Allow navigation in field but prevent editing

[kaveh1000]

I have a field that I want to prevent user from manually editing. But I want to allow free movement of cursor, selection of text and copying.

First of all is there a simple way of doing this? If not, I have put in a number of handlers to prevent editing:

Code: Select all

on arrowkey
  pass arrowkey
end arrowkey

on keydown
  exit keydown
end keydown

on deletekey
  exit deletekey
end deletekey

on backspacekey
  exit backspacekey
end backspacekey

on cutkey
  exit cutkey
end cutkey

on pastekey
  exit pastekey
end pastekey

on returnInField
  enterInField
end returnInField

on enterInField
  exit enterInField
end enterInField

Works pretty well, but cutkey and pastekey are not preventing cut and paste, even when I Suspend Development Tools, as suggested in the dictionary.

Any suggestions?

[Klaus]

Did you test in a standalone?

[jmburnod]

Hi,
A quick and dirty solution

Field Script:

Code: Select all

on openfield
   set the uMyText of the target to the text of the target
end openfield

on textChanged
   put the uMyText of the target into me
end textChanged

Best
Jean-Marc

[kaveh1000]

Yes. Problem persists in standalone on Mac OS X

[kaveh1000]

Jean-Marc

I thought of something like your solution. Thanks, that is good to know.

But problem is there is a lot formatting (saved as htmltext) and in addition I want the user to see minimal interruption, so they need to have same vscroll and selectedtext. So ideally want the cut and paste commands to simply not do anything. Works great with other keys that simply disappear silently.

[Klaus]

Yes. Problem persists in standalone on Mac OS X

Then I consider this a bug!

[bogs]

I have a field that I want to prevent user from manually editing. But I want to allow free movement of cursor, selection of text and copying.

First of all is there a simple way of doing this?

The simplest of all would be to lock the text, and leave transversal on, if I understood the question right

Lock me up, before you go go...

[kaveh1000]

Hi Bogs

I want to be able to use arrowkeys, e.g. with shift key and select text. And to scroll around as normal text. With locked text I can't do that and can't even see text cursor.

[bogs]

Says who? You won't see the cursor, but you still will be able to select using the arrow keys and shift, ctr./shift, etc.
https://youtu.be/RyaYVoe7buI

[kaveh1000]

OK. I didn't know that even though the cursor is not visible the system knows where the cursor is. Thanks for taking the time to produce the video.

But that itself is a major disadvantage. A user will be used to seeing the cursor with pressing arrow keys so they know where they are. I want the behaviour to be the same as other fields on a card.

[bogs]

Well, you could handle this in a hundred different ways probably. The simplest would be to intercept the raw key messages, and only allow certain control/cmd key combos through. The kludgiest would probably be to stick a regular field above the locked one, stick the text from the locked one into it, and then you would have your cursor and like that. You'd have to direct allowable actions down to the locked field, like copying, but any other actions would have no effect on the locked field.

[jacque]

I was thinking of something like bogs suggested. The pasteKey function has been iffy for years, but you can trap commandKeyDown and only pass the message if the key is C.

[FourthWorld]

I wonder if it would be simpler file an enhancement request to have the insertion cursor visible with any selectable field regardless whether its locktext is true or false.

[kaveh1000]

Hi folks

Thank you for all the ideas. The solution that seems to work is that I save the following parameters of the field:

• vscroll

• htmlText

• selectedChunk

When the user cuts or pastes any text, a dialogue box pops up to warn them they cannot change text, and then the parameters of the field are reset, and they are back where they were.

@Richard, I think that all that is needed is that the text cursor is shown even in a locked field. Great idea. A simple but useful addition. Do I make this suggestion through the bugs page?

[FourthWorld]

Yes. Please post the resulting URL here so we can follow along.