IDL Workbench Tips and Tricks

The following tips and tricks highlight some of the less obvious features of the IDL Workbench interface. This topic focuses on the IDL Workbench in general; for tips on using the workbench editor, see IDL Editor Tips and Tricks.

Drag and Drop IDL Commands from the Command History View

You can drag and drop commands from the Command History view either to the Command Line view or to an editor window:

Quick Switching Between Editors

Workbench editors keep a navigation history. If you switch between multiple editor windows, you can use the Navigate → Back and Navigate → Forward menu items to move up and down the list of recently used editors. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts Alt+Left Arrow and Alt+Right Arrow or the toolbar buttons to move through the list of recent editors.

Ctrl+3 Quick Access

You can quickly find all manner of items including (but not limited to) open editors, available perspectives, views, preferences, wizards, and commands by pressing Ctrl-3. Simply start typing the name of the item you wish to invoke and the IDL Workbench will attempt to find something that matches the string you provide.

Ctrl+E Editor List

Press Ctrl+E to display a list of open editor windows; select an entry in the list to open the corresponding editor window. As you type in the field at the top of the editor list, the list will narrow to list only files whose names match what you type.

You can also close individual editor windows by selecting an editor from the list, right-clicking to display the context menu, and selecting Close.

Ctrl+M to Maximize/Restore Current View

Press Ctrl+M to maximize the current view's window, or to restore it to its normal size if the view is currently maximized. You can also double-click on the view's tab to maximize/restore.

Move Focus to IDL Command Line View

Press Ctrl+I to place the keyboard input focus in the IDL Command Line view.

Close Open Editors When Closing IDL

By default, the IDL Workbench remembers which files you had open when you exit, and reopens those files when you next restart. If you prefer to start each session with no editors open, display the General → Editors preference page and select the Close editors automatically checkbox.

If you select the Close editors automatically option, you can "pin" a particular editor window by clicking the toolbar icon. Pinned editors will be reopened the next time the IDL Workbench starts, regardless of the Close editors automatically setting.

Opening Editors Using Drag and Drop

You can open an editor by dragging an item from the Project Explorer and dropping it over the editor area.

Inserting Text with Code Templates

Code Templates allow you to create pre-defined blocks of text and insert them quickly using the content assist mechanism (Ctrl-Space). See Templates for details.

Tiling the Editor Work Area

You can use drag and drop to modify the layout of your editor work area. Grab an editor tab and drag it to the edge of the editor work area. The arrow dock icons indicate which way the editor work area will split. To unsplit the editors, simply drag the editor tab back to its original location.

Open Editors with a Single Click

Use the Open mode setting on the General preference page to activate single click opening for editors. In single click mode, a single click on a file in the Project Explorer view selects and immediately opens it.

Collapsing all Open Items

Use the Collapse All button on the toolbar of the Project Explorer view (and similar views) to collapse all expanded project and folder items.

Global Find/Replace

Use Search from the main menu to specify the text that you want to replace and the scope in which you want to replace it. Then press Replace.

Replace from Search View

You can replace the matches in the files by using Replace... or Replace Selected... from the context menu in the Search view.

Linking View to Current Open Editor

The Project Explorer view is not tightly linked to the currently open editor by default. This means that closing or switching editors does not change the selection in the Project Explorer view automatically. Toggling the Link with Editor button in the Project Explorer view toolbar ties the view to always show the current file being edited.

Reordering Editor Tabs

You can rearrange the order of open editors by using drag and drop. Grab the editor tab and drag it to the position you want the editor to appear. When positioning editors, the stack icon indicates a valid spot to drop.

Minimizing And Maximizing Views

Running out of space? Try minimizing your unused views to reclaim screen real-estate. Each view stack contains a minimize icon along side the maximize icon. Minimizing a view reduces it to an icon placed along one of the edges of the IDL Workbench window. Click on the icon to restore the view to its normal size and position.

You can maximize a view or editor by double-clicking on the view's title bar or the editor's tab. Double-click again to restore it to its normal size and position.

Managing Screen Real Estate with Fast Views

Use fast views to free up screen real estate while keeping views easily accessible. Clicking on the icon for a fast view temporarily reveals it over top of the other views. The fast view retracts as soon you click outside of it. The Fast View command in the view's system menu toggles whether it is a fast view. You can also create a fast view by dragging a view onto the Fast View Bar in the bottom left hand corner.

To return a view to its normal state, right-click on the view icon and un-check the Fast View menu item.

Fast View and the Perspective Bars

The fast view and perspective bars may be docked in different locations, independent of one another.

