362894 - [cocoa] Help key (VK_HELP) doesn't open Help

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, defect)

Description

[Stefan [:stefanh]]

On mac, we also use VK_HELP for opening Help in Firefox/SeaMonkey. This key doesn't work anymore - pressing the Help key on your keyboard will instead turn the cursor into a "?" (contextual Help?). This is a regression from the cocoa switch (works in Minefield 20060928 but not in 0929).

Comment 1

[Josh Aas]

The problem here is that the menu system handles the key event - we never send a VK_HELP key down or key press event into gecko.

Comment 2

[Josh Aas]

Right now Cocoa widgets behave like all other Cocoa applications I tested wrt the help key. Cocoa applications are supposed to have the cursor turn into a help cursor and that is it.

Why Cocoa is intent on this behavior I don't know, but it wants to act this way so badly that we don't even get key down events for the help key. The OS intercepts them. There is a way around this, but it would require a bunch of extra code just to support the help key, and I don't think it is worth it for the sake of *not* acting like a cocoa app.

We have had the help key opening the Firefox help on Mac for a while, but I don't think this behavior is the kind of thing that mac users depend on, that we need to maintain. People aren't going to learn to hit that key from other mac apps and they are far more likely to use the help menu item instead of the key.

Recommending invalid resolution.