Keyboard Shortcuts

What This Chapter Covers

This chapter lists the keyboard and mouse actions that actually work in PAIO, grouped by screen area. The names of screen areas and dialogs follow 21. Glossary. It also marks the keys whose menu label differs from their real behavior, and the keys that behave differently depending on the situation. For the layout of each area itself, see 05. UI Layout and Navigation.

On macOS, read Ctrl below as Cmd. Keys that are not in these tables are not registered, and text editing areas follow the browser's default behavior.

PAIO shortcuts come from two sources. One is the accelerators registered by the native application menu, which is not visible on screen (Ctrl+N, Ctrl+O, zoom, F11, and so on). The other is the keys each editor handles directly within its own area. The distinction is described in 05.1.1.

18.1 Global

These keys work on any screen in the application.

Shortcut	Action	Notes
Ctrl+N	New Project	An accelerator registered by the native menu. If no workspace is open, the workspace selection dialog appears first
Ctrl+O	Open Workspace...	An accelerator registered by the native menu. It behaves differently inside the canvas editors and the Markdown editor (see 18.11)
Ctrl+S	Save the active editor	Each editable editor handles this itself. A Ctrl+S that no editor handles saves through the same path as the menu Save
Ctrl+Z	Undo	Each editable editor handles this itself and reverts the single edit history that each project has. On a non-editable tab the physical key does nothing (see 18.11)
Ctrl+Y	Redo	Editable editors and the configuration dialogs also accept Ctrl+Shift+Z for the same action
Ctrl+X / Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V	Cut / Copy / Paste	These target text input. The Edit menu items run the browser clipboard commands
Ctrl+A	Select all	This targets text input. The Explorer and the IVC canvas have their own behavior
Ctrl+B	Toggle the sidebar (project Explorer)	The code editor registers the same key as Build
Ctrl+`	Toggle the terminal panel	If no terminal exists, one is created
Ctrl+J	Toggle the terminal panel	The menu label reads Toggle Panel, but the actual target is the terminal
Ctrl+Shift+P	Open or close the command palette
F11	Toggle full screen	An accelerator registered by the native menu
Alt+F4	Close the window	The OS handles this window close; it is not a key the application registers. If there are unsaved changes, the save confirmation appears first

18.1.1 Keys That Appear in the Menu but Do Nothing Globally

The following table lists the keys that are written in the menu but do not respond globally.

Shortcut	Menu label	Actual behavior
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save As...	Does nothing globally. It works only inside the IVC editor and the DataType editor
Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0	Zoom In / Out / Reset Zoom	Clicking the menu item and pressing the key change the zoom level in different ways (see 05.7)
Ctrl+J	Toggle Panel	Toggles the terminal panel, not the Utility panel. There is no shortcut that opens the Utility panel

18.2 Graphical Editors (IVC · VFB)

Both editors receive the same keys, but the range in which they actually work differs. In the table below, "does nothing" means that pressing the key has no effect at all. In that case the browser's default behavior is blocked as well.

18.2.1 Keyboard

Shortcut	IVC	VFB
Ctrl+S	Save	Save
Ctrl+Z	Undo	Undo
Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo	Redo
Esc	Clear the selection	Clear the selection
Delete / Backspace	Delete the selected items	Does nothing (use DELETE in the context menu)
Ctrl+A	Select all	Does nothing
Arrow keys	Move the selected items by 1 px	Does nothing
Shift + arrow keys	Move the selected items by 20 px (one grid cell)	Does nothing
Ctrl+Shift+S	Save IVC Diagram dialog	Does nothing
Ctrl+O	Open IVC Diagram dialog	Does nothing
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V / Ctrl+X	Does nothing (copying and pasting nodes is not provided)	Same

The canvas handles Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Shift+S, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+Z, and Ctrl+Y even when a field in the properties panel has focus. The undo and redo keys remove focus from the field first, so the value you were typing is committed as one operation and then reverted. The other keys (Delete, Ctrl+A, the arrow keys, and so on) are ignored while a field has focus.

Even when you move several nodes at once with the arrow keys, undo reverts them in one step.

If you press Esc while dragging a waypoint, the drag is canceled and the path returns to its original shape instead of the selection being cleared. No operation is recorded in the edit history in that case.

Ctrl+O in IVC does not open a workspace. When the IVC canvas has focus, a dialog for selecting another IVC topology file opens, and the file you choose is loaded into the current IVC editor. Likewise, Ctrl+Shift+S saves the IVC model to an arbitrary path, so you can create a file outside the project folder.

