When you create a Dashboard, in order to make it easier to navigate your Dashboards, you will want to define the tab order for the controls. The tab order represents the order in which the focus is shifted between controls when the Dashboard user presses the Tab and Shift-Tab keys (to move forward and backward through the tab order).
You define the tab order by right-clicking in the Dashboard and selecting Tab Order… from the context menu (note, however, that this option is only available if the Dashboard is in Design View). When you do so, the Tab Order editing dialog will appear on top of the Dashboard:
In addition, you will notice that the Dashboard controls in the Dashboard are overlaid with a number indicating their current tab order.
Note: The tab order numbers
are overlaid on the entire window; if you move the Tab Order dialog, you will
see that these number float on top of the dialog. Hence, you should try to
move the Tab Order dialog off to the side, away from the controls.
If you select an item in the Tab order dialog, the overlaid number for that item will be displayed in red so that you can easily identify it. Once an item is selected in the Tab Order dialog, you can move it up or down using the Move Up and Move Down buttons. In addition, the following shortcut keys can be used:
•U and D move the item up and down, respectively.
•Alt-U, Ctrl-U and T or pressing Move Up while holding the Ctrl key all move the item to the top (tab index 1)
•Alt-D, Ctrl-D and B or pressing Move Down while holding the Ctrl key all move the item to the bottom (last tab index)
•Pressing a single digit (e.g., 3) moves the item to that tab index position.
Once you are satisfied with the tab order, press the OK button to close the dialog.
The following points should be noted with regard to tabbing:
•All input controls are included in the tab order.
•Button controls are included in the tab order.
•Result Display output controls and Text Box fields are included in the tab order. Although you cannot edit these in a Dashboard, you can select text or numbers (e.g., to copy to the clipboard), or scroll (in the case the Text Box).
•Thermometer, Result Status Display and Digital Result Display output controls are not included in the tab order (as there is nothing to change or select for these controls).
•Graphics and text in the Dashboard (except for Text Boxes) are not included in the tab order.
•When a control has the focus in the Dashboard, a light focus rectangle appears around the control to indicate this to the user.
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