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User Interface Event Reference |
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This section describes how the user interface responds to keyboard accelerators, mouse actions, and toolbar buttons you invoke when using Zed. |
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Zed responds to a number of user interface events to invoke operations in the editor. There are keyboard accelerators that invoke operations based on a particular keyboard combination. Mouse actions, including mouse clicks and mouse movement, also initiate certain kinds of actions. Finally, in the application edition, there are a collection of toolbars whose buttons act as aliases for menu items appearing on the frame menu.
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Keyboard Accelerators |
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Zed supports many of the common keyboard accelerators used by other applications, plus a number of fixed key bindings specific to Zed, plus others that can be customized using the assignments on the template configuration dialog.
| Menu keys |
Zed accepts the following keyboard accelerators as equivalents to menu items from the File menu, Edit menu, and Window menu. These key bindings are fixed in the sense of not being rebindable through the template configuration dialog.
File menu accelerators:
Edit menu accelerators:
Window menu accelerators:
| Custom keys |
Zed uses a few custom key bindings that are fixed in the sense of not being rebindable through the template configuration dialog.
Typing Shift+Insert allows the user to apply a named template. The named templates are typically used to create additional elements in the content of an expression.
The list of named templates can be found in the MathML Element Reference arranged according to the MathML element they create.
Typing Ctrl+Shift+Insert allows the user to assign a value for any MathML attribute that is appropriate for the element encoding the current expression. The user is first prompted for the name of the attribute, then prompted for the value of the attribute.
See the MathML Element Reference for a complete list of the attribute applicable for each MathML element.
Typing Ctrl+& allows the user to insert a named MathML entity that encodes a particular character into the current expression. The user is prompted for the name of the entity.
See the MathML 2.0 Recommendation for a complete list of the available entity definitions in MathML.
Typing Ctrl+Q acts as a keyboard modifier for the next template operation, modifying the action so that the usual template precedence is ignored, and the template is applied exactly to the current expression. Under normal circumstances, the template precedence should give a reasonable result for the application of the template in the context of the current expression; using this modifier key is a means of overriding the template precedence to control exactly how the template is applied.
If any action other than a template invocation follows this keyboard modifier, it is ignored and discarded.
Typing Alt+Z raises the document context menu without the need to use the mouse.
| Template keys |
Zed supports a general mechanism for associating arbitrary keyboard accelerators with named templates and other special editing operations. Given the number of such key bindings and the ability to reconfigure these assignments, the paragraphs below merely list the keyboard accelerators in the default configuration, with pointers to more complete details contained in other sections.
Cursor movement accelerators:
Accelerators for token elements:
Delete operation accelerators:
Arithmetic template accelerators:
Logic template accelerators:
Relation template accelerators:
Associative operator accelerators:
Nary operator accelerators:
Array operator accelerators:
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Mouse Actions |
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Zed uses mouse actions to position the expression cursor, to initiate drag and drop operations, to raise the document context menu, and to indicate the current focus window.
| Drag and Drop |
Zed provides drag and drop support according to the standard conventions for executing such operations. That is, when the left button is pressed within the extent of the current expression, a drag operation is initiated as soon as the mouse is moved outside the extent of the current expression. Once the drag operation is initiated, moving the mouse selects the target of the drop operation, and releasing the left mouse button initiates the drop operation, assuming the target accepts the data. Dropping an expression on a Zed window initiates a paste operation in the target window, and supports data in both MathML (using the plain text clipboard format) and HTML clipboard formats. Dropping file icons from other applications will also cause Zed to open the associated files.
| Drag to Select |
Pressing the left mouse button outside the extent of the current expression initiates a drag to select operation. That is, as the mouse is moved, a rectangle is defined using the initial and final points of the movement of the mouse while it is pressed, and that rectangle is used to set the current expression.
| Click to Select |
Releasing the left mouse button without moving the mouse, either inside or outside the extent of the current expression, initiates a click to select operation. That is, the point where the mouse is clicked is used to select the smallest expression whose extent contains the point.
| Extended Selection |
Holding down the Shift key while pressing the left mouse button initiates an extended selection operation. That is, the current expression is combined with the point where the mouse is clicked to select a range of child elements of a parent element, if a parent element is available that allows such selection.
| Context menu |
Zed responds to the release of the right mouse button to raise the document context menu, as is now standard practice among many applications. In the application edition of Zed, all of the items on the context menu are duplicated on the frame menu, to make them more obviously available to the user.
| Focus Window |
When the mouse moves outside the current window and another window is selected by clicking the mouse, the old window is said to lose the focus, and the new window is said to gain the focus, and to become the focus window. A Zed window indicates whether or not it is the focus window by the color of the expression cursor: a window with the focus has the expression cursor in black, while a window without the focus has the expression cursor in gray. Zed responds to gaining or losing the focus by changing the color appropriately.
In addition to changing the color of the expression cursor, Zed responds to gaining the focus by showing all of the active palette windows. When Zed loses the focus, it hides all of the active palette windows.
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Toolbar Buttons |
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The application edition of Zed provides four toolbars to give access to commands you may use often. The toolbars can be activated or deactivated by using the menu items on the Toolbar menu. The state of the toolbars is saved between sessions.
| Format |
The Format toolbar contains buttons and a combo box corresponding to menu items from the Format menu.
| Source |
The Source toolbar contains buttons corresponding to menu items from the Edit menu and Source menu.
