Setting Keyboard Shortcuts for Controls

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to controls so users can navigate the front panel window without a mouse. You can assign modifiers, such as the <Shift> and <Ctrl> keys, to some shortcut keys. You cannot assign the same key combination to more than one control.

LabVIEW does not respond to keyboard shortcuts for hidden controls.

Complete the following steps to set key navigation for a control and to set a control so it is not included when the user tabs from control to control while running the VI.

1. Right-click a front panel control and select Advanced»Key Navigation from the shortcut menu to display the Key Navigation page of the Properties dialog box. You also can right-click a control, select Properties from the shortcut menu, and click the Key Navigation tab. To set key navigation for an array control, right-click the array border. To set key navigation for an array element, right-click the element.

Note  The Advanced»Key Navigation shortcut menu item is dimmed for indicators because you cannot enter data in an indicator.

2. From the pull-down menu in the Focus section, select the shortcut key you want to assign to the control.
   
   If you assign <PageUp>, <PageDown>, <Home>, or <End> as a shortcut key in the Focus section, you no longer can use that key to select items in listboxes or tree controls.
3. To include the <Shift> key and/or <Ctrl> key in a keyboard shortcut, place a checkmark in the Shift key and/or the Control key checkboxes. These checkboxes are available if you select a function key, such as <F1>, <F2>, and so on, in the Focus pull-down menu.

Note  (macOS) Keyboard shortcuts for the function keys work only if the function keys are not assigned as shortcut keys for Exposé. LabVIEW does not support <VolumeUp>, <VolumeDown>, and function keys <F15> to <F24> as shortcut keys on macOS.

4. To prevent users from accessing a control using the <Tab> key while the VI is running, place a checkmark in the Skip this control when tabbing checkbox.

Note  You also can use the Key Down event to generate an event when the user presses a specific key on the keyboard.

You can assign keyboard shortcuts to toggle Boolean controls using the Toggle section in the Key Navigation page, or to increment and decrement Numeric, Slide, Knob, Ring, and Enum controls using the Increment and Decrement sections in the Key Navigation page. The Toggle section is available only for Boolean controls, and the Increment and Decrement sections are available only for Numeric, Slide, Knob, Ring, and Enum controls.

You also can use the Control properties to assign keyboard shortcuts to controls and set tabbing behavior programmatically.