The user interface is navigable using the keyboard. The Tab key
is used to iterate through the controls in a particular scope (for example,
a dialog or a view and its related icons). To navigate to the main controls
for the Workbench window or to tab out of views that use the Tab key (such
as editors) use Ctrl+Tab.
Menus
Most menus are assigned mnemonics for each
entry which allow you to select them by typing the underlined letter instead
of the mouse. You can also select an item by moving through the menus and
sub-menus with the arrow keys.
The various menus available can be accessed
using the keyboard in the following ways:
- F10 accesses the menus on the main menu bar.
- Shift+F10 pops up the context menu for the current view. (Note: this shortcut
is actually dependent on your window manager, but for most people it should
be Shift+F10.)
- Ctrl+F10 will open the pull down menu for the current view if there is
one. For editors, Ctrl+F10 will open the menu for the marker bar on the left
of the editor area.
- Alt+mnemonic will activate the Workbench menu for a particular entry (e.g.,
Alt+W will bring down the Window menu).
- Microsoft Windows only: Pressing Alt will give focus to the menu bar.
Controls
Mnemonics are assigned to most control
labels such as buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons in dialog boxes, preference
pages, and property pages. To access the control associated with a label,
use the Alt key along with the letter that is underlined in the label.
Navigation Context
Navigation context is saved for
the packages, navigator views, Workbench preferences and properties dialogs.
The expanded state of the tree in the packages and resource views are saved
between Workbench sessions. The selected page for the preferences and properties
dialog is saved between invocations of the dialog but are not saved between
workbench invocations.
Cycling Editors, Views and Perspectives
To switch
between editors, views and perspectives, the workbench provides a cycling
function that is invoked by Ctrl and a function key. All of these cycling
functions recall the last thing selected to allow for rapid cycling back and
forth between two items. The cycling functions are
- Ctrl+F6 - Cycle to Editor
- Ctrl+F7 - Cycle to View
- Ctrl+F8 - Cycle to Perspective
Also, Ctrl+E can be used to activate the editor drop-down, and Ctrl+PageUp
and Ctrl+PageDown can be used for switching between the open editors.
Help system
You can navigate the help system by
keyboard using the following key combinations:
- Pressing Tab inside a frame (page) takes you to the next link, button
or topic node.
- To expand/collapse a tree node, press Right/Left arrows.
- To move to the next topic node, press Down arrow or Tab
- To move to the previous topic node, press Up arrow or Shift+Tab
- To display selected topic, press Enter.
- To scroll all the way up or down press Home or End.
- To go back press Alt+Left arrow; to go forward press Alt+Right arrow.
- To go to the next frame, or toolbar press Ctrl+Tab (Ctrl+F6, if using
Mozilla, or Mozilla based browser).
- To move to previous frame, press Shift+Ctrl+Tab. (Shift-Ctrl+F6, if using
Mozilla, or Mozilla based browser).
- To move to the frame displaying topic content press Alt+K (when using
embedded help browser on Windows, or Internet Explorer).
- To move to Contents tab, press Alt+C
- To move to Search Results tab, press Alt+R
- To move between tabs, press Right/Left arrows.
- To switch view, select a tab and press Enter.
- To switch and move to a view, select a tab and press Up arrow.
- To move to the search entry field, press Alt+S
- To print the current page or active frame, press Ctrl+P.
- To find a string in the current page or active frame, press Ctrl+F (when
using embedded help browser on Windows, or Internet Explorer).
Most labels of controls on help system pop-up dialogs have mnemonics
are assigned to them. To access the control associated with a label, use the
Alt key along with the letter that is underlined.