4.9.9. Moving between components using the keyboard<br>

### 4.9.9. Moving between components using the keyboard

The mouse is a convenient tool for editing drawings. However, when you want to edit component data, you need the keyboard. To avoid repeated shifting of your hand from the keyboard to the mouse and back, you can use the keyboard to move from one component to another.

The graphical editor features two modes of moving between components by means of the keyboard:

- moving to the nearest component in specified direction

- moving to the next connected component in specified direction.

Moving to the nearest component in specified direction:

This mode is most convenient for moving between components of the same type within a project.

¨ To move to the nearest component by means of the keyboard:

1. Mark one of the components. Its data is shown in the data table. To move about between the data in the table, use the cursor control keys:

- Press Ctrl+<cursor control key> to move in the direction indicated by the cursor control key to the nearest component of the same type (e.g. from a middle section of a profile to the next or preceding middle section)

- Press Ctrl+Alt+<cursor control key> to move in the direction indicated by the cursor control key to the nearest component of other type (e.g. from a middle section of a profile to the starting point of the profile).

<cursor control key> indicates one of the keys in the cursor control keypad.

! The movement is made to the component that is nearest in geometrical terms. Sometimes this may not be what the user expects.

After shifting to another component of the same type, its data are shown in the data table, which you can alter. The current field in the data table is not changed. This enables fast entering of data in one field. You can also use the function of repeating the last value (see section 4.9.6).

If the value is the same for all components, it is better to use one of the methods of marking multiple components (see section 4.8.3).

Moving to the next connected component in specified direction:

This mode is most convenient for moving between segments of a system within a project.

¨ To move to the next connected component in specified direction:

1. Mark one of the components. Its data is shown in the data table. To move about between the data in the table, use the cursor control keys.

2. Make sure that the Num Lock mode of the keyboard is enabled – relevant LED is on.

3. Press Ctrl+< key of the numeric keypad >. The direction of movement is determined by the position of the key in relation to key 5, and accordingly: key 8 – move to the component connected “at the top” of the selected component, key 9 - component connected “at the top and to the right” of the selected component, key 6 – “to the right”, key 3 – “down, to the right”, etc. The diagram below illustrates this:

ã 7 | 8 á | 9 ä
ß 4 | 5 | 6 à
å 1 | 2 â | 3 æ

! The keyboard can only be used to move from one component to another to append their data. To move or enter new components you have to use the mouse.