Keyboard navigation

All Flexmonster’s functionality can be accessed from the keyboard with the use of keyboard shortcuts.

How to enable the keyboard navigation mode

For comfortable keyboard navigation, UI elements that are in focus should be highlighted. By default, the keyboard focus is not visible in Flexmonster.

To show the keyboard focus, set the accessibility.keyboardMode property to true in the new Flexmonster() API call:

var pivot = new Flexmonster({
  container: "pivot-container",
  componentFolder: "node_modules/flexmonster/",
  accessibility: {
    keyboardMode: true,
  },
  report: {
    ...
  }
});

Another way to make the keyboard focus visible is to click on the grid and press Shift three times.

How to perform drag-and-drop using the keyboard

With the drag-and-drop feature, which is available on the grid and in the Field List, it is possible to change the slice on the fly. You can:

• Move the field to rows. 
• Move the field to columns.
• Move the field to report filters.
• Move the field to measures (in the Field List).
• Remove the field from the slice.

This feature is also accessible from the keyboard. Follow the steps below to drag a field on the grid or in the Field List:

1. Using the Tab key, select the needed field on the grid or in the Field List.
2. Press the Space or Enter key to open the field’s context menu.
3. Select the needed option from the menu using arrow keys.
4. Press Space or Enter to apply the option.

Check out all the shortcuts for the grid.

Here is an example of accessible drag-and-drop on the grid:

See how a field can be dragged in the Field List:

How to perform sorting using the keyboard

To sort a row or column on the grid from the keyboard, follow these instructions:

1. Using the Tab key, move the keyboard focus to the grid.
2. Press Space or Enter to move the keyboard focus inside the grid.
3. Select the needed field member with arrow keys.
4. Open the member’s context menu by pressing the Space or Enter key.
5. Select the needed sorting option using arrow keys.
6. Press the Space or Enter key to apply the sorting.

Check out all the shortcuts for the grid.

Here is a live demonstration:

If the slice contains several measures, you should set sorting for a specific measure:

How to perform filtering using the keyboard

This mini-guide will help you filter a field with the keyboard:

1. Using the Tab key, select the field you would like to filter on the grid.
2. Press Space or Enter to open the field’s context menu.
3. Select Open filter with arrow keys (by default, this item is already selected).
4. Press Space or Enter to open the pop-up filter window.
5. Use Tab and Shift + Tab to navigate between the filtering options. Use arrow keys to navigate between field members and filtering conditions. To apply the selected option, press Space or Enter.
6. When you have configured the filters, select the Apply button with Shift + Tab.
7. Press Space or Enter to apply the filters to the field.

Check out all the shortcuts for the filter dialog.

See how to filter a field using the keyboard:

Specifics of using keyboard navigation in Safari

By default, the Option + Tab shortcut is used to move the focus between page controls in Safari. To use the Tab key instead, follow the steps below:

1. Open the browser, then go to Safari > Preferences. 
2. Navigate to the Advanced tab.
3. Check this option: Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage.

Your accessibility configurations should look similar to the following:

Now you can use the Tab key to navigate Flexmonster in Safari.

Available keyboard shortcuts and mouse commands

The Toolbar

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active tab in the Toolbar.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active tab in the Toolbar.
Space | Enter	Opens the tab's submenu or selects the tab itself.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a tab’s submenu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a tab’s submenu. Moves the focus downward.
Esc	Closes the tab’s submenu.

The grid

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus from the grid to the next active element (e.g., to a row or column header cell).
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus from the grid to the previous active element (e.g., to a Toolbar tab).
Space | Enter	If the focus is on the grid, this shortcut moves the focus into the grid. If the focus is on a cell, this shortcut opens the cell's context menu. If the focus is on a context menu item with a submenu (e.g., Aggregations), this shortcut opens the submenu.
UpArrow	Navigates between cells or items of a cell’s context menu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between cells or items of a cell’s context menu. Moves the focus downward.
LeftArrow	Navigates between cells. Moves the focus leftward.
RightArrow	Navigates between cells. Moves the focus rightward.
Shift + UpArrow	Extends cell selection upward.
Shift + DownArrow	Extends cell selection downward.
Shift + LeftArrow	Extends cell selection leftward.
Shift + RightArrow	Extends cell selection rightward.
Shift + click	Selects an area between the clicked cells.
Ctrl + click	Selects the clicked cells.
Ctrl + A	Selects all cells.
Ctrl + C	Copies selected cells to the clipboard.
Ctrl + Alt + H	Switches between the default and high-contrast CSS themes.
Shift (three times)	Shows/hides the keyboard focus on UI elements.
Ctrl + Alt + i (Option + Control + i on macOS)	Opens a pop-up window displaying the component’s version and license information.
Esc	Closes the cell's context menu or the drill-through view.
Right-click (Control + click | secondary click on macOS)	Opens the cell’s context menu.
Double-click	Opens the drill-through view for the cell.
Ctrl + click sorting arrows in the flat form	Applies sorting to multiple columns.

Charts

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a dropdown menu (e.g., when selecting a chart’s active measure). Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a dropdown menu (e.g., when selecting a chart’s active measure). Moves the focus downward.
Ctrl + Alt + H	Switches between the default and high-contrast CSS themes.
Shift (three times)	Shows/hides the keyboard focus on UI elements.
Ctrl + Alt + i (Option + Control + i on macOS)	Opens a pop-up window displaying the component’s version and license information.
Esc	Closes a dropdown menu.
Right-click a chart element (Control + click | secondary click on macOS)	Opens the chart element’s context menu.
Double-click a chart element	Opens the drill-through view for the chart element.

The Field List

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element. If the element is a field, the shortcut opens the field’s context menu.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a list or menu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a list or menu. Moves the focus backward.
Esc	Closes the Field List, a context menu, or a dropdown menu.

Calculated value editor

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element. If the element is a field, the shortcut opens the field’s context menu.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a list or menu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a list or menu. Moves the focus backward.
Esc	Closes the calculated value editor, a context menu, or a dropdown menu.

Number formatting dialog

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a dropdown menu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a dropdown menu. Moves the focus downward.
Esc	Closes the number formatting dialog.

Conditional formatting dialog

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a dropdown menu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a dropdown menu. Moves the focus downward.
Esc	Closes the conditional formatting dialog.

Layout options dialog

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element.
Esc	Closes the layout options dialog.

Filter dialog

Keyboard shortcuts	Description
Tab	Moves the focus to the next active element.
Shift + Tab	Moves the focus to the previous active element.
Space | Enter	Selects the current element.
UpArrow	Navigates between items of a list or dropdown menu. Moves the focus upward.
DownArrow	Navigates between items of a list or dropdown menu. Moves the focus downward.
Ctrl + Space | Ctrl + Enter (Command + Return | Control + Return on macOS)	Used to configure the selection filter for the multilevel hierarchy. Selects the current hierarchy level and all its child levels.
Esc	Closes the filter dialog.