wxPython: how to disable all accelerators temporarily?

Question

How can I temporarily disable all accelerators in a wxPython app?

For example, I have a special TextCtrl that I want to use to record a single keypress, and I don't want that keypress to be treated like an accelerator. While that widget has focus I want to disable all accelerators.

On the wxPython mailing list it was suggested I bind EVT_UPDATE_UI to all the menu ids and enable or disable the event based on what widget has focused. That implies I have to know all my menu ids, but I do not. This is for an application that lets users define their own menu items and potentially their own accelerators.

Answer 1

To disable the accelerators you can set the accelerator table to the predifined wx.NullAcceleratorTable

ctrl.SetAcceleratorTable(wx.NullAcceleratorTable)

I've done this to permanently disable the accelerator table in frames, and I assume if you want to do this temporarily, you could just swap the tables as needed.

Answer 2

If you want to disable accelerator keys, SetAcceleratorTable does work e.g. here I use SetAcceleratorTable to disable accelerator keys, to disable shortcut keys is bit difficult, i am using a hacky way of changing all menu texts, but top menu still opens on alt-m but rest are disabled.

Aletrnatively i think you can catch EVT_CHAT/EVT_KEY_UP for frame and its child and easily block events, but there you will need to be careful.

import wx

class MainFrame(wx.Frame):
    def __init__(self):
        wx.Frame.__init__(self, style=wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE|wx.WS_EX_PROCESS_UI_UPDATES,
                    parent=None,size=(400,300))
        self._setMenu()
        self.Show()
        self._menuTextMap = {}
        self.btn = wx.Button(self, -1, "Disable Accel")
        self.btn.Bind(wx.EVT_BUTTON, self._toggleAccel)

    def _enableMenuShortcuts(self, enable):
        if enable and not self._menuTextMap:
            return

        def enableMenu(menuItem, i=-1):
            if i==-1:#item
                text = menuItem.GetText()
            else:#menu
                text = self.menuBar.GetLabelTop(i)

            if enable:
                print text,
                newText = self._menuTextMap[text]
                print newText
            else:
                newText = text.replace('&','')+" disabled"
                self._menuTextMap[newText] = text

            if i:
                menuItem.SetText(newText)
            else:
                self.menuBar.SetLabelTop(i,newText)

        for i in range(self.menuBar.GetMenuCount()):
            menu = self.menuBar.GetMenu(i)
            enableMenu(menu, i)
            for menuItem in menu.GetMenuItems():
                enableMenu(menuItem)

    def _toggleAccel(self, event):
        self.accelOn = not self.accelOn
        if self.accelOn:
            self.SetAcceleratorTable(self.aTable)
            self._enableMenuShortcuts(True)
            self.btn.SetLabel("Disable Accel")
        else:
            self.SetAcceleratorTable(wx.NullAcceleratorTable)
            self._enableMenuShortcuts(False)
            self.btn.SetLabel("Enable Accel")
        #self.menuBar.SetAcceleratorTable(wx.NullAcceleratorTable)

    def _setMenu(self):
        self.menuBar = wx.MenuBar()

        myMenu= wx.Menu()
        accelList = []

        for i in range(9):
            ID = wx.NewId()
            myMenu.Append(ID, "Item &%s"%(i+1))
            wx.EVT_MENU(self, ID, self._onMenu)
            accelList.append((wx.ACCEL_CTRL, ord('A')+i, ID))

        self.menuBar.Append(myMenu, "&My Menu")
        self.SetMenuBar( self.menuBar)
        self.accelOn=True
        self.aTable = wx.AcceleratorTable(accelList)
        self.SetAcceleratorTable(self.aTable);

    def  _onMenu(self, event):
        item = self.menuBar.GetMenu(0).FindItemById(event.GetId())
        wx.MessageBox("Menu -> %s"%(item.GetItemLabel(),))

app = wx.PySimpleApp()
app.SetTopWindow(MainFrame())
app.MainLoop()

You said EVT_UPADTE_UI may work if you know all ids, for that you can just loop thru all menu items

for i in range(self.menuBar.GetMenuCount()):
    menu = self.menuBar.GetMenu(i)
    enableMenu(menu, i)
    for menuItem in menu.GetMenuItems():
        enableMenu(menuItem)