# tabIndex on a perspective drop down causes strange focus behaviour

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/tabindex-on-a-perspective-drop-down-causes-strange-focus-behaviour/94755>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Tags:** perspective\
**Created:** [August 16, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/tabindex-on-a-perspective-drop-down-causes-strange-focus-behaviour/94755 "2024-08-16T15:54:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![electricschmidt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@electricschmidt](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/electricschmidt)\
**Post date:** [August 16, 2024, 3:54pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/tabindex-on-a-perspective-drop-down-causes-strange-focus-behaviour/94755/1 "2024-08-16T15:54:06Z")

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I've added a `tabIndex` to a perspective dropdown component. This component is tabbed to in the correct order but upon receiving focus this way pressing the up/down arrow keys don't cause the dropdown to open.

When rendered in the browser it seems that instead of using the `<select>` component the IA dropdowns are actually just various divs and labels and as far as I can tell the component that requires focus for the arrow key behaviour to work is the `<div>` with `tabIndex=0` seen here:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/e/6/e669050b36fb8bfbe29d47c7b15ac0f0143d606e.png)

I'm not sure if this is intended behaviour but it is causing me issues. I have an idea for a work around if anybody knows of a way to cause the dropdown to open through scripting? (I can add a onKeypress event to the parent div that is actually getting focus)

Alternatively does anybody know any other way around this issue?