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feat(keyboard-shortcuts): add customizable keyboard shortcuts - #8521
grantfitzsimmons wants to merge 100 commits into
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"Keyboard" is a bit too generic/ambiguous
- Replace "show nodes with children only" checkbox with a toggle button.
Reasons:
- The checkbox was the only thing below the tree viewer - occupying
an entire line of horizontal space.
- Because of how Tab and Shift+Tab keys are used in the tree viewer,
moving focus to elements below the tree viewer is not possible - you
can only move above the tree viewer. That made this checkbox
inaccessible from keyboard
- The label for this checkbox is long, adding visual noise - it's
cleaner as a small tidy button
- Don't display split view controls if split view is not enabled to
reduce visual clutter
![coderabbitai[bot]](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/in/347564?s=60&v=4){kind=small}
JDAM2k4
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Testing instructions
- Open Preferences and select the Keyboard Shortcuts submenu.
- Confirm the shortcut groups have descriptive headings and descriptions:
- Form Actions
- Dialog Actions
- Tree Editor Actions
- Query Builder Actions
- In the 'User Tools' section, confirm that navigation-menu items and user tools are listed with their corresponding icons and that a shortcut can be assigned directly to each item.
- Confirm that 'Keyboard Shortcuts to URLs' appears as a separate section beneath User Tools, includes its description, and still opens the URL editor with the Edit button. Test these shortcuts to specific URLs (even those outside of Specify).
- Assign and use shortcuts for form actions such as Save, Carry Forward, and Clone.
- Open dialogs that show Close or Save actions (most) and verify that their configured shortcuts work only when the corresponding action is available.
- Open a tree and a query builder and verify that their configured shortcuts trigger the expected actions. If not, report what is not working!
- Navigate using shortcuts assigned to menu items or user tools. Confirm that navigation stays in the app and that unsaved-change prompts still appear.
- Verify that the shortcuts to things like the 'About Specify 7' dialog and other internal navigation actions also use the in-app router and respect unsaved changes.
- Check default shortcuts on a non-Specify page for browser or operating-system conflicts. Test on Firefox and Chrome on macOS, Windows, and Linux (name what you test on!).
The formatting seems a little weird to me, because it's all pushed to the left side of the screen and leaves a lot of empty space between the keyboard shortcuts and the User Preference Menu options. This could be used to have descriptions for the options, because as of now, I have no idea what the option Trees is supposed to do. Does it open the Trees tab? Does it take me to the Taxon tree? Does it create a new Tree entirely?
Technically the User Tools Header appears outside of all of the categories, so it's a bit difficult to tell what specifically you are referring to in the third instruction, because the label for that category is Main.
The Save button that appears after you add a keyboard shortcut could be confusing as if you leave the page without selecting the button at the bottom of the page, it does not save the shortcut. It also will not keep the changes unless you click this button first, which seems oddly redundant.
There is no warning/indicator if you have multiple shortcuts that use the same key, which would be good for a future update. The addition of default keyboard shortcuts would also be nice, because it feels cumbersome to have to create these preferences for every user in a database.
Specify does not acknowledge when I press the tab key. It also doesn't recognize when I press either shift key by itself. You also can't use multiple keys at once (ex. Shift + D + V for Data Views). I'm not sure if this is a problem that warrants addressing as I only find issue with it due to personal preference, but I am bringing it up regardless.
When I try to add a custom URL, it defaults to adding /specify/user-preferences/ before it, which does not allow outside URLs to be usable with this. So trying to use google.com/ as a custom URL becomes /specify/user-preferences/google.com which leads to a 404 page in Specify, because that does not exist.
The keyboard shortcut options for Form Actions do not exist. Honestly, as of now, the options for keyboard shortcuts are only really to do administrative tasks or to open a specific tab from the main menu, which I find severely lacking.
The above testing was done on Edge. I didn't find any new errors when I tested on Chrome though.
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- Open Preferences and select the Keyboard Shortcuts submenu.
- Confirm the shortcut groups have descriptive headings and descriptions:
- Form Actions
- Dialog Actions
- Tree Editor Actions
- Query Builder Actions
- In the 'User Tools' section, confirm that navigation-menu items and user tools are listed with their corresponding icons and that a shortcut can be assigned directly to each item.
- Confirm that 'Keyboard Shortcuts to URLs' appears as a separate section beneath User Tools, includes its description, and still opens the URL editor with the Edit button. Test these shortcuts to specific URLs (even those outside of Specify).
- Assign and use shortcuts for form actions such as Save, Carry Forward, and Clone.
- Open dialogs that show Close or Save actions (most) and verify that their configured shortcuts work only when the corresponding action is available.
- Open a tree and a query builder and verify that their configured shortcuts trigger the expected actions. If not, report what is not working!
