Accelerator Key on Drop-Down List Box on Web Page May Not Work (288832)

The information in this article applies to:

Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows NT 4.0 SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows Millennium Edition SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows 98 SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows 95 SP 1
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 for Windows 2000 SP 1

This article was previously published under Q288832

SYMPTOMS

If you choose a language other than your system locale as your default input local, when you visit a Web site that has a drop-down list box, you cannot press a letter on the keyboard to see the entries that begin with that letter. For example, if a drop-down list box contains a list of languages, you cannot press F to see the languages that begin with the letter "F".

In this configuration, you must scroll through the list by using the mouse or the DOWN ARROW key.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs because Mshtml.dll attempts to change the case of the first letter of each item in the list. Because the input locale is different from the system locale, the returned values do not match the list.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Internet Explorer version 5.5. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

267954 How to Obtain the Latest Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date        Time   Version      Size       File name   Platform
   ---------------------------------------------------------------
   03/28/2001  15:17  5.50.4522.1  1,371,408  Mshtml.dll  Intel

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, the author of the Web page can code the options in the SELECT list using all lowercase letters.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article. This problem was first corrected in Internet Explorer version 5.5 Service Pack 2.

Modification Type:	Minor	Last Reviewed:	9/23/2005
Keywords:	kbHotfixServer kbQFE kbenv kbfix kbIE550preSP2fix kbprb KB288832