Having such an API implies that the choice of which accelerators to use would be assigned dynamically.
This would make the resulting accelerators change depending on which plugins are installed, and it would therefore be next to impossible for the user to learn which keys fire which actions.
The algorithm for choosing accelerators and mnemonics must be done at design and coding time, not at runtime.
For accelerators, it looks something like this:
- never use Alt+{key} combinations since they conflict with main menus and mnemonics in dialogs
- never use Ctrl+Alt+{key} combinations since they conflict with the alternate graphics keys on many international keyboards
- never use accelerator keys used by the underlying system
- determine the accelerators used in your plugin and in your prerequisites
- pick something different (and hopefully something with some mnemonic value)
Similarly for mnemonics.
When you have some context where multiple items are contributed from multiple unrelated plugins (e.g. the Team and other contributions to the context menu), it's better to avoid assigning any mnemonic since conflicts cannot be predicted and avoided in general.
You can use the table off of the Platform UI development resources page to help with this:
http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/%7Echeckout%7E/platform-ui-home/accessibility/keys.html
Also see our accessibility tips at:
Now, I agree that it would be helpful to have the shortcut table in the environment itself, and this is something we are considering as part of the key bindings work.
Nick
-----platform-ui-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: -----
To: platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
From: stori@xxxxxxxxxx
Sent by: platform-ui-dev-admin@xxxxxxxxxxx
Date: 04/01/2002 02:19PM
Subject: Re: [platform-ui-dev] The "Team" team is on longer sponsered by the letter "T"
There is a need for an Eclipse API to allow querying the existing keys
unavailable as accelerators.
For example, in the case of a top-level menu defining a "T" mnemonic,
"Alt+T" is not available as an accelerator in any of Eclipse's views.
Even better (as I believe is the case with Swing!?), if a view has "Alt+T"
defined, it will be activated as such (and the application will consume
this key event); otherwise (i.e., the Alt+T key event is not consumed by
the view), then the "T"-mnemonic-ed top level menu will be activated.
Such an API is important in an application such as Eclipse, where plugins
can be added / removed / activated dynamically.
Simon_Arsenault@xxxxxxx
Sent by: To: platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
platform-ui-dev-admin@e cc:
clipse.org Subject: Re: [platform-ui-dev] The "Team" team is on longer sponsered
by the letter "T"
04/01/02 02:01 PM
Please respond to
platform-ui-dev
In an application where you have total control of all the choices, yes
every choice should have a unique mnemonic. In Eclipse that is not possible
since a plug-in does not know about all other possible plug-ins.
However, it does know about it prerequisites (and even to some degree some
set of plug-ins it will typically work with) and therefore should avoid
conflicts with mnemonic for those known choices. Here, the Cut choice is
provided by the workbench and uses the t for the mnemonic (all MS Windows
app that I know of use this and avoid conflicts with this mnemonic). The
Team menu should avoid using T in this case.
If you still disagree, please open a problem report against the Team
component. There is no need to discuss this further on this mailing list
(actually, it should never has been posted to this mailing list, but rather
a problem report should have been opened from the start).
Simon :-)
"Randy Hudson"
<hudsonr@xxxxxxxxxx> To:
platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent by: cc:
platform-ui-dev-admin@ Subject: Re:
[platform-ui-dev] The "Team" team is on longer
eclipse.org sponsered by the
letter "T"
04/01/2002 01:49 PM
Please respond to
platform-ui-dev
You can't give every choice a unique mnemonic. For example, the preference
dialogs defines "Restore &Defaults" and "&Apply". So which mnemonic would
I give my "Add.." button?
|---------+--------------------------------->
| | James_Moody@xxxxxxx |
| | Sent by: |
| | platform-ui-dev-admin@|
| | eclipse.org |
| | |
| | |
| | 04/01/2002 10:23 AM |
| | Please respond to |
| | platform-ui-dev |
| | |
|---------+--------------------------------->
>
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|
|
| To: platform-ui-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx
|
| cc:
|
| Subject: Re: [platform-ui-dev] The "Team" team is on longer
sponsered by the letter "T" |
|
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Then you should talk to JDT.
The fact that Cut has an accelerator has nothing to do with whether it
should have 't' as a mnemonic. Every menu item has to have a mnemonic.
james
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