[Tree view] Possibility of using right arrow to reach a secondary action / context menu on tree items

[alina-jacob]

Acceptance criteria

The webMethod's API studio team is interested in having a context/overflow menu in a tree view item, to allow the addition of new folders, deletions, renaming, etc.

To add an overflow menu or right click context menu as a child of the tree view node, we have been exploring using right arrow to provide access to an overflow menu inside a node.

For end nodes, this would seem to be conflict-free, since right arrowing on an end node has no current action.
For a parent node, right arrow has an action. However, right arrow on an open parent node has an action which I would call a redundant action. All it does is move to the first child node of the parent, which can also be accomplished with a down arrow.

Current interaction
Right arrow:

• When focus is on a closed node, opens the node; focus does not move.
• When focus is on a open node, moves focus to the first child node.
• When focus is on an end node, does nothing.

Proposed interaction
Right arrow:

• When focus is on a closed node, opens the node; focus does not move.
• When focus is on a open node, moves focus to the secondary action, if one exists.
• When focus is on an end node, moves focus to the secondary action, if one exists.

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Important links:

• Getting a pulse from w3c here.
• Figma file

[Kritvi-bhatia17]

The best way to experience the proposed interaction is through the Monday tool, where it has been implemented effectively, making it easy to explore and interact with.

[github-actions]

Thank you for submitting a feature request. Your proposal is open and will soon be triaged by the Carbon team.

If your proposal is accepted and the Carbon team has bandwidth they will take on the issue, or else request you or other volunteers from the community to work on this issue.

[mbgower]

I opened a ticket with the APG on this. No conclusive response.
w3c/aria-practices#3217

[mbgower]

@Kritvi-bhatia17

The best way to experience the proposed interaction is through the Monday tool, where it has been implemented effectively, making it easy to explore and interact with.

Can you provide instructions or a more precise link to where it is demonstrated there? i did not see a tree when I poked around for a few minutes.

[Kritvi-bhatia17]

Hi @mbgower! Apologies, please try this link. If it’s still not working (maybe due to permission issues), I’ve attached a screen recording for reference. Let me know if you need any further clarification!

Screen.Recording.2025-03-11.at.5.13.46.PM.mov