Why does the default enter button not work in some browsers?

Question

Are there any suggestions out there for setting a default enter button that can work not just in IE but in Firefox, Chrome, Safari and so on. I've got a number of panels with the default button set but when I hit enter in a non ie browser it just defaults to the first link on the page.

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You could write a bit of javascript that checks which button it is that is pressed - if it was the enter key, carry out your desired action.

Check for enter with something like:

function checkEnter()
{
if(event)
{
if(evnet.keyCode == 13) //ur code
}
else if(evt)
{
if(evt.keyCode == 13) //ur code
}
}

Answer 2

I've provided 2 examples here, the first one using jQuery while the second uses old school javascript.

jQuery

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.3/jquery.min.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt; 
<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
    $("document").ready(function(){
        $(".searchBox").keypress(function(e){
         if (e.keyCode == 13)
          //add code here

        });
    });
</script>

<div class="searchBox">
    <input type="text" name="searchText"/>
    <input type="submit" value="search now" />
</div>

Pure javascript

I've done this before using the "onkeypress" action on a div that surrounds the form. This was tested in IE7, Firefox3, and Chrome.

here's an example:

<div id="searchBox" onkeypress="return clickButton(event,'btnSearch')">
    <input name="searchText" type="text" id="searchText"  />
    <input type="button" name="btnSearch" value="Search" id="btnSearch" onClick="SubmitAction()" /> 
</div>


<script type="text/javascript" language="javascript"> 
    function SubmitAction()
    {
        alert('button clicked');
    }

    function clickButton(e, btId){ 
          var bt = document.getElementById(btId);      
          if (typeof bt == 'object'){ 
                if(navigator.appName.indexOf("Netscape")>(-1)){ 
                      if (e.keyCode == 13){ 
                            bt.click(); 
                            return false; 
                      } 
                } 
                if (navigator.appName.indexOf("Microsoft Internet Explorer")>(-1)){ 
                      if (event.keyCode == 13){ 

                            bt.click();
                            event.cancelBubble = true; 
                            return false; 
                      } 
                } 
          } 
    }
</script>

You may have to edit this to make it fully compatible across all browsers but you should get the idea from it. Essentially any keypress while this div is focussed will call the clickButton() function. As mentioned by other answers the e.keyCode of 13 represents the Enter keypress.