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Keyboard shortcuts in the Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

By Kathy Larson posted 11-07-2023 09:13

  

by Jonke Korzelius

We are excited to share with you an enhancement in the IDE. In our continuous effort to improve your development experience we have introduced a set of convenient keyboard shortcuts. These shortcuts will empower you to navigate and execute actions swiftly, making your development workflow even more efficient. 

Keyboard combinations explained 

With the new keyboard shortcuts, you can:

  • Navigate to the U-Bar: Quickly jump to the Main U-Bar with a simple keyboard combination, Alt+D. 

  • Close the current or all Editor tabs: Easily close the current, Ctrl+F4 or all, Ctrl+Shift+F4, Editor tabs without having to reach for the mouse. This will save you time and helps keep your workspace clean and organized. 

  • Navigate between Editor tabs: Seamlessly switch between different Editor tabs using intuitive keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Tab, for next, and Ctrl+Shift+Tab, for previous. 

  • Compile the current object: Speed up your development process by compiling the current object with a keystroke, Ctrl+F7. 

  • Test the current component: Effortlessly initiate a test, Ctrl+F5, of the current component without leaving your keyboard. With this shortcut, you can quickly verify the behavior of your components as you go, ensuring efficient development and testing cycles. 

  • Compile and Test the current object: the powerful combination, Ctrl+Shift+F7. 

  • Comment or Uncomment code: in our Code Editors you can use Ctrl+K for comment or Ctrl+Shift+K to uncomment. You can find more in an earlier blog on this feature. 

  • Uppercase or Lowercase code fragments: use a keyboard combination to change the casing of a selected word or code fragment. Ctrl+U to upper, Ctrl+Shift+U to lower. 

  • Refresh the current Editor: Use F5, like in most tools, to refresh the current Editor tab. 

  • Message Frame: super handy for opening the Message Frame from anywhere, use Ctrl+M like always. 

Userkeys section 

The IDE uses the [userkeys] section in your usys.ini configuration file where we have added a mapping to an action identifier, defining a key combination. You can compare this to how menu accelerators work, which you will also find in your usys.ini file currently. The Uniface IDE uses menu accelerators in Menus in our ‘More Editors’ components and in your Debugger. 

You can change the key combination to your liking, do not change the identifier otherwise the IDE cannot handle the shortcut. In an earlier Blog we explained how you can use the Userkeys section to define shortcut keys for your application, especially when components do not use Menus. 

Once you have installed a recent patch, your usys.ini file will be updated with this section: 

[USERKEYS]
; SHORTCUT KEYS IDE: ACTION=KEY_COMBINATION. YOU CAN CHANGE THE KEY_COMBINATION TO YOUR LIKING, THE ACTION IS FIXED.
NAV.UBAR=ALT+D
NAV.MESSAGE.FRAME=CTRL+M
EDITOR.REFRESH=F5
EDITOR.CLOSE=CTRL+F4
EDITOR.CLOSE.ALL=CTRL+SHIFT+F4
EDITOR.NEXT=CTRL+TAB
EDITOR.PREVIOUS=CTRL+SHIFT+TAB
BUILD.COMPILE=CTRL+F7
BUILD.TEST=CTRL+F5
BUILD.COMPILE.TEST=CTRL+SHIFT+F7
CODE.COMMENT=CTRL+K
CODE.UNCOMMENT=CTRL+SHIFT+K
CODE.UPPERCASE=CTRL+U
CODE.LOWERCASE=CTRL+SHIFT+U

Note that if you have used the patch installer and not the edist you will have to manually add or copy this section into your ini file. 

We hope you like this addition to the IDE. Let us know if you have further Keyboard requests. In our Roadmap for 2024, we plan to add full Keyboard navigation to the IDE as requirements for Accessibility are getting stricter. 

Also related to Keyboard Navigation, have you seen the additional Keyboard actions we have built in the Resource Browsers? For example, you can Select All with Ctrl+A and take advantage of various combinations of Shift+Arrow+Down, Shift+Arrow+Up, Shift+Home or Shift+End to select the Objects you want to Insert using just the Keyboard. 

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