Whenever I’ve been working in another IDE and then return home to Xojo, as well as giving a little sigh of relief, I also feel a little frustrated at the lack of keyboard shortcuts. We know that some improvements in the IDE create a ton of work for Xojo engineers, energy that I’d imagine most of us would rather was spent on iOS. However, I’d have thought that keyboard shortcuts would be one area that would be good bang for your buck, in terms of the improvement to the end-developer, for the amount of time invested by Xojo engineers.
I thought I’d try and be constructive about this and when I started working on a new Xojo project recently, I kept a list of keyboard shortcuts that I kept finding myself reaching for, but which didn’t exist. Yes, this is probably a Feedback request type of thing but I thought I’d post here first, to see if I’ve left obvious ones off my list or if there are actually shortcuts for some of these. In some cases I’ve offered a suggestion for the keyboard shortcut, but I’m more concerned with getting shortcuts than what they actually are, so if they clash, just ignore it. Anyway, here’s my list of wants:
At the Xojo conference I mentioned this to the developers. There’s a serious lack of keyboard shortcuts. I want ones for adding just about anything "Computer Properties " etc…
[quote=77411:@Brock Nash]At the Xojo conference I mentioned this to the developers. There’s a serious lack of keyboard shortcuts. I want ones for adding just about anything "Computer Properties " etc…
My disappoint with the keyboard shortcuts is much shorter. When I’m debugging, the 3 finger shortcuts they have require two hands. Control-Shift-O is on opposites of the keyboard and I have do let go of the mouse to do it. The single key function buttons like F8 or F11 of Visual Studio are much easier, but I suppose there is some issue with using the function key on Linux or Mac that is the issue?
Hmm, ok having restarted Xojo they are working in the editor but not if you use these shortcuts in the navigator. Also after a number of runs the shortcuts stop working in the editor itself.
It seems to work here, but that was a pretty limited trial run. I’ll work with it some over the few days and see if I can duplicate it. I have noticed that some problems in the IDE tend appear over time as you use it in a session, so that may be what you are seeing that I am not.
Right now I am in xojo all day and tend to not close it at night when I put the laptop to sleep so it could be open for many days. The problem does seem to appear over time but cant figure out exactly when it goes.
For Mac users out there: Remember that for Cocoa Aplications you should be able to define your own shortcuts in the Keyboard preference panel, even if Xojo doesn’t include them itself.
Only works for menu items and not for inexistant functions, though.
I never leave it open in one session nearly that long. I tend to complete a task or feature, get things saved and check it into source control. That tends to keep the IDE fairly fresh.
[quote=77548:@Eduardo Gutierrez de Oliveira]For Mac users out there: Remember that for Cocoa Aplications you should be able to define your own shortcuts in the Keyboard preference panel, even if Xojo doesn’t include them itself.
Only works for menu items and not for inexistant functions, though.[/quote]
This is a good point - I was about to make a shortcut to Analyze the current item (the menu item below Analyze Project) but of course, that is contextual and changes depending on what is selected, so it can’t be done as you have to enter the exact Menu Title.
The standard Ctrl-C, X and V on Windows for copy, cut and paste works very haphazardly in the IDE most times I have to press them twice to make them work. Making these reliable would be a great help!
[quote=77658:@William Koperwhats]Can I add two more?
Goto [the method under the insertion point] - (Shift-F2 - like Visual Studio?)
and Ctrl-Shift-F2 to go Back…[/quote]
This isn’t the same thing, as it’s not a purely keyboard shortcut, but it’s worth mentioning for anyone who doesn’t know - you can Command-doubleclick on a method (or even a property) and Xojo will jump to it.
[quote=77658:@William Koperwhats]
Heck, even the Back/Forward buttons in the main toolbar don’t even have keyboard equivalents that I can find. That just seems like a simple oversight…[/quote]
While we are waiting for Xojo to put these in, one might be able to implement many of these shortcuts using a utility like KeyboardMaestro (for the Mac: I am sure that there is something equivalent for Windows). I find KeyboardMaestro very useful for streamlining many applications where keyboard commands are absent or unintuitive.
I just dropped an F-Bomb (First:)) on it. I’d like to see it for a different reason. A lot of times on Windows the Backspace and Delete keys tend to get “gummed up” where you can’t repeat with it, and you have to repeatedly physically press it. Opening and closing the Find/Error pages seems to clear out whatever is clogged up, although it can get back into that state in a quick hurry.