Java Reference
In-Depth Information
12.4.1
Using keyboard shortcuts
A keyboard shortcut (sometimes called an
accelerator
) is a keystroke combination
(such as
Ctrl+F
) that activates a menu item or other action from the keyboard. If
a menu item has a keyboard shortcut assigned to it, the shortcut is listed next to
the menu item. Some commands have multiple shortcuts assigned to them, but
only one is shown in the editor.
12.4.2
Navigating the interface with the keyboard
You can also use the keyboard to navigate around the interface. Most menu titles,
menu items, buttons, and other components in
IDEA
are equipped with mne-
monics. A
mnemonic
is an underlined letter that appears in the component's text
and reminds you that you can activate the equivalent command by pressing the
Alt
key and the character key of the underlined letter. For instance, you can use a
mnemonic to activate a button or select a checkbox. You can also use the
Ta b
key
to jump between fields in most dialogs and the arrow keys to navigate lists and
select boxes.
12.4.3
Selecting a keymap
IDEA
lets you select one of its built-in keymaps or define your own using one as a
starting point. Either way, you can change your keymap selection at anytime by
executing the
File | Settings
command and choosing the
Keymap
option in the
IDE
Settings
category. This brings up the keymap editor, shown in figure 12.5. To
select your keymap, click its name in the list and click the
Set Active
button. Your
selected keymap is shown in bold and has the (
active
) modified name. Briefly, you
can choose from these built-in keymaps:
Default
—Default keymap on which all other keymaps are based.
■
Mac
OS
X
—Keymap appropriate for Mac
OS X
. The command key is rep-
resented as the
Meta
key.
■
Emacs
—Keymap designed to approximate many of the settings of the
popular
UNIX
editor Emacs. Note that this isn't a full emulation of Emacs;
this setting affects only the keymap, not the behavior of the editor.
■
Visual Studio
—Keymap configured to match that of Microsoft's Visual Studio.
■
If you're an aficionado of the
UNIX
editor vi (you know who you are),
never fear. Due to vi's command mode/editor mode nature, no vi key-
map is provided with
IDEA
; but a third-party plugin is available that will
do the trick. See http://www.intellij.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/VimPlugin
for details.
TIP
