VirtualKeyboard: show() method

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 show() method of the VirtualKeyboard interface programmatically shows the on-screen virtual keyboard. This is useful when the page needs to implement its own virtual keyboard logic, especially when using the virtualkeyboardpolicy attribute on contenteditable elements as explained in Control the virtual keyboard on contenteditable elements.

This method only works if the currently-focused element is a form control — such as an <input> or <textarea> element — or if the focused element is contenteditable, and the currently-focused element's virtualKeyboardPolicy attribute is set to manual and inputmode isn't set to none.

The show() method always returns undefined and triggers a geometrychange event.

Syntax

js
show()

Parameters

None.

Return value

Undefined.

Example

The code snippet below shows how to use the virtualkeyboardpolicy attribute to prevent the browser from showing the virtual keyboard on click or tap. The code also uses the navigator.virtualKeyboard.show() and navigator.virtualKeyboard.hide() methods to show and hide the virtual keyboard when a button is clicked:

js
<div contenteditable virtualkeyboardpolicy="manual" id="editor"></div>
<button id="edit-button">Edit</button>
<script>
  if ("virtualKeyboard" in navigator) {
    const editor = document.getElementById("editor");
    const editButton = document.getElementById("edit-button");
    let isEditing = false;

    editButton.addEventListener("click", () => {
      if (isEditing) {
        navigator.virtualKeyboard.hide();
        editButton.textContent = "Edit";
      } else {
        editor.focus();
        navigator.virtualKeyboard.show();
        editButton.textContent = "Save changes";
      }

      isEditing = !isEditing;
    });
  }
</script>

Specifications

Specification
VirtualKeyboard API
# dom-virtualkeyboard-show

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also