Tips and keyboard shortcuts for the Process Designer

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In the Process Designer and its editors, you can perform many actions by using keyboard accessibility features.

The following tips improve your efficiency in the Process Designer.

  • To automatically wire a new node (such as an activity, gateway, or event) into an existing sequence flow in a process, service flow, client-side human service, or human service diagram, simply drag the new node from the palette and drop it onto the connection between the existing source node and target node.
  • If you delete a node with a single outgoing connection, the incoming connections to the deleted node will automatically be reconnected to the target node of the deleted node.
  • To hide or show the library, click the Arrow icon (Expand library icon) in Process Designer.
  • To maximize the space available in the main canvas, resize the palette and the main canvas. To hide the property manager, click the arrow under the main canvas.
  • To move from one open library item to another, press the arrow keys or click the menu in the window.
  • To choose multiple items in a category, press and hold the Ctrl key and then click each item.
  • To prevent you from losing changes, unsaved changes are flagged with an asterisk next to the item name in the editor toolbar.
  • To learn how to capture your development progress in snapshots, see Creating snapshots, comparing, setting status, and validating.
  • To use the library items from a toolkit, add a dependency to that toolkit, as described in Creating, changing, and deleting a toolkit dependency in the Designer view.
  • To see updates that are made by other users, you can view concurrent activity as described in Process Designer.
  • To tag library items for easy access, follow the instructions in Tagging library items.
  • To move or copy library items from one process application to another, follow the instructions in Copying, duplicating, moving, and reverting library items.
  • To add and manage external files as part of your Business Automation Workflow project, see Managing external files.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following keyboard shortcuts improve your efficiency when you use Process Designer without a mouse.
General shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts are available for the Process Designer.
Table 1. General keyboard shortcuts that are available for the Process Designer
Action Keyboard shortcut Description
Content assist Ctrl+Space or Alt+/ Opens a context assist dialog box to bring up code assist proposals.
Open Enter Open the widget that has the focus.
Open Current Activity window Alt+Shift+u Open the window to view concurrent user activity in the current project.
Open References list Alt+Shift+r Open the list of references for a selected library item to view the artifacts that use the library item or the artifacts that the library item uses.
Open Properties pane Alt+Shift+p Open the pane to view the properties of the selected artifact.
Trigger optional action Ctrl+Enter Trigger an optional action for an in-focus widget that has an optional menu.
Move selection Up or down arrow Move between open items.
Expand or collapse item Right or left arrow Expand or collapse an in-focus item that has child items.
Move focus Tab Highlight the next logical user interface option.
Note: The following behavior occurs in Apple Safari:
  • Tab also highlights buttons and other controls if All controls is selected in the Shortcuts pane of the Keyboard pane, under System Preferences.
  • Option+Tab highlights the same items as Tab, plus other clickable items. To swap the behavior of Tab and Option+Tab, turn on Press Tab to highlight each item on a webpage in the Advanced pane of Safari preferences.
Focus on currently selected tooltip F2 Puts the focus on the currently opened tooltip in a persistent dialog.
Select all Ctrl+A Select all the text elements in the Process Designer window.
Clear selection Esc Clear the current selection and hide its properties.
Save Ctrl+S Save the changes.
Undo Ctrl+Z Undo the last action that you performed.
Redo Ctrl+Y Redo the last action that you undid.
Zoom in Ctrl+Plus sign (+) Zoom in on the Process Designer window.
Zoom out Ctrl+Minus sign (-) Zoom out of the Process Designer window.
Zoom reset Ctrl+0 Display the Process Designer window by using the default zoom setting.
Return focus to library item Alt+Shift+L Open the library (if it is not already open) and return the focus to the last active library item.
Return focus to open editor list Alt+Shift+D Return the focus to the drop-down list of open editors.
Return focus to the active editor Alt+Shift+E Return the focus to the active editor.
Close the active editor Alt+Shift+W Close the active editor.
Run process or service Alt+Shift+X Run the current process or service in a playback window.
Debug service Alt+Shift+S Debug the current service in the web Process Inspector.
Return focus to main toolbar Alt+Shift+M Return the focus to the main toolbar at the Library icon.
Return focus to first toolbar item in instance summary pane Alt+Shift+O Open the web Process Inspector page (if it is not already open) and return the focus to the first toolbar item in the instance summary pane.
Library shortcuts
The following keyboard shortcuts are available for the Process Designer library.
Table 2. Keyboard shortcuts that are available for the Process Designer library
Action Keyboard shortcut Description
Add item Ctrl+Enter Add a new item to the selected library category.
Open list Enter List all the existing items for the selected library category.
Move selection Up or down arrow Move the selection to the previous or next open library item.