- Navigate using shortcuts assigned to menu items or user tools. Confirm that navigation stays in the app and that unsaved-change prompts still appear.
- Verify that the shortcuts to things like the 'About Specify 7' dialog and other internal navigation actions also use the in-app router and respect unsaved changes.
- Check default shortcuts on a non-Specify page for browser or operating-system conflicts. Test on Firefox and Chrome on macOS, Windows, and Linux (name what you test on!).
Tested on uw_geo with Chrome and Firefox (any issues appeared on both the same).
- Confirm the shortcut groups have descriptive headings and descriptions:
I don't see any section but the User Tools one.
- Confirm that 'Keyboard Shortcuts to URLs' appears as a separate section beneath User Tools, includes its description, and still opens the URL editor with the Edit button. Test these shortcuts to specific URLs (even those outside of Specify).
When the URL is not entered in its entirety (like when copying it from a browser window), this will not work correctly. It might be a good idea to have some sort of warning/ability to detect when this might happen and not just prefix it with Specify slugs.
I also tested adding a shortcut to the /accounts/choose_collection (Choose Collection) URL and received unexpected behavior after typing my shortcut (my database had 3 collections):
- Navigate using shortcuts assigned to menu items or user tools. Confirm that navigation stays in the app and that unsaved-change prompts still appear.
- Verify that the shortcuts to things like the 'About Specify 7' dialog and other internal navigation actions also use the in-app router and respect unsaved changes.
In my testing, I had unsaved changes in a CO form and used a shortcut to open 'About Specify 7.' Upon closing the about page, I was prompted the unsaved changes dialog, which I assume is behavior you want. However, I am returned to my form to resume any changes and if I don't save and then click out of this CO form I am prompted with the unsaved changes dialog again (existing functionality). I guess I just don't see the purpose of the first dialog when I know I am being returned to the CO form by clicking close on the 'About Specify 7' dialog...it's the same thing twice and not super relevant in the first case because I'm not making changes to the 'About Specify 7' documentation.
g1rly-c0d3r
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Testing instructions
- Open Preferences and select the Keyboard Shortcuts submenu.
- Confirm the shortcut groups have descriptive headings and descriptions:
- Form Actions
- Dialog Actions
- Tree Editor Actions
- Query Builder Actions
- In the 'User Tools' section, confirm that navigation-menu items and user tools are listed with their corresponding icons and that a shortcut can be assigned directly to each item.
- Confirm that 'Keyboard Shortcuts to URLs' appears as a separate section beneath User Tools, includes its description, and still opens the URL editor with the Edit button. Test these shortcuts to specific URLs (even those outside of Specify).
- Assign and use shortcuts for form actions such as Save, Carry Forward, and Clone.
- Open dialogs that show Close or Save actions (most) and verify that their configured shortcuts work only when the corresponding action is available.
- Open a tree and a query builder and verify that their configured shortcuts trigger the expected actions. If not, report what is not working!
- Navigate using shortcuts assigned to menu items or user tools. Confirm that navigation stays in the app and that unsaved-change prompts still appear.
- Verify that the shortcuts to things like the 'About Specify 7' dialog and other internal navigation actions also use the in-app router and respect unsaved changes.
- Check default shortcuts on a non-Specify page for browser or operating-system conflicts. Test on Firefox and Chrome on macOS, Windows, and Linux (name what you test on!).
I agree with @JDAM2k4 on several points:
- The User Tools heading is broken:
- The double save is redundant and does not align with any other keyboard shortcut editor I have ever used, which makes it un-intuitive
- No indication of having duplicate shortcuts
- There are keys missing, like escape that we use for closing overlays, but that is in a different section and not re-assignable, I would like to see that integrated into the keyboard shortcuts section
- If you press fast enough you can have multiple keys for a single shortcut but the timing is way to fast (I was able to assign Shift+:+q for logout)
I was able to assign an external URL to a shortcut without issue, though.
- Check default shortcuts on a non-Specify page for browser or operating-system conflicts. Test on Firefox and Chrome on macOS, Windows, and Linux (name what you test on!).
I tested this on linux (using the Sway wm), where all of my system keyboard shortcuts are prefixed with Super, so there were no conflicts there, but zen browser, which is a firefox fork has a few issues.
