How do we make key bindings for a JFrame regardless of what's in focus in the frame?
I already looked at this question: How do you make key bindings for a java.awt.Frame?
I tried setting the input map for the root pane of the JFrame, but it doesn't work when the focus is on a JTextArea even though editable is false.
What's the easiest way to make key bindings work across an entire JFrame?
I tried setting the input map for the root pane of the JFrame, but it doesn't work when the focus is on a JTextArea even though editable is false.
Correct. If a component has focus and implements the same binding then that binding will have preference.
If you don't want that binding to be applicable for the text area then you need to remove the binding from the text area.
Read the section from the Swing tutorial on How to Use Key Bindings for explanations of the various InputMaps that you can use and for an example on how to remove a binding.