HDevelop adheres to well-established conventions and usage patterns regarding
its graphical user interface. Most of the terminology explained here will have
become second nature to most users and may most likely be skimmed over.
Mouse Usage
- click
- A single click with the left mouse button, for example, to mark and select items or to
activate buttons. To select multiple items, hold down the Ctrl key
and click the desired items. To select many items from a list, click the first
item, hold down the Shift key and click the last item. All intermediate
items are then also selected.
- double-click
- Two quick successive clicks with the left mouse button, for example, to open dialogs
of selected items. Double-clicks are mostly shortcuts for single clicks
followed by an additional action.
- right-click
- A single click with the right mouse button to access additional functionality
of the user interface, for example, context-sensitive menus. Clicking the right mouse
button also ends interactive drawing functions in HDevelop.
- drag
- Keeping the left mouse button pressed while moving the mouse and finally
releasing the mouse button. Typically used to move items, resize windows,
select multiple items at once, for example, program lines, or to draw shapes.
- drag-and-drop
- HDevelop supports drag-and-drop of image files, dictionaries, 3D object models, DL models, and HDevelop programs from other
applications. You can, for example, drag an HDevelop program from a file browser and drop it on HDevelop to load it.
- middle mouse button
- With three-button mice, the middle mouse button is used under Linux to paste
text from the clipboard into text fields.
- mouse wheel
- Most recent three-button mice combine the middle mouse button with a scrolling
wheel. HDevelop supports the mouse wheel in many places. The mouse wheel
operates the GUI element under the mouse cursor. Using the mouse wheel you can,
for instance, quickly scroll large program listings, select values from lists
or perform continuous zooming of displayed images. In general, windows that
provide a scroll bar can be quickly scrolled with the mouse wheel. Furthermore,
the values of spinner boxes (text fields that expect numerical data) can be
decremented and incremented with the mouse wheel.
Keyboard Usage
HDevelop is very keyboard-friendly. Most functions of the graphical user
interface that can be operated using the mouse can be accessed from the
keyboard as well. Many of the most important functions are available through
keyboard shortcuts, which are worthwhile memorizing. When programming with
HDevelop, keeping both hands on the keyboard can increase the productivity.
Therefore, many navigational tasks like selecting parameter fields or selecting
values from lists can easily be done using just the keyboard. The most common
keyboard functions are listed in the appendix “Keyboard Shortcuts”.
To make it easier for you to memorize the keyboard shortcuts, many of them
are introduced by a common combination to indicate the context.
For example, many shortcuts related to the graphics window are
introduced by pressing Ctrl+Shift+G followed by another key, for example,
Ctrl+Shift+G,Del clears the graphics window.
Because it is often easier to keep Ctrl+Shift pressed when hitting the
second key the alternative Ctrl+Shift+G,Ctrl+Shift+Del is also
allowed.
Certain key combinations may conflict with keyboard functions of the operating
system or the window manager.
For example, using Ctrl+Alt+Cursor Keys in the graphics window pans the
displayed image while displaying pixel information.
Under Windows it may also change the screen orientation.
See your system documentation on how to disable or change the conflicting key
bindings in this case.
Abbreviations
- BP
- breakpoint
- IC
- insert cursor
- GUI
- graphical user interface
- PC
- program counter
- XLD
- extended line description (see also chapter “Glossary”)