• The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
Menu
  • The Four Hundred
  • Subscribe
  • Media Kit
  • Contributors
  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Guru Classic: My Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts for RSE/RDi

    July 17, 2019 Susan Gantner

    When using RDi for editing my CL, DDS, RPG, or COBOL code, I find that I can save a lot of time by using keyboard shortcuts for functions that would otherwise require that I take my hands off the keyboard to use the mouse. So I thought I would share a few of my favorites. Many of the shortcuts I use are standard for other applications that I also use for email, spreadsheets or text editing. It’s easy to forget that some of those same shortcuts can be used when we’re editing our RPG code.

    A lot has changed on this subject since this tip’s original publication back in 2007. Some of these shortcuts have been updated due to changes or additions in recent releases of RDi. One thing hasn’t changed — my love of keyboard shortcuts. Since this original tip, I have published and regularly updated my downloadable Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts for RDi. Check that out — along with the related stories links below — for a more comprehensive list of shortcuts.

    The standard keyboard shortcuts from other applications include ones like these:

    • Ctl-C to copy, Ctl-V or Shift-Insert to paste, and Ctl-X or Shift-Delete to cut. There are other ways to copy, move and paste code as well that are RDi-specific. I wrote about them in this tip.
    • Ctl-Z to undo – very high on my list of favorites – and Ctl-Y to redo.
    • Home jumps to the beginning of a line and End jumps to the end of a line.
    • Ctl-Home jumps to top of the member and Ctl-End jumps to end of the member.
    • Ctl-F opens the Find/Replace dialog.
    • Ctl-S saves the source back to wherever I opened it from — typically the host source member — without closing the member.

    Other shortcuts are not standard across other applications, but are specific to some combination of Eclipse or the RDi workbench itself. I use these to help navigate my way around the workbench. Here are some of my favorites:

    • Ctl-F6 switches between Editor tabs, i.e., it switches between open members.
    • Ctl-E pops up a list of open members for selection.
    • Ctl-F7 toggles between Views in the workbench (e.g., from Editor to Outline View).
    • Ctl-F8 toggles between open Perspectives (e.g., from RSE to Debug or i Projects).
    • Ctl-M maximizes or shrinks a View in the workbench, replacing a double click at the top of the view. There is an exception to this one: it does something completely different in the Editor view. I’ll talk more about that later.
    • Ctrl-Alt-Q brings up a dialog to open a member by filling in the library, file and member name when I don’t want to drill down using filters in RSE. In earlier releases of RDi, RDP and WDSC, this was done with Clt-Shift-A.

    This last set of favorite shortcuts relate specifically to the LPEX Editor (the editor that RDi uses by default):

    • Ctl-Backspace deletes a line. This comes in particularly handy when I have hit Enter too many times and accidentally end up with several blank lines in my source.
    • Alt-S splits a line at the cursor position. I find this especially useful when writing RPG expressions and I run out of space on a line. As of RDi V9.6, the Enter key may also be used to split a line.
    • Alt-J joins the next line to the end of the current one, which can be useful once I’ve discovered a shorter way to handle that complex expression!
    • There are a couple of different shortcuts I find very helpful for sorting out complex nested logic in fixed-form calc specs in RPG. Those are Ctl-M and Ctl-Shift-O.
      – Ctl-M (select block) finds the matching End for my code block, such as an If or Do or BegSR in RPG and selects the entire block. It also works in reverse–to find the matching block beginning for an End operation. Note that this is the exception I mentioned earlier to the use of Ctl-M to minimize or maximize a view.
      – Ctl-Shift-O (show block nesting) highlights both the beginning and end of a code block using arrows. It also highlights any additional blocks of code that may be nested within that block.
    • Ctl-F5 clears out things the editor inserts into the source for you – such as those pesky pink error messages that appear in the editor window — if you’re not using the recent option to see messages as annotations — or the arrows drawn to highlight nested logic using Ctl-Shift-O mentioned above.
    • Ctl-Shift-V verifies the source in the editor.\
    • Ctl-Shift-C compiles the source in the editor.

