Keyboard: lock() method

Limited availability

This feature is not Baseline because it does not work in some of the most widely-used browsers.

Experimental: This is an experimental technology
Check the Browser compatibility table carefully before using this in production.

Secure context: This feature is available only in secure contexts (HTTPS), in some or all supporting browsers.

The lock() method of the Keyboard interface returns a Promise that resolves after enabling the capture of keypresses for any or all of the keys on the physical keyboard. This method can only capture keys that are granted access by the underlying operating system.

If lock() is called multiple times then only the key codes specified in the most recent call will be locked. Any keys locked by a previous call to lock() are unlocked.

Syntax

js
lock()
lock(keyCodes)

Parameters

keyCodes Optional

An Array of one or more key codes to lock. If no keycodes are provided all keys will be locked. A list of valid code values is found in the UI Events KeyboardEvent code Values spec.

Return value

A Promise that resolves with undefined when the lock was successful.

Exceptions

AbortError DOMException

Thrown if a new call to lock() is made before the current one has finished.

InvalidAccessError DOMException

Thrown if any key in keyCodes is not a valid key code attribute value.

InvalidStateError DOMException

Thrown if lock() is not called in an active top-level browsing context.

Security

Transient user activation is required. The user has to interact with the page or a UI element in order for this feature to work.

Examples

Capturing all keys

The following example captures all keypresses.

js
navigator.keyboard.lock();

Capturing specific keys

The following example captures the "W", "A", "S", and "D" keys. It captures these keys regardless of which modifiers are used with the key press. Assuming a standard US QWERTY layout, registering "KeyW" ensures that "W", Shift+"W", Control+"W", Control+Shift+"W", and all other key modifier combinations with "W" are sent to the app. The same applies to for "KeyA", "KeyS" and "KeyD".

js
navigator.keyboard.lock(["KeyW", "KeyA", "KeyS", "KeyD"]);

Specifications

Specification
Keyboard Lock
# h-keyboard-lock

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser