I would like to display the user selected help file when pressing F1. This should work on every browser where I test my application. How can I stop the default help file from being displayed?
I would like to display the user selected help file when pressing F1. This should work on every browser where I test my application. How can I stop the default help file from being displayed?
Share Improve this question edited Aug 4, 2010 at 12:26 Andy E 345k86 gold badges480 silver badges450 bronze badges asked Aug 4, 2010 at 12:21 DeveloperDeveloper 8,63643 gold badges136 silver badges249 bronze badges 5- “This should work on every browser where i test my application.” → Which are? – Marcel Korpel Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 12:23
- The help file i supposed to open should work on every browser like Mozila , IE and other. If i press F1 on any browser the default help file should not be displayed – Developer Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 12:27
- I'm assuming a question exists... but I cannot seem to find one. – Stephen Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 12:28
- same concept: stackoverflow.com/questions/3286174/… includes solution for IE – lincolnk Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 13:15
- @lincolnk – Not exactly; see Andy's answer regarding IE – Marcel Korpel Commented Aug 4, 2010 at 18:57
2 Answers
Reset to default 16AFAIK, the default action of the F1 key can be changed in any browser except for IE. The Microsoft teams are usually sticklers for maintaining a consistent user experience across their applications and that's why F1 opens help regardless of returning false. That being said, there's a workaround in the form of the window.onhelp event.
// Internet Explorer
if ("onhelp" in window)
window.onhelp = function () {
showMyHelpInsteadOfTheUsualDefaultHelpWindow(true);
return false;
}
// Others
else {
document.onkeydown = function(evt) {
cancelKeypress = (evt.keyCode == 112);
if (cancelKeypress) { // F1 was pressed
showMyHelpInsteadOfTheUsualDefaultHelpWindow(true);
return false;
}
}
// Additional step required for Opera
document.onkeypress = function(evt) {
if (cancelKeypress)
return false;
}
}
"Others" step was adapted from a deleted answer, which was adapted from another answer which, in turn, was adapted from another answer.
Actually, you can cancel the native Help in IE, by setting event.keyCode to 0:
Tested in IE8 & Chrome
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.7.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
$(function () {
var cancelKeypress = false;
// Need to cancel event (only applies to IE)
if ( "onhelp" in window ) {
// (jQuery cannot bind "onhelp" event)
window.onhelp = function () {
return false;
};
}
$(document).keydown(function ( evt ) {
// F1 pressed
if ( evt.keyCode === 112 ) {
if ( window.event ) {
// Write back to IE's event object
window.event.keyCode = 0;
}
cancelKeypress = true;
// Trigger custom help here
alert("My help");
return false;
}
});
// Needed for Opera (as in Andy E's answer)
$(document).keypress(function ( evt ) {
if ( cancelKeypress ) {
cancelKeypress = false; // Only this keypress
return false;
}
});
});
</script>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>