Re: User Key Actions - RDi 9.0

On 8/14/2013 8:46 AM, Hammack, Ted wrote:

I've found that the only way I can get user key actions to do anything
is when I check the box to Disable Parsing (in the main LPEX Editor
panel under preferences). Seems that I shouldn't have to do this though,
you would think that the user should be able to customize their keyboard
whether parsing is set on or off (and I need to keep it on, I loose a
whole bunch of features when parsing is disabled).

Hi Ted!
I have 3 user key actions that I use pretty much every day, and I have
Parsing turned on.

a-s splitAndShift
a-s-s split
c-a-f findSelection

When I am able to get newline to work on my enter key (again, with
parsing disabled), it doesn't go to the leftmost position of the prefix
area. It only goes to the leftmost position of the non-prefix (edit)
area. The goal was to get my cursor to the area where I can enter a
prefix command, using a single keystroke. Seems like at this point, I
would need to somehow create a keyboard macro that does both Newline and
PrefixHome, but I don't know how to set this up in RDi.

Anyone out there have a solution for this?

prefixHome only works if the cursor is already in the prefix area. It
won't move the cursor from the editing area to the prefix area. You can
test it out by opening up a source member, enter a C spec, press Escape
to get to the command line and try the command 'action prefixHome'
(without the quotes). Press Escape to get back to the editing area and
you'll see the cursor is in the same place.

Now try 'action newLine' and see what happens. The cursor moves down
one line and to the beginning of the text on that line.

Now try these commands one after the other. That is, press Escape, do
both actions, then press Escape to get back to editing. 'action home'
'action left'. The cursor should be in the prefix area. So what you
need is a sequence of actions strung together. Unfortunately, you can't
do that with the User Key Commands dialogue; only one action can be
assigned to a given key.

You could create a User Action with Java, but I haven't done that yet.
The last time I did this sort of thing, it was in Rexx on Code/400.
This is where I chime in about how much I miss Rexx macros.

This probably doesn't help much, but that's where we are. Maybe you
could open an RFE to allow simple strings of editor actions to be strung
together under a single keystroke.
--buck