Move Cursor to next text Field pressing Enter

Move Cursor to next text Field pressing Enter

Have you ever been filling out a form online and wished that you could just press enter to move to the next text field instead of having to manually click on it? Well, there is a simple solution to this problem using JavaScript.

Method 1:

The first method is to use the onkeydown event to detect when the enter key is pressed and then focus on the next text field.


document.addEventListener("keydown", function(event) {
  if (event.key === "Enter") {
    event.preventDefault();
    var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName("input");
    for (var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++) {
      if (inputs[i] == document.activeElement) {
        inputs[i+1].focus();
        break;
      }
    }
  }
});

Explanation:

  • The addEventListener method is used to listen for a keydown event on the entire document.
  • The event.key property is used to check if the key pressed was the enter key.
  • The event.preventDefault() method is called to prevent the default behavior of the enter key, which is to submit the form.
  • The getElementsByTagName method is used to get all of the input elements on the page.
  • A for loop is used to iterate through all of the inputs and find the one that currently has focus.
  • The next input element is focused on using the focus() method.

Method 2:

The second method is to use the onkeyup event to detect when the enter key is pressed and move the focus to the next text field.


document.addEventListener("keyup", function(event) {
  if (event.key === "Enter") {
    event.preventDefault();
    var inputs = document.getElementsByTagName("input");
    for (var i = 0; i < inputs.length; i++) {
      if (inputs[i] == document.activeElement) {
        inputs[i+1].focus();
        break;
      }
    }
  }
});

Explanation:

  • The addEventListener method is used to listen for a keyup event on the entire document.
  • The event.key property is used to check if the key pressed was the enter key.
  • The event.preventDefault() method is called to prevent the default behavior of the enter key, which is to submit the form.
  • The getElementsByTagName method is used to get all of the input elements on the page.
  • A for loop is used to iterate through all of the inputs and find the one that currently has focus.
  • The next input element is focused on using the focus() method.

Both methods achieve the same result, so it's up to personal preference which one to use. However, it's important to note that this behavior may not be ideal for all forms and could cause confusion for some users. It's always important to consider accessibility and user experience when implementing any changes to a website.

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