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.
supernode
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Sep 16, 2011 5:08 pm

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by supernode »

Hi,
sorry for pushing this old topic but there are some functionality i'm realy missing.
It is slow to navigate only with the scrollbars. It would be very nice to have
the possibility to move by pressing the scroll-wheel button of the mouse and to
zoom by pressing ctrl+scrolling with the mousewheel. The navigator-wnd is a
nice start, but the mentioned changes would make the navigation more
dynamically and faster.
tb87
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 7:09 pm

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by tb87 »

I do agree. Cmap is the most versatile program for creating concepts maps, and I was actually quite a bit surprised to see no keyboard shortcuts were implemented.

I have no idea about this really as I'm new here, but the development doesn't seem to be active a lot on the Cmap project. But implementing keyboard shortcuts isn't the most difficult thing to program in an application.

That would make Cmap the most useful tool I have on my computer, really. But to be honest, the lack of keyboard shortcuts makes it really tedious to create maps - takes maybe 4-5 x more times with the mouse. Although I currently use it, I don't know how long I will stand having none of them. And "patching" the problem with an external automatic shortcuts device isn't the best idea out there.

Alex
acanas
Posts: 753
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2009 5:52 pm

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by acanas »

Here is a list of not-well-documented shortcuts in CmapTools:

Tab/Shift-Tab - moves to the next/previous concept or linking phrase in a left-to-right/top-to-bottom order. Each object's center position in the map is marked in a grid and as the user presses the tab key, the code looks for the next object in the grid to the right. If no object are in the grid to the right it checks the next row starting at the left and moving to the right and so on until it reaches the bottom of the map at which point it starts over at the top-left. Shift-Tab goes in the opposite direction.

Arrow Keys with a selected concept or linking-phrase:
- the Down/Up keys will cycle through the connections on the selected node in a clockwise/counter clockwise direction and highlight the current connection.
- the Left/Right keys will change the selected object (concept or linking phrase) based on the direction of the connection. Right selects the object the connection points to and left selects the object the connection originates from.

Pressing the Esc key once will end text editing and keep the node selected, and pressing it when not in text edit mode will deselect all selected objects.

Typing any text on a selected node that is not already in text edit mode will replace all text in the node with the typed text and place the node in text edit mode with the cursor at the end of the new text.

Ctrl-B will toggle the collapsed/expanded state of a selected Nested Node.

Currently there is no way via keyboard shortcuts to do the following:
- start editing the text of a node without deleting all the existing text.
- create a new concept
- connect two concepts or an existing concept to a new concept with a linking phrase
- move objects in the map

They are on the list of features to add.

One one way to create Cmaps fast is to use the "Cmap List View" and type the propositions instead of using the graphical interface. The "Cmap List View" is opened by clicking on the second icon from the top on the right of the Cmap's window. Select the "Propositions" View (depending on the OS this will be a Tab or you may have to click on the arrows. This shows a list of propositions. On the top you have 3 fields. You can type propositions here and they are automatically added to the concept map. I know people who "type in" concept maps as part of brainstorming or interview sessions using this tool.
tb87
Posts: 2
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 7:09 pm

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by tb87 »

Thing is, with the list view there's no way of, say, linking two concepts together without a linking phrase.

Guess I'll just wait for the next version to be released. Any idea how long it will take?

Thanks for the reply.
Alex
nthnwdhs
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jan 20, 2012 8:05 pm

Re: Keyboard Shortcuts

Post by nthnwdhs »

Linux users can use xdotool to avoid using the mouse.

For example, I managed to create a bubble, then another bubble writing the following:

Code: Select all

xdotool click 1 click 1;sleep 1; xdotool mousemove_relative -- 0 -20;sleep 1; xdotool click 1;sleep 1; xdotool mousemove_relative 100 100; sleep 1; xdotool click 1; sleep 1; xdotool key type link; sleep 1; xdotool click 1;sleep 1; xdotool key type bubble; sleep 1; xdotool mousemove_relative 100 100; sleep 1;xdotool click 1; xdotool mousemove_relative -- -100 -100;
I'm extremely happy to discover this! I rate the design of Cmaps highly, and use it every day as part of a PhD study. But I always end up with terrible neck and back pain from excessive mouse usage.

Now I am contemplating creating functions and developing an independent data file to keep track of bubbles and locations on the map.

Here is a description of each step;

xdotool click 1 click 1; # create a bubble;
sleep 1; # allow a bit of time for Cmaps to process, may not be needed between some calls to xdotool
xdotool mousemove_relative -- 0 -20; # position cursor on the arrow selector
xdotool click 1; # begin drawing a new bubble
xdotool mousemove_relative 100 100; # drag the new bubble
xdotool click 1; # drop the new bubble;
xdotool key type link; # enter the sting 'link' into the linking phrase
xdotool click 1; # click on the bubble
xdotool key type bubble; # enter the string 'bubble' into the concept bubble
xdotool mousemove_relative 100 100; # move the mouse icon to a spare, free space
xdotool click 1; # exit entering text mode
xdotool mousemove_relative -- -100 -100; # put mouse icon back in the bubble
example_mouseless_bubble.jpg
example_mouseless_bubble.jpg (10.76 KiB) Viewed 4290 times
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