextreme-vue/select-box';

const mySelectBoxRef = 'my-select-box';

export default {
    components: {
        DxSelectBox
    },
    data() {
        return {
            mySelectBoxRef
        }
    },
    computed: {
        selectBox: function() {
            return this.$refs[mySelectBoxRef].instance;
        }
    },
    mounted: function() {
        this.selectBox.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information on the event
        });
        this.selectBox.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}
</script>
React
App.js
import React from 'react';
import 'devextreme/dist/css/dx.common.css';
import 'devextreme/dist/css/dx.light.css';

import { SelectBox } from 'devextreme-react/select-box';

class App extends React.Component {
    constructor(props) {
        super(props);

        this.selectBoxRef = React.createRef();
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <SelectBox ref={this.selectBoxRef} />
        );
    }

    get selectBox() {
        return this.selectBoxRef.current.instance;
    }

    componentDidMount() {
        this.selectBox.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information on the event
        });
        this.selectBox.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}

export default App;
See Also