JustCode Keyboard Shortcuts Profiles

Most of the commands in Telerik JustCode are assigned keyboard shortcuts, granting the speed and convenience you expect from a quality productivity tool. This is, of course, a very important and often overlooked feature. For Q3 2012, we decided to improve the way in which JustCode approaches shortcuts by creating keyboard shortcuts profiles and related enhancements.

The purpose of JustCode’s keyboard shortcuts profiles

Before the introduction of keyboard shortcuts profiles, JustCode only had one predefined set of shortcuts for its commands. Visual Studio silently applied these shortcuts during its first execution after the installation of JustCode. This behavior proved to be inconvenient to many users, so we looked for another approach. This led to the creation of shortcut profiles.

Our goal was to solve two problems:

• ‘Stealing’ existing Visual Studio shortcuts without first notifying the user
• ‘Stealing’ some commonly used Visual Studio shortcuts, such as Ctrl+D and Ctrl+W

We came up with the following solutions:

• Warn the user in case a JustCode shortcut will override a Visual Studio shortcut and provide an opportunity to apply or disregard the conflicting shortcut;
• Give the user a choice from four different predefined profiles. We designed these profiles for people with different Visual Studio usage backgrounds.

How to apply a keyboard shortcuts profile

Applying a shortcuts profile is easy, and we wanted new users of JustCode to have no barriers to finding this feature. Since new users encounter the Getting Started Wizard when first starting Visual Studio after installation, it made a perfect location.

Apply keyboard shortcuts profile from Getting Started Wizard.

You are not required to apply a profile from Getting Started Wizard. You can also apply one in the JustCode Options dialog under Keyboard Shortcuts.

Apply keyboard shortcuts profile from Options dialog.

There are a few points of interest on the Keyboard Shortcuts page:

• a combo-box to select a profile to apply
• a “Preview shortcuts” button that shows how the shortcuts for the selected profile are applied to JustCode commands
• an “Apply Profile” button to apply the shortcuts from the selected profile while taking into account resolved conflicts
• a list of conflicts between predefined shortcuts in the selected profile and existing shortcuts in Visual Studio

Note: existing users of JustCode do not need to apply a profile after upgrading to Q3 2012 as they already have the “JustCode” profile applied. If you need to reset the existing JustCode shortcuts or apply another profile, use the Options dialog shown above.

A short description of the keyboard shortcuts profiles

JustCode Visual Studio

This keyboard shortcuts profile is optimized for users with strong Visual Studio background. It overrides as few shortcuts as possible.

JustCode

This is the original (legacy) JustCode keyboard shortcuts profile.

R# IDEA

This keyboard shortcuts profile is optimized for R# users that have used its IDEA profile.

R# Visual Studio

This keyboard shortcuts profile is optimized for R# users that have used its Visual Studio profile.

Some more info about the shortcut conflicts and how to resolve them

In general, there are two types of shortcuts conflicts when applying a profile:

Conflicts that 'steal' existing Visual Studio shortcuts

These conflicts occur when the scope and shortcut of JustCode command and Visual Studio command(s) are the same. The conflicting Visual Studio shortcuts are removed.

Conflicts preventing the execution of existing Visual Studio shortcut(s)

There are cases when the shortcuts are the same, but the JustCode command shortcut is defined in 'Text Editor' scope and Visual Studio command shortcut is defined in 'Global' scope. Other common scenarios involve JustCode’s shortcut consisting of one keystroke but Visual Studio's shortcut consisting of two keystrokes and the first keystrokes of both shortcuts are the same. For example, a JustCode command has the shortcut "Text Editor::Ctrl+Alt+V" and Visual Studio command has the shortcut "Text Editor::Ctrl+Alt+V, Ctrl+L". JustCode does not remove these conflicting Visual Studio shortcuts, but they will never be executed since JustCode’s shortcut will fire first.

In both cases described above, you can choose whether to apply the JustCode shortcut or not. To prevent a shortcut from applying, uncheck the box in front of it.

When a new JustCode commands’ shortcuts conflict with the existing Visual Studio shortcuts

After installing a new version of JustCode that introduces new commands, you may see the “New Commands Shortcut Conflicts” dialog. 

Dialog showing shortcuts conflicts for new JustCode commands

When you open Visual Studio after upgrading JustCode, shortcuts for newly introduced commands are configured. If there are conflicts with existing Visual Studio shortcuts, JustCode displays the “New Commands Shortcut Conflicts” for you to resolve. Pressing the “Cancel” button or closing the dialog will not apply any shortcuts.

Summary

We are constantly improving JustCode to help you be more productive, and we believe that keyboard shortcuts profiles is a valuable feature for many developers. 

If you are still using Visual Studio without JustCode, why not see what you are missing by downloading a free 30-day trial. 

Happy Coding!