18.2.2 Mouse

Mouse operations on the canvas are as follows.

Operation	Action
Left-drag on empty space	Pan the view
Middle-button drag	Pan the view
Space + left-drag	Pan the view
Wheel (no modifier)	Pan vertically (behaves like scrolling a document)
Shift + wheel	Pan horizontally
Ctrl + wheel	Zoom (0.1x to 4.0x, centered on the cursor)
Shift + drag	Connection mode
Ctrl + click	Multi-select (toggle)
Double-click	Per-node configuration dialog / composition drill-down
Right-click	Context menu

The canvas has no rectangular marquee selection. Left-dragging on empty space pans the view.

18.3 Configuration Dialogs

These keys apply to the IVC node, cluster, and switch configuration dialogs and to the VFB Machine Configuration, ECU Configuration, SWC Internal Behavior, and AA Internal Behavior dialogs.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+Z	Undo inside the dialog
Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo inside the dialog
Esc	Closes the innermost open UI, or the dialog itself if nothing else is open

The hierarchy rule for Esc is as follows. If a transient UI such as a dropdown, a popup menu, or an inline editor is open, that closes first and the dialog stays. Press the key again and the dialog closes. If you try to close it with unsaved changes, the Do you want to save the changes? confirmation appears first, and you choose among Save, Don't Save, and Cancel.

The scope of Ctrl+Z differs from dialog to dialog.

• The VFB Machine Configuration, ECU Configuration, SWC Internal Behavior, and AA Internal Behavior dialogs fall through to the project edit history once the internal history is empty. Ctrl+Z works even right after a save, when the internal history has been cleared.
• The IVC node, cluster, and switch configuration dialogs do not fall through. When the internal history is empty, Ctrl+Z does nothing. A key these dialogs consume is not passed outward either, so to revert an earlier edit, close the dialog first and then undo.

The internal history of a configuration dialog keeps up to 50 steps, in both IVC and VFB.

18.4 Table-Based Model Editors

The six Signal, System, Interface, DataType, Module Definition, and Module Config (ECUC) editors are built from lists and a properties panel rather than a canvas. All six share the save, undo, and redo keys.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+Z	Undo (project edit history)
Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+Shift+Z	Redo

The undo and redo keys commit the value you were typing as one operation and then revert it. As a result the whole field edit is reverted, and the browser's character-by-character undo does not interfere.

Each editor adds the following keys.

Editor	Shortcut	Action
DataType	Ctrl+Shift+S	Opens the Save DataTypes dialog to save to another path
Interface	Delete / Backspace	Deletes the selected interface
Module Definition	Delete / Backspace	Deletes the selected definition node (module nodes excluded)
Module Config	Delete / Backspace	Deletes the selected container instance
Module Config	Ctrl+D	Duplicates the selected container instance
Module Config	F2	Moves focus to the first field (Name) in the properties panel and selects its value

The Delete keys are ignored while a field, a text area, or a combo box has focus.

In a list you can move between rows with ArrowUp and ArrowDown. The type list and unit list in DataType, the interface list in Interface, and the frame list and signals grid in Signal all use this behavior.

The reach of these keys splits into two cases. System and DataType receive keys from the whole window while that editor is visible, and the other four require focus inside the editor area.

18.5 Code Editor (C / C++ / Rust)

The keys used in the code editor are as follows.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+B	Build
Ctrl+F5	Build & Run
Shift+Alt+F	Format Document
Alt+O	Switch Header/Source (.c ↔ .h, .cpp ↔ .hpp, and so on)
Ctrl + click	Go to definition. If the language server is not running, it opens the target file for #include lines only

Other editing shortcuts follow the Monaco defaults. For the build flow in detail, see 16. Code Editing, Build, Terminal and Documents.

18.6 XML / ARXML Editor

The keys used in the XML / ARXML editor are as follows.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+S	Save
Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y	Undo / Redo (Monaco's own history)
Shift+Alt+F	Format XML

Ctrl+S and the undo and redo keys work only in edit mode. A file opens in view mode by default, so click the eye icon at the left of the toolbar first to switch to edit mode. In view mode the save, undo, redo, and format buttons on the toolbar are disabled as well.

For a .dbc file the format button is not shown. Only the button is hidden, however: the Shift+Alt+F key remains live, so if you put a .dbc file in edit mode and press this key, the XML formatting function runs.

