Keyboard Shortcuts

Have new ideas for the next release of IHMC CmapTools and IHMC CmapServer?
We welcome your suggestions and we will carefully consider whether to incorporate them into the software.
tobiaslombacher
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Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by tobiaslombacher »

I suggest to assign keyboard shortcuts to many functions within CMAP. I recently tested Compendium and it is incredible how fast you can create, modify and manipulate concepts with keyboard shortcuts.

Another functionality which is very helpful is the easy is to right-click on a concept and create a new map based on this concept.
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fridemar
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Re: Keyboard Shortcuts / RightClickOnNode

Post by fridemar »

Hello Tobias,
your suggestion for keyboard shortcuts is imho helpful to make this valuable tool even more valuable, especially creating new maps from endnodes. It is a kind of a WikifyingCmaps, which I post as a separate suggestion in this forum.
Last edited by fridemar on Wed Sep 21, 2011 2:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tobiaslombacher
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Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by tobiaslombacher »

I just want to clarify my idea a little bit more because I am not sure if it was understood correctly.

My idea of keyboard shortcuts has explicitly the creation and navigation within the concept map itself in mind. I recently tried to use the cmap tools to scribble the notes of a lecture and I have to state it is way to time consuming to switch all the time between the keyboard and the mouse just to create a new concept.

Regards
Tobias
rcarvajal
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Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by rcarvajal »

@tobiaslombacher:

I agree with you that having shortcuts to create new concepts, new propositions, and linking phrases + concepts would speed up the creation of concept maps. If you want to use only the keyboard then you can use the List View.

The List view displays a concept map as a list of propositions or outline view. Also available is a list of concepts or linking phrases in a Cmap. Great for showing the propositional nature of concept maps. Can also be used to construct a Cmap a concept or proposition at a time without the intervention of the mouse.

The List View icon is located at the right side of the concept map. It looks like a green page.
Rodrigo Carvajal
saskiax
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Joined: Sat May 16, 2009 11:44 am

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by saskiax »

I think keyboard shortcuts are an crucial missing feature in CmapTools. I know there are already some keyboard shortcuts, but they are mostly either standard shortcuts that I'd expect to find in any piece of software (e.g. ctrl+v for paste, etc) or aren't really very useful to me. I'd just like a quick way to move from one node to another in a cmap to edit it, and to create new linked nodes etc. So, for example, if I've just typed a proposition, I should be able to press a key to jump to the concept it is linked to so I can edit that, or I should be able to press a key to create a new concept linked to that proposition. I've discovered that I can move around the map with the arrow keys (although this doesn't select the nodes for editing), I can jump haphazardly from one concept to another using tab, and I can come out of editing mode using escape, but there is no mention of this method of navigation in the help documentation, I had to work it out for myself. So using a rather convoluted method of a combination of arrow keys, tab & the escape key you can just about edit the map using only the keyboard, but it is so complicated that it's often quicker to just use the mouse.

It is inefficient & annoying to have to keep moving from mouse to keyboard constantly, I should be able to accomplish basic editing tasks using just the keyboard. I don't expect to be able to do everything via the keyboard, but the core tasks involved in populating and editing a map should have shortcuts wherever possible. I've used a few other mind-mapping type apps and they all had the kind of keyboard shortcuts I'm describing, so I don't think it's unreasonable to expect this feature to be present in CmapTools, which is otherwise a great little program!
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fridemar
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Another benefit for using kb-shortcuts are macros. EOM

Post by fridemar »

EOM= End of Message
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saskiax
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Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by saskiax »

Another benefit for using kb-shortcuts are macros
That's a good point, fridemar; I use AutoHotkey quite a lot these days, and it'd be great if I could use it more easily with Cmaps. AHK does offer many different ways of interacting with programs in addition to keyboard commands, but keyboard commands are the easiest to script. The more I use cmaps, the more I find that I repeat particular series of actions that could be automated somewhat with a program like AHK. I could attempt to write a script using the currently available functionality of Cmap Tools, but it could get complicated; it would be so much simpler if I had more keyboard commands to play with!
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fridemar
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AutoHotkeyKeyboardShortcutsForCmaps , an example cmap might

Post by fridemar »

Hello saskiax,
if you left a link to one of your cmaps here, this might help
* illustrating the point and
* getting more attention for this user need.

Thank you.
As a workaround you could use the AHK Macrorecorder, that records mouse-events. But I agree, KB-macros would be more convenient.
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mi6
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Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by mi6 »

Let's start a list with missing keyboard shortcuts:
  • F2 for editing all sorts of lables (from concepts, links, etc.) after selecting it on the map or in list view by mouse or keyboard
  • CTRL+V/+C/+X for paste/copy/cut actions
  • SHIFT+ or CTRL+ENTER for leaving the label editing of a concept/link but keeping it selected (instead of or in addition to ESC)
Please continue.
Steven
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Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2009 9:54 am

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by Steven »

Hi,

Yes, please: keyboard shortcuts, at least for creating a new concept linked to the active concept (with and without a linking phrase).

Also, ability to set custom Tab order would be helpful.

Cheers,

Steven
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