How to: Set Access Keys for ASP.NET Web Server Controls

An access key (also known as a hot key) allows users to press the ALT key plus another key to jump to a specific control on the page without using the mouse.

You can set an access key on a specific control, such as a TextBox or ListBox control. Alternatively, you can set an access key for a Label control, and then specify that the Label control is associated with another control. This approach enables you to use the Label control as a caption, allowing you to indicate the access key with an underlined letter in the label text.

To set an access key for a specific ASP.NET Web server control

• Set the control's AccessKey property to the letter or number that you want to use with ALT key as a keyboard shortcut.

  For example, to set a control's access key to ALT+S, set the control's AccessKey property to S.

  Note

  Some ALT-key sequences might be reserved in the browser. For example, in Internet Explorer, ALT+F opens the File menu. The browser determines whether to give precedence to your ALT-key sequence or to the brower's reserved keys.

To set an access key by using a Label control

1. Add a Label control to the page to act as a caption for the control that you want to put focus on with an access key.

2. In a Label control, set the following properties:

   • AccessKey    Set this property to the letter or number to use with the ALT key, such as S to support ALT+S.

   • AssociatedControlID   Set this property to the ID of the control to set the focus on when the ALT-key sequence is pressed.

   • Text   Optionally, use HTML to add an underline or other indicator to the Text property.

   The following code example shows the markup for a Label control and a TextBox control. The Label control displays a caption for the TextBox control, with the letter L underlined to indicate that the access key for the text box is ALT+L.

   Security Note
   This example has a text box that accepts user input, which is a potential security threat. By default, ASP.NET Web pages validate that user input does not include script or HTML elements. For more information, see Script Exploits Overview.

   <asp:Label ID="Label1" runat="server" 
     AccessKey="L"  
     AssociatedControlID="TextBox1" 
     Text="<u>L</u>ast name: ">
   </asp:Label>&nbsp;
   <asp:TextBox ID="TextBox1" runat="server"></asp:TextBox>
   

   Note

   Setting focus by using an access key from a Label control requires that client scripting is enabled in the browser.

See Also

Concepts

Tab Order, Focus, and Access Keys in ASP.NET Web Server Controls