The Function Bar

Although many operations in Probe can be performed using the mouse, experienced users often feel that operating the program using the keyboard is more effective. Probe has been designed to minimize the situations where you need to switch between keyboard and mouse interface.

To help learning the keyboard accelerators of Probe, the Function Bar has been provided. All major file operations in Probe are mapped to the function keys in the F1 to F10 range, in combination with qualifiers, such as Shift, Alt, Ctrl. The Function Bar provides a mapping between the Fn (meaning any of F1 to F10) and the file operation it represents.

See also: Reference Manual, The Function Bar

Fig 1: The Function Bar

The primary goal of the Function Bar is to be a reminder on what keyboard accelerator is associated with a given function. But if the 'F7 - New Directory' button is pressed, the F7 command is invoked, that is, the 'New Directory' dialog will appear.

Since many of the accelerators are qualified with Shift, Alt or Ctrl, the Function Bar is context sensitive, so that when, for example, the Ctrl key is pressed, the F1 to F10 functions qualified by Ctrl will be displayed. In fig 1, note that in the left most corner of the Function Bar, it is written 'None' with tiny red letters, indicating that no qualifier currently is pressed. In fig 2, the Ctrl key has been pressed, and the word Ctrl is written in this corner, again in red. So the Function Bar this time display all available Ctrl qualified function keys.

Fig 2: The Function Bar when 'Ctrl' is pressed

The button with a symbol is the Accelerator Guide, another small tool for finding the keyboard accelerator for a particular operation.

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