Controlling Cells in Tables

When the automaticCellControl property is set to the default value of false, the cellInputReady event must set the text box value from the cell text if a text box is assigned to a table cell and the TextBox class change event must then set the cell text as it is changed.

As an event has to be processed for each keystroke, this impacts on the performance of JADE thin clients running over slow links.

You can therefore set the Control::automaticCellControl property of the cell control to true if you want the Table class to manage the cellControl property automatically, as follows.

For a text box, the table loads the text box with the value of the current cell. When the text box is changed, the table cell is updated and the Table class change event is called. All events are still called if they are defined, but they are not generally needed.
For a combo box, the table sets the combo box listIndex property using the text of the current cell. If a new combo box entry is selected, the table cell text is updated and the Table class change event is called.

When the automaticCellControl property of the cell control is set to true, arrow keys can be used to step to other cells for a text box or combo box in a table. If the caret is at the beginning of the text, the left arrow key steps to the prior cell. If the caret is on the top line, the up arrow key steps to the prior row. If the caret is at the end of the text, the right arrow key steps to the next row. If the caret is on the last line of the text, the down arrow key steps to the next row.

In addition, pressing the Alt key and an arrow key performs the requested action, regardless of where the caret is placed.

The automaticCellControl property is currently ignored for any control type other than a combo box or text box. In addition, the automaticCellControl property has no meaning unless the control is assigned to a Table control as a cellControl property. For more details, see Chapter 2 of the JADE Encyclopaedia of Classes.