Shortcuts

Overview

Some components like Dropdown, Command Palette and Tooltip support the display of keyboard shortcuts.

<UDropdown :items="[{ label: 'Edit', shortcuts: ['E'] }]" />

Shortcuts are displayed and styled through the Kbd component.

<template>
  <div class="flex items-center gap-0.5">
    <UKbd>⌘</UKbd>
    <UKbd>K</UKbd>
  </div>
</template>

defineShortcuts

This module provides a defineShortcuts composable that allows you to define keyboard shortcuts in your app really easily.

<template>
  <UModal v-model="isOpen" />
</template>

<script setup lang="ts">
const isOpen = ref(false)

defineShortcuts({
  meta_k: {
    usingInput: true,
    handler: () => {
      isOpen.value = !isOpen.value
    }
  }
})
</script>

usingInput

Prop: usingInput?: string | boolean

By default, usingInput is false, meaning it will only trigger when no input is focused. When set to true, the shortcut will also trigger when any input is focused.

For a more advanced behavior, usingInput can be set to the name of an input, so it only triggers when focusing this specific input.

<template>
  <UInput v-model="query" name="queryInput" />
</template>

<script setup lang="ts">
const query = ref('')

defineShortcuts({
  enter: {
    usingInput: 'queryInput',
    handler: () => {
      // TODO
    }
  }
})
</script>

enter shortcut will only trigger when queryInput is focused.

whenever

Prop: whenever?: WatchSource<Boolean>[]

whenever allows to add constraints on the shortcut triggering behavior. This array can contain Ref<Boolean>, ComputedRef<Boolean> or () => Boolean.

defineShortcuts({
  meta_k: {
    usingInput: true,
    handler: () => { isOpen.value = !isOpen.value }
  },
  escape: {
    usingInput: true,
    whenever: [isOpen],
    handler: () => { isOpen.value = false }
  }
})

escape shortcut will only trigger when isOpen is true.

Simple shortcut

In case the shortcut does not need any config, it can be written as a function.

defineShortcuts({
  '?': () => openHelpModal()
})

useShortcuts

To display shortcuts in your app according to the user's OS, you can use the useShortcuts composable.

<script setup>
const { metaSymbol } = useShortcuts()
</script>

<template>
  <UKbd>{{ metaSymbol }}</UKbd>
</template>

metaSymbol will display either ⌘ on MacOS or Ctrl on any other OS