By default the Perspective Bar is located in the upper right hand corner of the screen. It may also be docked on the top left, under the main toolbar or to the far left. It may be moved via the perspective bar context menu or via the General → Appearance preference page.

By default the Fast View Bar is located in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. Like the Perspective Bar, it may be docked elsewhere. This may be done by dragging the area to either the left or right side of the screen (or back to the bottom if it is already in one of these positions).

Detached Views

You can detach a view so that it can be placed wherever desired, including over another Eclipse window.

Right-click on the view to be moved and select Detached from the menu. (Alternatively, drag the view by its tab to detach the view from its position in the perspective.) Then, place the view where you choose. You can also drag and drop other views into the same window.

To return the view to its position, choose Restore from the view's context menu. (Alternatively, drag the view by its tab.)

Restoring a Perspective's Layout

Rearranging and closing the views in a perspective can sometimes render it unrecognizable and hard to work with. To return it to a familiar state, use Window → Reset Perspective.

User Customizable Key Bindings

If you find yourself repeatedly doing some command, you might be able to streamline things by assigning a key sequence to trigger that command. Assigning new key bindings, and viewing existing bindings, is done from the General → Keys preference page.

View All Keyboard Shortcuts

While working with your favorite editors and views in, just press Ctrl+Shift+L to see a full list of the currently available key bindings. This is a great way to learn what is available in the UI and to speed up your productivity by learning more key bindings. This information is also available in the General → Keys preference page.

Key Binding Assistance

The IDL Workbench supports key bindings that contain more than one key stroke. Examples of such key bindings are "Ctrl+X S" ("Save" in the Emacs key configuration) or "Alt+Shift+Q Y" ("Open Synchronize View" in the Default key configuration). It is hard to learn these keys, and it can also be hard to remember them if you don't use them very often. If you initiate such a key sequence and wait a little pop-up showing you the possible completions will appear.

In the preferences, under General → Keys, there is an Advanced tab. Go to this tab, and check Help Me With Multi-Stroke Keyboard Shortcuts.

Restoring Deleted Resources

Select a project or folder in the Project Explorer view and select Restore from Local History from the context menu to restore deleted files. You can restore more than one file at one time.

Find Workspace Files Quickly

Select Navigate → Open Resource or press Ctrl+Shift+R to bring up a dialog that allows you to quickly locate and open any file in the workspace.

Find the Workspace Directory

To find the directory that contains the current workspace, select a project folder in the Project Explorer view and select File → Properties or press Alt+Enter to brings up the properties dialog. The location of the selected project folder — including the workspace directory — is listed on the Resource tab under Location.

Copying and Moving Resources

You can drag and drop files and folders within the Project Explorer view to move them around. Hold down the Ctrl key to make copies.

Importing Files

You can quickly import files and folders into your workspace by dragging them from the file system (e.g., from a Windows Explorer window) and dropping them into the Project Explorer view. The files and folder are always copied into the project; the originals are not affected. Copy and paste also work.

Exporting Files

Dragging files and folder from the Project Explorer view to the file system (e.g., to a Windows Explorer window) exports the files and folders. The files and folder are always copied; workspace resources are not affected. Copy and paste also work.

Workspace Project Management

Use the Project → Close Project command to manage projects within your workspace. When a project is closed, its resources are temporarily "offline" and no longer appear in the Workbench (they are still sitting in the local file system). If the Update IDL Path when project is opened or closed project property is on, closed projects are removed from IDL's path.

Deleting Completed Tasks

Use the Delete Completed Tasks command in the Task view context menu to remove all completed tasks from the Tasks view. This is more convenient than individually selecting and deleting completed tasks.

Filtering Project Resources

The Project Explorer and Tasks views support filtering of their items. You control which items are visible by applying filters or working sets. The Filters commands are found on the view menu. The working set is selected using the Select Working Set command in the Project Explorer view menu. In the Tasks view, a working set can be selected from within the Filters dialog.

The Command History view can also be filtered by typing in the Filter box on the view's task bar.

Switch Workspace

Instead of shutting down the IDL Workbench and restarting with a different workspace, you can select File → Switch Workspace. From the dialog that appears you can either open a previous workspace directly from the menu or you can browse to a new workspace directory.

Note that switching workspaces entails restarting the IDL Workbench; your current IDL session is closed and a new session started.

Editing the Recent Workspaces Listing

If you have created and used numerous workspaces, you might find that the list of recent workspaces that appears in the Workspace Launcher dialog becomes unwieldy. There is no built-in facility for removing workspaces from the list, but you can remove names of workspaces as follows:

This technique does not remove the workspace directories themselves — it only removes their names from the Recent Workspaces listing. To place a workspace back in the listing, select it again in the Workspace Launcher dialog.