Proper behavior settings for drop-down value lists FMGo-iPad

January 28Jan 28

This is driving me crazy.

I have a solution (for the iPad, with an external keyboard attached) where users can tab between fields (with and without drop-down menus) with "Go to next object using" Tab and Return checkboxes ticked--that works fine. The problem I'm running into is when in Find mode: When a user chooses a value, they press Return and nothing happens; the Find doesn't "commit." (As an aside, there's no Enter key on the keyboard.) So, what's the Best Practice for iPads so Find will work, but users press Return to tab forward...or should Return be disabled and just trust users not to press return?

January 29Jan 29

On 1/28/2026 at 5:52 PM, 21st Century Man said:
When a user chooses a value, they press Return and nothing happens; the Find doesn't "commit."

Does this also happen in FMP or only in FM Go?

January 29Jan 29

Author

Only in Go.

I was playing with Perplexity earlier this morning and it had this to say:

"In FileMaker Go on iPad, the default behavior of dropdown lists can make it difficult for Return to trigger a find, as pressing Return often just closes the list or moves to the next field. The best practice for enabling a "press Return to find" experience in FileMaker Go is to use a scripted, dedicated search interface rather than relying on direct Find Mode editing in a dropdown list."

I think that would be distracting for the end user, so I'm going to code a button that when tapped, does Perform Find. I'll hide it using "Hide object when" so it only appears while in Find mode.

Edited January 29Jan 29 by 21st Century Man