|
Using the keyboard instead of your mouse to move around the ADD Energy E3® screens can speed you through your work. And who doesn’t want to save time? One of the comments we at ADD Systems hear occasionally is that users think they must use the mouse to navigate our windows, where formerly they were able to fly through screens using only the keyboard. This is simply not true. We’re going to introduce you to several keyboard shortcuts. We’re not trying to kill the mouse with these keyboard shortcuts. Our point here is to introduce you to a workflow in which the keyboard can accomplish almost everything you can do with a mouse. In programming the E3 screens, ADD Systems has gone to some lengths to be consistent, but there are exceptions. These keyboard shortcuts apply to most of the E3 windows, deviating only when the specialized functionality of a given window requires a different approach. Here are a few of the best keyboard shortcuts.  Tab The Tab key is one of the biggest time-savers on the keyboard. Tab moves from one significant element of a screen to another, including buttons and fields. These screen elements are called controls. In the Load Track window that follows, the focus is on the “Hauler” field, but there are multiple controls in this window and you could use Tab to move from the Event Entry-Detail tab to the Hauler, Truck, Vehicle profile, and Driver fields, and to the Loading Information grid, which is itself a control. Once in the grid, use Enter as described below to move left to right among the fields.
 Enter Is another potential click-saver. Press Enter to move from one field to another in a grid. Type an entry and press Enter to move to the next field. Again using Load Track as an example, the grid below has lots of fields to “Enter” through. Option: An option in E3 – System Maintenance – Energy – System Options will make the Tab key function just like Enter in grids. This option is “Use Tab for Next Field key in grids.” The Enter key also serves an important function when it comes to making a selection or taking an action. When a pop-up window prompts: “OK” or “Cancel” for example, the focus (indicated by a dotted line) will be on one of those choices, and you can press the Enter key to make that selection.
Spacebar  Presses a button, selects a radio button, or checks a checkbox. In this example from Select Tickets, note that the focus is on the OK button, as indicated by the dotted line. Press the spacebar to select OK, or tab to move to one of the other controls. This is helpful because sometimes a button will be within a grid, so the spacebar can be used to fire the button, rather than Enter.
Hot keys  When a letter on the screen is underlined, that is a hot key, and pressing Alt and the letter simultaneously will initiate that action. There is a Windows setting, modifiable by user, that controls whether the hot key indicator can be seen on all screens. So if you’re not seeing the hot keys, consult your system administrator. ADD programmers have been careful not to re-use letter keys that were used in the menu keys. This example from Service Billing shows hot keys available for the B, N, A, and R keys, for the corresponding functions.
Arrow keys  The right arrow generally performs the same function as Enter, moving you from one field to another in a grid. When you encounter a tool strip, like the one below from Load Track, the only way to navigate from one button to another is an arrow key. When the focus is on the tabs, as indicated by a dotted line around the label, use the right arrow to move to the next tab, and left arrow to move backward. Take a look at an E3 component with multiple tabs, like Load Track:  The Event Entry-Detail tab has the focus of the screen, indicated by the dotted line.
Drop-down lists Hit the first letter key of the entry you’re looking for (e.g., “N” for “New Jersey). Continue to press that key for sequential alphabetic entries (New York, Nevada, etc.). As of E3 Version 9.01 and above, you can even type the first two or three letters of the entry you want to hone in on the desired item (following the example above, “NEV”, for Nevada). Sticking to the keyboard takes some getting used to. You may find yourself reaching for the mouse, but try to resist the urge and recall the keyboard combination. Once you learn these techniques, they become instinctive and effortless. 
|
