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This site contains the legacy documentation for DataTables v1.9 and earlier for reference only.
DataTables 1.10 is the current release and is now available.
KeyTable example

Preamble

KeyTable allows you to use keyboard navigation on an HTML table. The focused cell is shown through the CSS class ('focus') which in the case below is simply a blue border. Events such as 'focus', 'blur', 'esc' (the escape key) and 'return' (the return key) can be assigned event handling functions thought the API presented.

The example shown below has a few cells (selected at random, but near the top) with blur and focus events assigned to them. You can also see the navigation around the table using arrow keys.

Live example

Event information:
Rendering engine Browser Platform(s) Engine version CSS grade
Trident Internet Explorer 4.0 (focus once) Win 95+ 4 X
Trident Internet Explorer 5.0 Win 95+ (blur) 5 C
Trident (focus) Internet Explorer 5.5 Win 95+ (action/bold) 5.5 A
Trident Internet Explorer 6 (focus) Win 98+ 6 A
Trident Internet Explorer 7 Win XP SP2+ (blur) 7 A
Trident AOL browser (AOL desktop) Win XP (action/italic) 6 A
Gecko Firefox 1.0 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.7 A
Gecko (focus - row) Firefox 1.5 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Firefox 2.0 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Firefox 3.0 Win 2k+ / OSX.3+ 1.9 A
Gecko Camino 1.0 OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Camino 1.5 OSX.3+ 1.8 A
Gecko Netscape 7.2 Win 95+ / Mac OS 8.6-9.2 1.7 A
Gecko Netscape Browser 8 Win 98SE+ 1.7 A
Gecko Netscape Navigator 9 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.0 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.1 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.1 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.2 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.2 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.3 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.3 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.4 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.4 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.5 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.5 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.6 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ 1.6 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.7 Win 98+ / OSX.1+ 1.7 A
Gecko Mozilla 1.8 Win 98+ / OSX.1+ 1.8 A
Gecko Seamonkey 1.1 Win 98+ / OSX.2+ 1.8 A
Gecko Epiphany 2.20 Gnome 1.8 A
Webkit Safari 1.2 OSX.3 125.5 A
Webkit Safari 1.3 OSX.3 312.8 A
Webkit Safari 2.0 OSX.4+ 419.3 A
Webkit Safari 3.0 OSX.4+ 522.1 A
Webkit OmniWeb 5.5 OSX.4+ 420 A
Webkit iPod Touch / iPhone iPod 420.1 A
Webkit S60 S60 413 A
Presto Opera 7.0 Win 95+ / OSX.1+ - A
Presto Opera 7.5 Win 95+ / OSX.2+ - A
Presto Opera 8.0 Win 95+ / OSX.2+ - A
Presto Opera 8.5 Win 95+ / OSX.2+ - A
Presto Opera 9.0 Win 95+ / OSX.3+ - A
Presto Opera 9.2 Win 88+ / OSX.3+ - A
Presto Opera 9.5 Win 88+ / OSX.3+ - A
Presto Opera for Wii Wii - A
Presto Nokia N800 N800 - A
Presto Nintendo DS browser Nintendo DS 8.5 C/A1
KHTML Konqureror 3.1 KDE 3.1 3.1 C
KHTML Konqureror 3.3 KDE 3.3 3.3 A
KHTML Konqureror 3.5 KDE 3.5 3.5 A
Tasman Internet Explorer 4.5 Mac OS 8-9 - X
Tasman Internet Explorer 5.1 Mac OS 7.6-9 1 C
Tasman Internet Explorer 5.2 Mac OS 8-X 1 C
Misc NetFront 3.1 Embedded devices - C
Misc NetFront 3.4 Embedded devices - A
Misc Dillo 0.8 Embedded devices - X
Misc Links Text only - X
Misc Lynx Text only - X
Misc IE Mobile Windows Mobile 6 - C
Misc PSP browser PSP - C
Other browsers All others - - U

Initialisation code

function fnMessage ( sMesg )
{
	var n = document.getElementById('info');
	n.innerHTML += sMesg+"<br>";
	n.scrollTop = n.scrollHeight;
}

$(document).ready( function () {
	var keys = new KeyTable();
	
	/* Focus handler for all cells in last column */
	keys.event.focus( 4, null, function( nNode, x, y ) {
		fnMessage( "Cell "+x+","+y+" focused ('live' event - column)" );
	} );
	
	/* Focus handler for all cells in 8th row */
	keys.event.focus( null, 7, function( nNode, x, y ) {
		fnMessage( "Cell "+x+","+y+" focused ('live' event - row)" );
	} );
	
	/* Focus using coords. */
	keys.event.focus( 1, 0, function( nNode ) {
		keys.event.remove.focus( nNode );
		fnMessage( "Cell 1,0 focus - this event has now been removed" );
	} );
	
	keys.event.focus( 1, 3, function() {
		fnMessage( "Cell 1,3 focus" );
	} );
	
	/* focus with a node */
	keys.event.focus( $('#example tbody tr:eq(2) td:eq(0)')[0], function() {
		fnMessage( "Cell 0,2 focus" );
	} );
	
	/* Blur using a node */
	keys.event.blur( $('#example tbody tr:eq(1) td:eq(2)')[0], function() {
		fnMessage( "Cell 1,2 blur" );
	} );
	
	/* Blur using coords */
	keys.event.blur( 2, 4, function() {
		fnMessage( "Cell 2,4 blur" );
	} );
	
	/* Action */
	keys.event.action( 2, 2, function( nNode ) {
		fnMessage( "Cell 2,2 action" );
		if ( nNode.style.fontWeight == "" || nNode.style.fontWeight == "normal" ) {
			nNode.style.fontWeight = "bold";
		} else {
			nNode.style.fontWeight = "normal";
		}
	} );
	
	keys.event.action( 2, 5, function( nNode ) {
		fnMessage( "Cell 2,5 action" );
		if ( nNode.style.fontStyle == "" ) {
			nNode.style.fontStyle = "italic";
		} else {
			nNode.style.fontStyle = "";
		}
	} );
} );

Other examples