Move focus Tab Move the focus to the next logical option in the library.
Close Esc Close the context menu for the current selection.
Expand or collapse toolkit library Right or left arrow Expand or collapse the selected toolkit library.
Open context menu Right arrow Open the context menu for the selected library item.
Shortcuts for the Validation errors and warnings view
The following keyboard shortcuts are available for the Process Designer Validation errors and warnings view.
Table 3. Keyboard shortcuts that are available for the Process Designer Validation errors and warnings view
Action Keyboard shortcut Description
Open Validation errors and warnings view Alt+Shift+v Open the Validation errors and warnings view for the current project or artifact.
Expand or collapse artifact Enter Expand or collapse the selected artifact.
Open artifact editor Ctrl+Enter Open the editor associated with the selected artifact.
Open tooltip for error message Ctrl+Enter Open the tooltip for the selected error message to display the entire message without scrolling.
Return focus to the parent artifact Ctrl+left arrow Return the focus to the parent artifact of the selected error message.
Scroll horizontally Right or left arrow Scroll to view the entire selected error message.
Shortcuts for the client-side human services editor, heritage human service editor, service flow editor, and process editor
You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to work more efficiently with diagrams when you build your Business Automation Workflow client-side human services, heritage human services, service flows, and processes.
Table 4. Diagram shortcuts that are specific to or have a specific action in the client-side human services editor, heritage human service editor, service flow editor, and process editor
Action Keyboard shortcut Description
Quick add Q Use Quick Add to add nodes to the diagram. For details, see Adding nodes to diagrams by using the keyboard in the Process Designer.
Delete Delete or Backspace Delete the selected node or connection.
Move Arrow Move the selected elements on the canvas in the direction that the arrow indicates.
Fine move Shift+Arrow Move the selected elements on the canvas one pixel in the direction that the arrow indicates.
Select Space bar Select the node or connection that has the focus.
Multiple select Ctrl+ the space bar Add or remove the focused node or connection to or from the current selection.
Clear selection Esc Clear the current selection and the currently focused node.
Select all Ctrl+A Select all the graphical elements that are in the diagram.
Connect J Connect two selected nodes.
Show context menu Shift+F10 Show the context menu for the selected element.
Switch modes F9 Switch between the edition mode and navigation mode.
  • Use the edition mode to author a process or service flow diagram by adding, removing, and connecting elements on the canvas.
  • Use the navigation mode to move between diagram elements. The navigation mode has further modes, as described for the F8 key.
Change navigation style F8 Switch between the disconnected-node navigation and connected-node navigation. Use this shortcut only in the navigation mode.
  • In the disconnected-node navigation, use the arrow keys to navigate through the nodes in your diagram, ignoring connections. You also use the disconnected-node navigation when you have disconnected nodes on your canvas. The nodes are traversed in the order in which they were created.
  • In the connected-node navigation, use the arrow keys to navigate through connected nodes and their connections. You cannot navigate through disconnected nodes by using the connected-code navigation.
Open inline editor F2 Open the inline editor for the first editable label of the currently focused graphic element.
Attach boundary event B (Applicable to service nodes only) Attach an error boundary event to the boundary of a selected node. Use the arrow keys to move the event along the boundary of the node.
Resize note Ctrl+ an arrow Resize the selected note in the direction that the arrow indicates.
Fine resize note Shift+Ctrl+ an arrow Resize the selected note one pixel in the direction that the arrow indicates.
Pan Alt+Shift+ an arrow Pan the diagram in the direction that the arrow indicates.
Zoom in Ctrl+Plus sign (+) Zoom in on a diagram area.
Zoom out Ctrl+Minus sign (-) Zoom out of a diagram area.
Zoom reset Ctrl+0 Display the current area of the diagram by using the default zoom setting.
Shortcuts for the coaches and views editor
You can use the following keyboard shortcuts to work more efficiently when you build coaches and views in the coaches and views editor.
Table 5. Keyboard shortcuts that are specific to the coaches and views editor
Action Keyboard shortcut Description
Remove items from or add items to the coach canvas Shift+F10, then the up or down arrow, and then Enter
  • Press Shift+F10 to show the context menu for the currently focused view, then press the down arrow to select Delete, and then press Enter to remove the selected view.
  • Press Shift+F10 to show the context menu, then press the down arrow to select the appropriate Add option, and then press Enter to access the view list. Use the up or down arrow keys to select a view from the list, and then press Enter to add the selected view to the coach canvas at the specified location.
Navigate between and within charts that use the UI toolkit chart views Tab, then Tab again, and then the right, left, up or down arrow.
  • Press Tab until the chart that you want is highlighted.
  • Press Tab to get focus inside the chart.
  • Use the right, left, up or down arrow keys to navigate within the chart.
    Note: To navigate the chart as described, you must use the JAWS screen reader.