Sortable Col Headers: kb activation sometimes doesn't work

jrichview

Has anyone run into problem where you can tab through sortable column headers but ENTER key sometimes does not cause the re-sort on the currently focused column?

jrichview

More Information: This appears to be a problem mainly for Accessibility. If a user (such as a blind person using JAWS reader) tabs through a screen, the columns are normally sortable via keyboard.

However, if the grid is part of a section of content that had been disabled, then when it is re-enabled the keyboard sorting no longer works. This happens for example when
you put a grid inside a div of a tab control (http://api.jqueryui.com/1.8/tabs/) or a jquery UI modal dialog is popped up over the screen (http://api.jqueryui.com/1.8/dialog/#option-modal)

So maybe some keyboard hook needs to get re-enabled?

This may sound sort of obscure, but it's a huge problem for using DataTables in our project for a state agency which requires accessibility. We chose DataTables because of it's advertised accessibility features, and we're in the process of trying to pass final approval, and this issue is a major roadblock.

Would greatly appreciate any assistance....

jrichview

Update: The problem on one of the pages had nothing to do with disabled or tabs. It turned out that this caused the problem:

    <button id="createReview" class="addButton" title="Create Review">Create Review</button>

There is no HTML form, but still you have to include: type="button" or it gets treated as a submit button. Not sure why that interfered with ENTER key on grid columns, but this fixed the problem at least on one page:

    <button id="createReview" type="button" class="addButton" title="Create Review">Create Review</button>