#15985: Allow BMenuItem shorcuts without the B_COMMAND_KEY modifier
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Reporter: Manuel | Owner: stippi
Type: enhancement | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone:
| Unscheduled
Component: User Interface | Version:
| R1/Development
Keywords: B_COMMAND_KEY, modifiers, shortcuts | Blocked By:
Blocking: | Platform: All
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There is no way to create a shorcut for a BMenuItem without the
B_COMMAND_KEY modifier because the BMenuItem constructor always OR'es the
B_COMMAND_KEY mask to the modifier argument. This prevents the use of the
Pause key, F1, F2, F3..., and many others by themselves, without
modifiers, as keyboard shortcuts. For example, I am porting my NES
emulator to Haiku, and on Linux and Windows I use the Pause key to pause
the emulation, and F11 to switch to full screen.
The documentation states that B_COMMAND_KEY is assumed in absence of
modifiers, so this behaviour can not be changed without breaking
compatibility with existing applications that do not explicitly specify
B_COMMAND_KEY as modifier when constructing a BMenuItem.
I think the usability loss is very serious and, as far the desired
shortcut is not used by the system, for input focus change or navigation
control, the programmer should be able to specify shortcuts without
modifier keys or with modifiers not including B_COMMAND_KEY.
The BWindow::_HandleKeyDown member function takes care of detecting all
those cases before handling BMenuItem shortcuts, which is the last thing
it does before returning. So I think it's safe to allow shorcuts without
modifiers and with modifier keys not including B_COMMAND_KEY without
breaking compatibility with existing sofware.
I propose to add a new modifier mask, for example B_NO_COMMAND_KEY to
instruct BMenuItem::BMenuItem to not do "modifiers | B_COMMAND_KEY", and
to change BWindow::_HandleKeyDown to make it recognice shortcuts without
"(modifiers & B_COMMAND_KEY) != 0".
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Ticket URL: <https://dev.haiku-os.org/ticket/15985>
Haiku <https://dev.haiku-os.org>
The Haiku operating system.
