In an effort to improve usability on my site I am redesigning a lot of my forms in my modules. One thing I wanted to do to set the focus on the top entry element and make the Update button the default when you push enter. A lot of modules handle this but my own didn't and I lost a few hours fighting ASP.NET so I thought I would share this.

Firstly, to all mod developers - please make sure your forms use these 2 features in the names of accessibility and usability.

There seem to be some odd quirks with how to implement this programatically. By trial and error the following works for me (in FF 3.5.3 and IE 8 - not tested anything else). Some things worked in IE but not in FF but this method works in both (if you find an easier way let me know!)

SetFocus

• Added to PageLoad
• Page.form.DefaultFocus = txtTextboxName.ClientID;     //http://imar.spaanjaars.com/QuickDocId.aspx?quickdoc=374
   

DefaultButton

• Despite MSDN documentation claiming that "all buttons that support IButtonHandler except LinkButton work", the LinkButton DOES work afterall.
• Wrap buttons in a panel and set -  asp:Panel ID="panButtons" class="buttonpanel" runat="server" DefaultButton="cmdUpdate"   (IE works without this)

Bizarely even with the above the behaviour is sporadic and sometimes does not work - I think it's something to do with client-side rendering in the browser but its better than it was!

Entrepreneur

PokerDIY Tournament Manager - PokerDIY Tournament Manager<
PokerDIY Game Finder - Mobile Apps powered by DNN
PokerDIY - Connecting Poker Players