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When running the following in a notebook (not a deployed CDF file), it can sometimes be annoying that accidentally pressing Shift-Return breaks out of the user interface:

Panel@DynamicModule[{input = ""}, InputField[Dynamic[input], String]]

I would like to know if one can (programmatically) prevent such a cell from being "evaluated" when Shift-Return is pressed, so that the user stays in the InputField instead of being thrown out of it while seeing a new generated cell appear.

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    $\begingroup$ One quick hack is to define a custom evaluator for the cell in which the InputField is, and make it return Null at the end. You can test by setting it to a simple CellEvaluationFunction->(Null& ). $\endgroup$
    – Leonid Shifrin
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 19:19
  • $\begingroup$ @LeonidShifrin I tried that, and it's very close because it doesn't generate a new cell. But it still evaluates silently, increases the history counter and puts the cursor in the next line. $\endgroup$
    – Jens
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 19:24
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    $\begingroup$ No time to do this myself, but one idea is examining the help browser's docked cell which also has an InputField in it. $\endgroup$
    – Szabolcs
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 19:34
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    $\begingroup$ @Szabolcs That sounds like a good idea. Get help from the help browser in an unconventional way... $\endgroup$
    – Jens
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 19:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Jens I briefly looked at it and it seems to be defined as a "front end resource" (not sure what that is). The next step would be searching the installation files for this resource (e.g. even the Find window is a notebook that you can examine---and yes, that has an input field too, maybe we don't need to go to the help browser!) ... Okay, I got to sleep now, I need to catch the Venus transit tomorrow at dawn :-) $\endgroup$
    – Szabolcs
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 19:55

4 Answers 4

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If you notice Mathematica Documentation Center search field is kind of the same thing. And search window from Ctrl-F too. It uses a similar concept to what I'll show. Important thing to know is that EventHandler can track commands from the Mathematica menu. There is an undocumented option HandleShiftReturn and here is a trick I learned from FW:

DynamicModule[{x = ""}, 
  Column[{
    EventHandler[
      InputField[Dynamic[x], String], 
      {{"MenuCommand", "HandleShiftReturn"} :> {},
       {"MenuCommand", "EvaluateCells"} :> {}} (*edit by Kuba, handles Keypad Enter*)
    ], 
    Dynamic[x]
   }]
]

enter image description here

Return works, but Shift-Return does not.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ah, finally: I had been trying to guess what the Menu command for "Evaluate Cells" might be and gave up guessing a while ago... $\endgroup$
    – Jens
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 20:47
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    $\begingroup$ users could be saved a lot of time if all this stuff was documented. $\endgroup$
    – Mike Honeychurch
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 23:56
  • $\begingroup$ @Vitaliy could you please add whatever you know about events for EventHandler as an answer to this question: mathematica.stackexchange.com/questions/6207/…. thanks $\endgroup$
    – Mike Honeychurch
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 0:07
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    $\begingroup$ This also catches Shift+Return but not keypad Return. Is there a way to extend it? $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 1:18
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    $\begingroup$ @Mr.Wizard add {"MenuCommand", "EvaluateCells"} event handler, 47513 $\endgroup$
    – Kuba
    Commented May 22, 2015 at 6:47
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ExpressionCell[Panel@DynamicModule[{input = ""}, InputField[Dynamic[input], String]]]

Mathematica graphics
Content added:

Mathematica graphics

ShiftReturn pressed:

Mathematica graphics

Learned this here.

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  • $\begingroup$ It works! I also combined it with Mike's answer to a related issue and it still worked in that more complicated setting, too. $\endgroup$
    – Jens
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 20:35
  • $\begingroup$ @jens Glad to hear. I still find ExpressionCell a somewhat mysterious function. $\endgroup$
    – Sjoerd C. de Vries
    Commented Jun 5, 2012 at 20:44
  • $\begingroup$ This catches Shift+Return but not keypad Return. Any comment on that? $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Wizard
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 1:17
  • $\begingroup$ @Mr.Wizard Sorry, I'm on a laptop without keypad. Can't test. $\endgroup$
    – Sjoerd C. de Vries
    Commented Jun 6, 2012 at 5:28
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This is just adding a Deployed->True to your output cell, and removing the CellEditDuplicate which ruins everything

CellPrint@
  ExpressionCell[
   Panel@DynamicModule[{input = ""}, 
     InputField[Dynamic[input], String]], "Output",  
   CellEditDuplicate -> False, Deployed -> True];

Actually, with CellEditDuplicate->False should be enough. However, keep Deployed in mind if you use other styles, and so Evaluatable->False

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There appears to be an undocumented InputBoxOptions "TrapEnterKey" which does just that:

InputField[
  Dynamic[x]
, String
, BaseStyle -> InputFieldBoxOptions -> {"TrapEnterKey" -> True}
]
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