In edit mode, typing < suggests the child elements that the AUTOSAR schema allows, through autocompletion.

18.7 Markdown Editor

The keys used in the Markdown editor are as follows.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+S	Saves the document. If it has never been saved, the save location dialog appears
Ctrl+T	Opens a new document (if you are already editing one, it opens in a separate tab)
Ctrl+O	Opens a Markdown file selection dialog and opens the file you choose in a separate tab

These three keys work only while the Markdown editor is visible.

The tooltips on the bold and italic buttons read Bold (Ctrl+B) and Italic (Ctrl+I), but those keys do not work in this editor. Apply formatting with the toolbar buttons. The toolbar has six of them: B, I, S (strikethrough), H (heading), <> (inline code), and - (bullet list).

18.8 Explorer

Mouse operations in the project Explorer are as follows.

Operation	Action
Click	Select
Ctrl + click	Multi-select (toggle)
Shift + click	Range select
Double-click	Opens the node in the editor that fits it
Right-click	Context menu
Click the arrow (chevron)	Expand / collapse
Drag	Move. Only file and folder nodes can be dragged

The keys used while a node has focus are as follows.

Shortcut	Action
Enter / Space	Expands or collapses the node if it has children, otherwise opens it in an editor
ArrowRight	Expands a collapsed node
ArrowLeft	Collapses an expanded node
Delete	Deletes the selected file or folder (a confirmation dialog appears)
Ctrl+C	Copy
Ctrl+X	Cut
Ctrl+V	Paste
Ctrl+A	Select all visible nodes

Delete does not work on structural nodes such as the workspace, a project, or a fixed folder. Deletion is restricted to files and folders to keep a fixed folder from being removed by mistake.

18.9 Tabs

The operations available on editor tabs are as follows.

Operation	Action
Click / Enter / Space	Activate the tab
Middle-button click	Close the tab
Right-click	Close / Close Others / Close Saved / Close All
Drag onto the tab bar	Reorder (within the same group) or move between groups
Drag onto the right half of the body	Split left and right, then move to the new group
Drag onto the left half of the body	Move to that group without splitting

While the tab context menu is open, move between items with ArrowUp, ArrowDown, Home, and End, run an item with Enter or Space, and close the menu with Esc.

Splitting is supported left and right only. There is no operation that splits top and bottom. Take care with Close Others and Close All in the context menu: they close tabs without asking whether to save (see 05.3.3).

18.10 Command Palette

The keys used in the command palette are as follows.

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+P	Open / close
ArrowDown / ArrowUp	Move between items
Tab / Shift+Tab	Move between items
Enter	Run the selected command
Esc	Close

Of the 30 commands registered in the palette, 13 do nothing when run. Which ones they are, and what to use instead, is described in 05.6 Command Palette.

18.11 Conflicts and Pitfalls to Know

This section collects the keys that behave differently depending on the screen area.

Key	Behavior by situation
Ctrl+B	In the code editor it is registered as Build. Elsewhere it toggles the sidebar
Ctrl+O	Default → Open Workspace / IVC canvas → load an IVC model file / VFB canvas → nothing / Markdown editor → open a Markdown file
Ctrl+Shift+S	Default → nothing / IVC canvas → Save IVC Diagram / DataType editor → Save DataTypes
Ctrl+J	The menu label says Utility panel, but it actually toggles the terminal panel
Ctrl+A	Text input → select all / Explorer → select all visible nodes / IVC canvas → select all / VFB canvas → nothing
Delete	Explorer → delete files and folders / IVC canvas → delete the selected items / VFB canvas → nothing / Interface, Module Definition, Module Config → delete the selected items
Esc	An open dropdown or menu → close it / nothing open → close the dialog / on a canvas → clear the selection (cancel the drag if a waypoint is being dragged)
Ctrl+Z	Editable editor → project edit history / configuration dialog → the dialog's internal history first (see 18.3) / code and XML editors → Monaco's own history / image and text viewers → nothing

Model edits collect into a single project history, whichever editor you made them in. However, the physical Ctrl+Z is handled by each editor, so if a tab with no edit history, such as the image viewer, is active, pressing the key does nothing. In that case use the Edit ▸ Undo menu item or Undo in the command palette. That path reverts the most recent model edit even when the active tab is a non-editable editor, and it moves the view to the editor that edit belongs to. You can check the name of the operation to be reverted in the Edit menu, and see the full list in the History tab of the Utility panel (see 05.4.1).