JavaScript/jQuery SelectBox - Accessibility

Accessibility Features Overview

NOTE

The overall accessibility level of your application depends on the SelectBox features that you use.

Accessibility Requirement	Support Level
Right-to-Left Support
Keyboard Navigation Support
Screen Reader Support
Contrast Color Theme
Mobile Device Support
Lighthouse Accessibility Validation
Axe Accessibility Validation
WAVE Accessibility Validation
Section 508 Support
WCAG 2.x Support

- All component features meet the requirement
- Some component features may not meet the requirement
- Accessibility requirement is not supported

Accessibility Standards Compliance

The SelectBox component meets a variety of Section 508 and WCAG 2.x compliance standards. Known exceptions:

Section 508 criteria	WCAG 2.x criteria	Exception description
501 (Web)(Software) 504.2 (Authoring Tool) 602.3 (Support Docs)	1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum) (Level AA) 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA 2.1 and 2.2)	SelectBox does not support Windows High Contrast themes.

The component also complies with the European Accessibility Act (EAA) and Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) directives.

Keyboard Navigation

A user can use the following keys to interact with the SelectBox component:

Key	Action
Alt + Down Arrow	Opens the drop-down list.
Alt + Up Arrow	Closes the drop-down list.
Esc	Closes the drop-down list and removes focus from the UI component.
Up Arrow / Down Arrow	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.
Backspace or Delete	Clears selection if showClearButton is enabled.

Use the registerKeyHandler(key, handler) method to implement a custom handler for a key.

jQuery

index.js

const selectBox = $('#selectBoxContainer').dxSelectBox('instance');

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

Angular

app.component.ts

import { ViewChild, AfterViewInit } from '@angular/core';
import { DxSelectBoxComponent } from 'devextreme-angular/ui/select-box';

@Component({
    imports: [DxSelectBoxComponent],
    // ...
})
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 about the event
        });
        this.selectBox.instance.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }
}

Vue

Code

<template>
    <DxSelectBox ref="selectBoxRef" />
</template>

<script setup lang="ts">
import { onMounted, ref } from 'vue';
import { DxSelectBox } from 'devextreme-vue/select-box';

const selectBoxRef = ref<DxSelectBox | null>(null);

onMounted(() => {
    selectBoxRef.value.instance.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
        // The argument "e" contains information about the event
    });
    selectBoxRef.value.instance.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
        // ...
    });
})

</script>

React

App.tsx

import React, { useRef, useEffect } from 'react';
import { SelectBox, type SelectBoxRef } from 'devextreme-react/select-box';

function App() {
    const selectBoxRef = useRef<SelectBoxRef>(null);

    useEffect(() => {
        const selectBox = selectBoxRef.current.instance();
        selectBox.registerKeyHandler('backspace', function(e) {
            // The argument "e" contains information about the event
        });
        selectBox.registerKeyHandler('space', function(e) {
            // ...
        });
    }, []);

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

Screen Reader Support

The SelectBox component supports screen readers and complies to WAI-ARIA standards.

To improve accessibility, use the inputAttr property to specify aria-label for the component. You do not need to specify aria-label if you use label.