[ Previous | Next | Contents | Glossary | Home | Search ]
Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Text-Entry Field (Control)

Reference

Description

A text-entry field is a text field where a user can type or place characters, as arguments, in an application.

Figure 70. Text-Entry Field.




View figure.

When to Use

Recommended
Provide a text-entry field to allow the user to enter characters.

Guidelines

Required
Support insert mode for all entry of text.

Required
Do not support replace mode when nontextual elements (for example, icons or choices) are included as elements in text and laid out as characters.

Recommended
Provide replace mode for text entry if the text is displayed using a fixed-width font.

Recommended
If you provide replace mode, allow the user to switch between insert and replace mode by pressing the Insert key.

Recommended
If a text-entry field must contain a value, provide an appropriate initial value.

Recommended
If the user will typically replace the initial value in the text-entry field, use a persistent selection to select the entire initial value so that the data can be replaced by typing the first input character.

Required
Even if the information entered by the user into a text-entry field is not acceptable to the application and if the focus has been moved out of the text-entry field, do not automatically move focus back to the text-entry field.

Recommended
When using an explicit focus policy, if the information entered by the user into a text-entry field is not acceptable and focus is on another control, display a warning message that includes a choice that returns focus to the text-entry field.

Optional
If the information entered by the user into a text-entry field is not acceptable and focus has been moved out of the text-entry field, mark the field in some way (for example, with a new color) so that the user can locate and correct it.

Required
In insert mode, position the text cursor between adjacent elements.

Required
In insert mode, when the user types a character, insert the character before the cursor.

Required
In replace mode, display the text cursor as if it were on a character. However, with respect to the rules for navigation and selection, treat it as if it were positioned prior to the character on which it is displayed. When the cursor is at the end of a line, it should appear to be on an empty character following the last character on the line.

Required
In replace mode, when the cursor is not at the end of a line and the user types a printing character, delete the character on which the cursor appears before inserting the new character. This should have the effect of replacing the character.

Required
In replace mode, when the cursor is at the end of the line and the user types a printing character, insert the character before the cursor position.

Required
When a control supports text entry, support primary, clipboard, and drag-and-drop transfer in the text field.

Required
Allow the user to scroll data in a text-entry field when more text can be typed or when more information is available than can be displayed in the field.

Required
In text, when the user presses Space or Shift Space, insert a space.

Required
In a text-display field or a single-line text-entry field, when the user presses Enter, invoke the default action.

Required
In a multiline text-entry field, when the user presses Enter, insert a new line. End the current line with the character preceding the current cursor position and start a new line with the following character.

Required
In a text-display field, use Tab and Shift Tab for tab-group navigation.

Required
In a multiline text-entry field, use Tab and Shift Tab for internal navigation. Use Tab either to insert a tab or to skip to the next tab stop. Shift Tab should have either no effect or should skip back to the previous tab stop.

Required
In a single-line text-entry field, use Tab and Shift Tab either for tab-group navigation or for internal navigation as in a multiline text-entry field.

Recommended
In a text-entry field, when the user presses Ctrl Delete, delete the characters following the cursor to the end of the line. If text is selected, delete the selection instead.

Essential Related Topics

For more information, see the Control, Cursor, Data Transfer, and Selection reference pages.

Supplemental Related Topics

For more information, see the Direct Manipulation, Edit (Menu), Keyboard (Device), Mouse (Device), Text-Display Field (Control), and Window Navigation reference pages.

[ Previous | Next | Contents | Glossary | Home | Search ]