    There are many more keyboard shortcuts, but these are among my favorites. I hope I may have introduced you to a few that you haven’t tried before. Maybe they will save you a little time in the future. If you want to try out some other keyboard shortcuts for the editor, key the command? SEU in the editor command line (press Esc to get to the command line) and you will see a help page with a long list of shortcuts. You may also want to check out some of the related stories below where I describe more of my favorite shortcuts.

    Susan Gantner, an IBM Champion and co-author of the popular Redbook, Who Knew You Could Do That with RPG IV, is one of the top speakers/writers/trainers on IBM i development topics. She is a partner at Partner400 and System i Developer, and she hosts the RPG & DB2 Summit twice per year with partners Jon Paris and Paul Tuohy.

    RELATED STORIES

    Everybody Likes Shortcuts! Part 1, Navigation

    Finders, Keepers: Long Lost RSE Keyboard Shortcuts

    Updated RDi Keyboard Shortcuts

    Keep Your Hands on the Keyboard with RSE

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Tags: Tags: 400guruclassic, CL, COBOL, DDS, FHGC, Four Hundred Guru Classic, IBM i, LPEX, RDi, RDP, RPG, RSE, SEU, WDSc

    Sponsored by
    ARCAD Software

    [Webinar Series] Demystifying DevOps on the IBM i

    Join us for this 3-Part Roundtable Webinar Series, where ARCAD experts will demystify the move to Git and an automated process with options that work for everyone!

    This Series will be an engaging discussion on key DevOps topics as Git, Builds, Automation and much more.

    Part 1: IBM i & Git – Developer Tools (Thursday, January 26th, at 12:00PM ET / 9:00AM PT)

    During this 1st session, we will discuss Developer Tools and all the ways to use Git including iProject, Merlin, VS Code, ARCAD’s Centralized option and more.

    Part 2: Branching & Building (Thursday, February 9th, at 12:00PM ET / 9:00AM PT)

    During this 2nd session, we will discuss Feature/Release and Branch Management and building the branches with tools like Bob and ARCAD.

    Part 3: DevOps – Automated Workflow (Thursday, February 23rd, at 12:00PM ET / 9:00AM PT)

    During this 3rd session, we will discuss what can be automated in the IBM i DevOps process starting from the build to other steps in your workflow.  We’ll discuss pipeline tools like Jenkins and the new automation features of Git packages.

    Register NOW

    Share this:

    • Reddit
    • Facebook
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Email

    Guru Classic: The New Basics — Indicators IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 21, Number 29

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

TFH Volume: 29 Issue: 42

This Issue Sponsored By

  • RPG & DB2 Summit
  • RPG & DB2 Summit
  • RPG & DB2 Summit

Table of Contents

  • Guru Classic: My Favorite Keyboard Shortcuts for RSE/RDi
  • Guru Classic: The New Basics — Indicators
  • Guru Classic: Looking For Commitment, Part 2

Content archive

  • The Four Hundred
  • Four Hundred Stuff
  • Four Hundred Guru

Recent Posts

  • N2i Gains Traction Among IBM i Newbies
  • Realizing The Promise Of Cross Platform Development With VS Code
  • 2023 IBM i Predictions, Part 3
  • Four Hundred Monitor, January 25
  • Join The 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey Webinar Tomorrow
  • It Is Time To Have A Group Chat About AI
  • 2023 IBM i Predictions, Part 2
  • Multiple Vulnerabilities Pop Up In Navigator For i
  • Participate In The 2023 IBM i Marketplace Survey Discussion
  • IBM i PTF Guide, Volume 25, Number 4

Subscribe

To get news from IT Jungle sent to your inbox every week, subscribe to our newsletter.

Pages

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Contributors
  • Four Hundred Monitor
  • IBM i PTF Guide
  • Media Kit
  • Subscribe

Search

Copyright © 2022 IT Jungle

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.