- Ctrl+Shift+C copies the current url to the clipboard
- conflicts with carry-forward
- Ctrl+S toggles the visibility of the tab/url/navigation bar
- conflicts with saving
# Conflicts: # specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/Preferences/index.tsx # specifyweb/frontend/js_src/lib/components/QueryBuilder/Wrapped.tsx
Triggered by 5ba7240 on branch refs/heads/issue-1746
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@kwhuber @g1rly-c0d3r @JDAM2k4 Thanks for testing! I've tried my best to address all your points, but note that this is not a high priority feature compared to our other commitments, so I feel we are at a reasonable point for a version 1 (assuming all claimed functionality is operational):
You should hold the keys simultaneously while setting the shortcut instead of pressing them one at a time! No time limit in that case and you can combo a ton of keys at once. |
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Testing instructions
- Open Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. Confirm action groups, User Tools, and configured URL shortcuts are visible.
- Record, change, and remove a simultaneous key shortcut (combinations can be made by holding down multiple keys simultaneously when setting a shortcut). Confirm it saves when recording ends. Assign a shortcut already used by an available action and check that the warning names both actions; confirm actions available only in mutually exclusive views can share a shortcut without a warning.
- In a form, try Save, Carry Forward, and Clone. Open a dialog and verify its configured close shortcut works when available.
- Add shortcuts for an internal Specify path (including a path such as Choose Collection) and an external URL. Confirm internal navigation stays in the app and respects unsaved changes, while the external URL opens as expected (in a new tab).
- Verify that keyboard shortcuts do not conflict with browser defaults.
Much better! I still have some issues with the defaults, but users that care can customize those. I think this is very good, and the functionality is there.
@g1rly-c0d3r Please feel free to suggest changes to the defaults! I am open to modifying those before release |
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@grantfitzsimmons The concrete one is for carry forward. Three modifire keys plus c feels like a lot, but I think that is just from my muscle memory when it comes to keyboard-driven navigation. I like the Tree Editor Actions, one keystroke per action. My suggestion would be something like: |
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- Open Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. Confirm action groups, User Tools, and configured URL shortcuts are visible.
- Record, change, and remove a simultaneous key shortcut (combinations can be made by holding down multiple keys simultaneously when setting a shortcut). Confirm it saves when recording ends. Assign a shortcut already used by an available action and check that the warning names both actions; confirm actions available only in mutually exclusive views can share a shortcut without a warning.
- In a form, try Save, Carry Forward, and Clone. Open a dialog and verify its configured close shortcut works when available.
- Add shortcuts for an internal Specify path (including a path such as Choose Collection) and an external URL. Confirm internal navigation stays in the app and respects unsaved changes, while the external URL opens as expected (in a new tab).
- Verify that keyboard shortcuts do not conflict with browser defaults.
JDAM2k4
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Testing instructions
- Open Preferences → Keyboard Shortcuts. Confirm action groups, User Tools, and configured URL shortcuts are visible.
- Record, change, and remove a simultaneous key shortcut (combinations can be made by holding down multiple keys simultaneously when setting a shortcut). Confirm it saves when recording ends. Assign a shortcut already used by an available action and check that the warning names both actions; confirm actions available only in mutually exclusive views can share a shortcut without a warning.
- In a form, try Save, Carry Forward, and Clone. Open a dialog and verify its configured close shortcut works when available.
- Add shortcuts for an internal Specify path (including a path such as Choose Collection) and an external URL. Confirm internal navigation stays in the app and respects unsaved changes, while the external URL opens as expected (in a new tab).
- Verify that keyboard shortcuts do not conflict with browser defaults.
Some sort of prompt to indicate if a "custom" internal page within Specify already exists could be a good future update, because I tried to add the internal path to choose a collection and it took me a little too long to realize it was already a default page.
Specify still doesn't recognize if I press the tab key, but again, this is personal preference so it does not need to be implemented at this time.
Overall, this works much better than it did before!
Begins to fix #1746.
Rebased #5097 onto
mainand resolved the resulting conflicts.This PR adds keyboard shortcuts!!! Major thanks to @maxpatiiuk for doing the heavy lifting here.
There are some WIP docs available here for staff: https://speciforum.org/t/keyboard-shortcuts/4272/1
Basics
There are some pre-configured shortcuts for common actions when working in the form, dialog, query, or tree views in the app.
Cheat Sheet
There is a new 'cheat sheet' (heavily inspired by the one from Apple's iPadOS 18) that shows you all currently usable shortcuts for the particular view you are in.
DynamicCheatSheet.mp4
It is dynamic, so it handles many different resolutions well:
shortcut_cheatsheet.mp4
Actions can be taken on both the main form, within dialogs, record sets, using keyboard shortcuts out of the box:
Keyboard Shortcuts appears as a new section in User Preferences. Shortcut mappings for forms, dialogs, trees, query builders, navigation items, user tools, and URLs are covered by the existing preference definitions and automated tests.
Checklist
self-explanatory (or properly documented)
specify7/specifyweb/specify/management/commands/run_key_migration_functions.py
Line 50 in ea04665
Testing instructions
Summary by CodeRabbit
Summary