Disable backspace key in a Richfaces application

If you want disable the Backspace key in your JSF Richfaces application put this in your view:

<rich:hotKey key="backspace" handler="return false;" disableInInput="true"/>

This will register a jQuery Hotkey handler for the document. The handler is not reqistered for input elements because in input fields you need the backspace . Tested for FF3 and IE6.

Then I found out that the following snippet doesn’t work:

<rich:hotKey key="backspace"
             disableInInput="true"
             handler="alert('Backspace is disabled'); return false;" />

The Browser open the alert box and go to the previous page (in background?!). But there is a fix for that:

<rich:hotKey key="backspace"
             disableInInput="true"
             handler="alert('Backspace is disabled'); event.stopPropagation(); event.preventDefault(); return false;" />

The event variable is available in the handler function (see org.richfaces.renderkit.html.HotKeyRenderer method doEncodeEnd).