AccuDraw's Shortcut Key-ins

Although AccuDraw tries to anticipate your next move it cannot always predict your intentions. AccuDraw therefore includes a wide variety of single and double character command directives known as the shortcut key-ins. By pressing the appropriate key, you can direct AccuDraw to perform a specific task. In operation, AccuDraw is the default input focus in most cases, thus letting you just type in the shortcut without having to consider where the input focus is.

Shortcut key-ins are defined as keyboard shortcuts in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog. Single letter keyboard shortcuts activate the respective command, while multi-level keyboard shortcuts display a pop-up menu when the first level of keyboard shortcut is pressed. You may then click the desired option from the pop-up menu or press the desired next level keyboard shortcut. You can create, edit, or delete the keyboards shortcuts in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.

Default pop-up menu when keyboard shortcut `<R>` is pressed.

The following is a list of the more common shortcut key-ins:

Key	Effect
`<?>`	Opens the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.
`<Enter>`	Smart Lock In Rectangular coordinates, locks X to 0 if the pointer is on the drawing plane y-axis or Y to 0 if the pointer is on the x-axis. In Polar coordinates, locks Angle to 0°, 90°, -90°, or 180° if the pointer is on a drawing plane axis or otherwise locks Distance to its last entered value.
`<M>`	Switches between Rectangular and Polar coordinates.
`<O>`	Moves the drawing plane origin to the current pointer position. This can also be used to explicitly activate AccuDraw before you enter a data point.
`<X>`	Switches the lock status for the X value.
`<Y>`	Switches the lock status for the Y value.
`<D>`	Switches the lock status for the Distance value.
`<A>`	Switches the lock status for the Angle value.

For the complete list, see Complete List of AccuDraw Keyboard Shortcuts.

Smart Lock

One of the first keyboard shortcuts you will use is Smart Lock. Similar in operation to striking a line along a T-square, Smart Lock is invoked by pressing the <Enter> key. Depending on where the pointer is located, at the time you select Smart Lock, one of two things will occur:

If the pointer is oriented closer to the X axis of the compass, the pointer will lock to the X axis.
If the pointer is oriented closer to the Y axis of the compass, the pointer will lock to the Y axis.

You know the pointer is locked on an axis when the dynamic line highlights. Pressing the <Enter> key again deactivates Smart Lock and releases the dynamic line back to free motion.

X and Y Locks

When using the Rectangular coordinate system, you can force AccuDraw to lock the current distance along an axis by activating the <X> or <Y> keyboard shortcut. AccuDraw responds by locking the dynamic line to the chosen axis at the current pointer distance from the origin point of the compass. Having done this, the focus of the complement AccuDraw axis data field becomes the focus for your next keyboard entry.

AccuDraw automatically switches its coordinate system to rectangular in response to the X or Y lock.

Note: All X and Y values entered are relative to the plane of the previous element segment.

To override this, AccuDraw provides an option in its settings called Context Sensitivity. Turning this off forces AccuDraw to stay oriented to the DGN file's XY axes.

Distance Lock

You can use the <D> shortcut to lock the distance from the compass origin point to the current location of the pointer and, if necessary, change AccuDraw's coordinate system to Polar. The input focus automatically shifts to the Angle field.

Angle Lock

You can use the <A> shortcut to set the angle portion of the polar drawing plane and, if necessary, change AccuDraw's coordinate system to Polar. AccuDraw sets the angle to the current position of the pointer.

To Constrain the Pending Data Point to a Drawing Plane Axis

To Interactively Enter the Distance of the Dynamic Element

To Interactively Lock the Angle of a Dynamic Element

Parent topic: Working with AccuDraw