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Welcome again to another BizTalk Server Best Practices, Tips, and Tricks blog post! In my previous blog posts, I discussed some essential tips and tricks for BizTalk Server administrators:
And for BizTalk Server Developers:
Today we are going to switch and speak about another critical Best practice, Tips, and Tricks, this time for BizTalk Server developers: Orchestration Designer Shortcut Keys
#18 Orchestration Designer Shortcut Keys
The Orchestration Designer design surface provides full accessibility using the keyboard. This accessibility begins when you open the design surface, which you can do in Visual Studio by selecting menu options starting with the New option on the File menu.
Accessibility is also supported within the design surface, where, for example, you can select different shapes and parts of shapes by pressing the Up and Down arrows. When a shape is selected on the design surface, it is highlighted on the design surface and in the Orchestration View window (if applicable). At the same time, the Properties grid also displays information about the selected shape.
Orchestration Designer supports accessibility by providing many shortcut keys. Different shortcut keys are available depending on what part of the design surface you use.
You can also use many of the existing shortcuts available in Visual Studio, for example, when you are using Microsoft IntelliSense in the BizTalk Expression Editor.
Shortcut Keys General to the Design Surface
| Key | Effect |
| TAB | Moves the selection and focus to the shape with inactive selection in the next design surface area on the right (the Process Area or Port Surface). Example: Selection and focus are currently on a port in the left Port Surface. When the TAB key is pressed, selection and focus move to the shape with an inactive focus in the Process Area. |
| SHIFT + TAB | Same as TAB, but in the opposite direction. |
| PAGE DOWN | Scrolls the page down so that later parts of the orchestration are shown. Selection and focus do not change. |
| PAGE UP | Same as the PAGE DOWN key, but in the opposite direction. Selection and focus do not change. |
| SHIFT + PAGE DOWN | Horizontally scrolls the entire design surface to the left by set increments. Selection and focus do not change. |
| SHIFT + PAGE UP | Same as SHIFT + PAGE DOWN except that the design surface scrolls to the right. Selection and focus do not change. |
| ENTER | Performs the default action for the selection, which usually means shifting focus to the Properties grid. |
| SPACE | Selects the shape that currently has the focus. There is no effect if the focus is on a shape connector. |
| CTRL + SHIFT + F1 | Toggles between expansion and collapse of the Smart Tag of a selected shape. UP and DOWN ARROW can then be used to move through the items of a Smart Tag. When expanded, the Enter or Space keys execute the related action of a Smart Tag item (as well as collapsing the Smart Tag). |
| DELETE | Deletes the current selection. |
Shortcut Keys Specific to the Process Area
| Key | Effect |
| DOWN ARROW | Moves the selection to the next connecting line or shape below. If the shape is connected to several branches below (as in the case of a Decide shape), the selection moves to the first shape in the leftmost branch. If selection is on the End shape for the orchestration, pressing this key has no effect because there are no more shapes below it. If selection is on the Return shape within a branch of a complex shape, the next shape is the endpoint of the complex shape. |
| UP ARROW | Moves the selection to the next connecting line or shape above. If the shape is connected to several branches above, the selection moves to the last shape on the leftmost branch (even if the last shape of the branch is a Return shape). Pressing this key has no effect when the Start shape is selected. |
| LEFT ARROW | If the selection is on a Send or Receive shape and the shape is connected to a port: If the shape has a port connector leading to a port in the Left Port Surface, focus and selection shift to the port connector of the shape. If the shape has a port connector leading to a port in the Right Port Surface, pressing this key has no effect. If the shape has no port connector, navigation is the same as with any other shape. For other shapes (or Send or Receive shapes not connected to a port): If the selection is in a branch, and a branch exists with shapes on it to the left of the current branch, the selection moves to the nearest shape on the branch to the left. The key has no effect anywhere else in the orchestration. |
| RIGHT ARROW | Same as the LEFT ARROW key, but in the opposite direction. |
| HOME | The selection changes to the connector that leads from the Start shape of the orchestration. |
| END | The selection changes to the connector, leading to the orchestration’s End shape. |
| NUM LOCK + – | Collapses the selected complex shape. |
| NUM LOCK + + | Expands the selected complex shape. |
| NUM LOCK + * | Expands the selected complex shape, plus any child complex shapes it may have. |
Shortcut Keys Specific to the Port Surfaces
| Key | Effect |
| DOWN ARROW | If a Role Link has the focus, it shifts to the first port inside. If no ports are inside the Role Link, the focus shifts to the next port or Role Link below it. If a port has the focus, it shifts to the next port or operation below it. If an operation has the focus, it shifts to its first operation part. For the template, the focus shifts to the next port. If an operation part has the focus, it shifts to the next operation part, operation, or port below it. There is no effect if no more objects exist below the current one. |
| UP ARROW | Same as the DOWN key, but in the opposite direction. There is no effect if no more objects exist above the current one. |
| RIGHT ARROW | Left Port Surface: If an operation part has the focus, it goes to the first port connector leading out of it. If there are no connections on the current operation part, pressing this key has no effect. If an operation has the focus, the focus goes to the first port connector of the operation’s first part that has a connection. If there are no connections in the operation, pressing this key has no effect. If a port connector gets the focus, whatever was selected in the Port Surface receives inactive selection. Right Port Surface: No effect. |
| LEFT ARROW | Same as the RIGHT ARROW key, except in the opposite directions (that is, no effect for the left Port Surface, and the focus can go onto a port connector for the right Port Surface). |
| HOME | Focus and selection shift to the first shape in the channel. |
| END | Focus and selection shift to the last shape in the channel. |
Shortcut Keys Specific to Port Connectors
| Key | Effect |
| RIGHT ARROW | Port connectors leading to the Left Port Surface: Focus and selection shift to the connecting Send or Receive shape. The port connector is deselected. Port connectors leading to the Right Port Surface: Focus and selection shift to the connecting operation part. In this case, whatever has a selection in the Process Area now receives an inactive selection. |
| LEFT ARROW | Same as the RIGHT ARROW key, except directions are reversed. |
| DOWN ARROW | Focus and selection shift to the port connector on the next operation part. If the last connector on the last port has focus, pressing this key has no effect. |
| UP ARROW | Same as the DOWN ARROW key, except in the opposite direction. If the first connector has focus, pressing this key has no effect. |
| HOME | Focus shifts to the shape connector leading out of the Start shape. |
| END | The focus shifts to the shape connector leading into the End shape. |
| DELETE | The port connector is deleted. This clears the Port Operation property on the Send or Receive shape. Focus shifts to the affected Send or Receive shape. |
I hope you enjoy this developer tip and stay tuned for the following BizTalk Server Best practices, Tips, and Tricks.
