Tab Order isn't working properly

[Former Community Member]

I can't get my tab order to work properly and would also like to know how to skip certain objects that I don't want in my tab sequence.



I have fields with names up to 20 characters or so, wondering if that could be part of the problem.



I noticed a post where Chris from Adobe told someone they could edit the Traversal tags in XML source, so I took a look to see what I had there.



To my surprise, the tags were what I wanted but the behavior is incorrect. I have checked the naming of my fields to insure I didn't name fields differently from their labels.



I'm a newbie but very disappointed. Just running 30 day trial on version 7 but not thinking it is worth the price if this is how it is going to function.



Anybody have any idea what could cause this problem?



I also noticed the XML had Traversal tags for radio buttons within an exclusive group for one group that I had originally created as individual buttons, then grouped after they were on the form.



I did create groups and subforms in the heirarchy to apply structure to a fairly complex form. Could this be part of my problem?



To skip objects I just edited the Traversal tags to skip to fields I wanted so now multiple objects traverse to the same tags. The ones I edited are not the ones with the incorrect actions though, and it was happening prior to my editing anything, so it isn't the editing that messed up the order.

[Former Community Member]

David, the tab order feature doesn't work so you will have to edit the XML. Make sure you notice the traverse tags on the subform. There is a property called operation="first" that is what sets the traversal when the tab enters the subform. You need to make sure that it points to your first field. Also, notice that designer uses traverse for tabbing and for screen reading. That means you MUST set traverse for every text field. Sucks. To stay out of trouble don't set traverse until you are really done with everything. And, try to keep the traverse order the same as your hierarchy. It seems that things get screwed up when things are switched in the Hierarchy.

-Nissan

SmartDoc Technologies

[Former Community Member]

Nissan,

Thanks for the response, I did move some items around in the hierarchy, which apparently could have been the source of the original problem. However, I have too remaining dilemas/issues/questions for those interested in understanding why tabs are so disfunctional:



1. I checked the XML and the Traverse tags are what I want, but not how the tab order is behaving? What could be causing this??



2. I selected all the fields I wanted from the form, copied them and pasted onto a new form, and still had tab order problem. I was hoping whatever got messed up would be restablished correctly by pasting them in the new form. Anybody got an idea what could be copied that tweaks the tab order?



-David

[Former Community Member]

David,

Did you look at the traverse tags on the subform level with operation = "first" ?

-Nissan