Any advice on how to minimize having to use the mouse while developing in Filemaker?

[crayfish]

As a general question, I'm curious if there are any guides to setting up Filemaker development on a Mac to minimize mouse usage?

 

And more specifically...

 

When you open the Set Variable Options window, is there a keyboard shortcut to open up the Specify Calculation window?  I can TAB over and highlight "Specify..." but if I press Return, it just clicks the "OK" button.

 

And that question relates to all Filemaker windows that have buttons on them.  Pressing return only executes the default button, regardless of whether or not another button is highlighted using TAB.  Any general solution for this so I don't have to keep reaching for the mouse?

 

Also... is there a keystroke to highlight the Data Viewer or Script Debugger?  Command-Tilde only switches been database windows.

[eos]

And that question relates to all Filemaker windows that have buttons on them.  Pressing return only executes the default button, regardless of whether or not another button is highlighted using TAB.

 

The space bar should execute a highlighted button.

 

is there a keyboard shortcut to open up the Specify Calculation window?  I can TAB over and highlight "Specify..." but if I press Return, it just clicks the "OK" button.

 

I can't try it at the moment, but since many secondary option dialogs can be opened by option/alt-clicking the script step, pressing alt-return may be worth a try.

[crayfish]

The space bar works to select highlighted buttons.  Thanks!

 

Any ideas on these:

 

- is there a keystroke to highlight the Data Viewer or Script Debugger?  Command-Tilde only switches been database windows.

 

- when you have a script highlighted in the Manage Scripts window, is there a shortcut to perform the script?

 

- also in Manage Scripts, any shortcuts for New script/folder/separator and Delete script

[eos]

- is there a keystroke to highlight the Data Viewer or Script Debugger?  Command-Tilde only switches been database windows.

 

- when you have a script highlighted in the Manage Scripts window, is there a shortcut to perform the script?

 

- also in Manage Scripts, any shortcuts for New script/folder/separator and Delete script

 

Data Viewer / Script Debugger are considered floating palettes, not proper windows (which also means they are hidden when you switch applications); that's why the in-application window switching doesn't work here. When I'm really doing heavy duty scripting, I simply leave both of those “windows” open (but I wish there was an on/off switch in the Script Debugger). 

 

As for the Manage Scripts window: I recommend creating a template script that has all the useful stuff already in (e.g. some comment lines with authorship/purpose etc., putting the script parameter into a $var etc.) and which you can duplicate.

 

And while it may be occasionally be useful to have some shortcuts in Manage Scripts, those actions aren't done with a high frequency, so having to click an icon might not be so bad.

 

Except maybe for Perform Script, but I don't know any shortcut for that. A workaround is to make the script(s) you're currently working on one of the first ten (active) position(s) to utilise the 0-9 shortcuts.

[gczychi]

Here are some very useful keyboard shortcuts (out of my head):

 

Cotrol-Option + spacebar

By far the most useful for me: 1) In a script window moves the selected script step from the left to the right into the script; 2) for some script steps, when the row in the editing window is highlighted, it brings up the "calculated result" window (instead of the "Specify Target Field" when you hit return). 3) In any Specify Calculation window, it moves the currently selected field or function down to the calculation and inserts it at the insert location. And there might be one or two instances where it is also useful; I can't remember.

 

Shift + Tab

In calculation windows this is so essential to format the code in a way that is legible.

 

 

Any others? I also like to use the keyboard as much as possible.

 

Gary