UltraEdit, UltraCompare, UEStudio forums

Mofi wrote:As I found out now starting with UE v15.00 it is possible to press Ctrl+(Shift+)Tab, but the button Assign is then disabled and therefore it is not possible to assign this key code to a command. In UE v14.20.1.1008 (last v14.20) assigning Ctrl+(Shift+)Tab is no problem. I reported this problem by email to IDM.

Sorry for bringing a thread back from the dead but this is the problem I'm encountering in UEStudio 11.00 on Windows 7. While I understand the stack system is preferable for some I'd love to be able to reassign WindowNextTabDocument and WindowPreviousTabDocument to <ctrl><tab> and <ctrl><shift><tab> respectively.

Do you recall if there was a response to your query with regards to reassigning <ctrl><tab> and <ctrl><shift><tab>?

I have just received that my report was added to the issue database. It looks like it is extra coded that Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab cannot be assigned to any command. I don't really know why. I have just some suppositions from my own experience with predefined Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab accelerator assignments in Microsoft's libraries.

Hello

I usually have a bunch of tabs open at any one time. I notice that when I hit CTRL+TAB to cycle through the open documents, UltraEdit v15.10 seems to go from the oldest to the most recent (eg. Edit1 → Edit2 → Edit3), which is a pain because I sometimes/often reshuffle the tabs (eg. Edit1 → Edit3 → Edit2).

Is it possible to reconfigure UE so that it goes through the open tabs in the order they currently are displayed instead of the order in which they were created?

Thank you.

UE v17.30.0.1014

CTRL+TAB (Next Tab) is a Windows function as is CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (Prev Tab). The left to right (or right to left for Prev Tab) behavior works the way you expect in Internet Explorer. If a tabbed browser window is moved in the order, it is opened based on that new position, not when it was first opened.

As you noted, UE does not conform to this method. Tabs are cycled through in the order that they were originally opened in despite where they are moved to. This seems to indicate that a key value is set when the file is opened and not changed when the tab is moved.

Except that sometimes CTRL-TAB behavior changes and I'm not sure that it works as the programmers intended.

Open some files, move a tab or two around and press CTRL-TAB and note the order that the tabs are selected. Now open an IE session, open a couple of tabs and CTRL-TAB through them. Go back to the UE session and CTRL-TAB now goes in a different order. Edit something and watch the CTRL-TAB order. Click on some tabs in any order you choose. Sometimes order changes and sometimes it doesn't. After playing with it for a while the tab order was so confused that it went A-B-C-D-C-B-A

Right, in Internet Explorer 8 the key combination Ctrl+Tab is assigned to command Next Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to Previous Tab.

In UltraEdit Ctrl+Tab is assigned to command WindowNextWindow (according to active document window history) instead of command WindowNextTabDocument and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to command WindowPreviousWindow instead of WindowPreviousTabDocument as I have explained already in detail on the referenced topic.

Why this difference? I don't know. Either Microsoft has changed that in IE, or IDM has defined that different in UE. I really don't know. I think, more common is nowadays next/previous document according to file tabs as in the past (some years ago) next/previous window according to window history was more common. This change in behavior is mainly caused by the browsers as these are used nowadays by nearly all computer users. I have watched in the last 5 years that applications more and more adapt the interface of browsers.

Well, if just a few files are open (1 to 5), Ctrl+Tab assigned to WindowNextTabDocument would be most often more useful and easier to use by UltraEdit users. But on the other hand with let's say 20 files open and switching between file 2, file 18 and file 12 currently needed the behavior of Ctrl+Tab executing WindowNextWindow is much better.

However, it is still not possible in UE v18.00.0.1034 to change the assignments of Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to WindowNextTabDocument and WindowPreviousTabDocument. If it would be possible to assign Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to commands as it was already possible in some versions of UltraEdit, every user could configure them as needed. The question is now how many user have requested by email to IDM support the possibility to reconfigure these 2 hotkeys. I have reported it once although I never use Ctrl+Tab. I prefer the other hotkeys for the 4 commands which can be configured.

Thanks guys for the infos.

Often times I will have 5 to 10 panes open in UltraEdit. I would like to toggle between the pane I am working in and then switch to the previous pane change something and then toggle back to the previous pane.

For example I can open to Notepad.exe windows. I can then "Alt+Tab" and toggle back and forth.

I would like to do this in UltraEdit. I have found:
Alt+UpArrow -- Window Previous Tab Doc.
Alt+DnArrow -- Window Next Tab Doc.
Ctrl+F6 -- WindowNextWindow - Make the next document window active
Ctrl+Shift+F6 -- WindowsPreviousWindow - Make the previous document window active

None of these work like I want. Any ideas? Thanks.

I do not see where there is a problem. What you want to do is possible, but not with a single command like Alt+Tab does for applications. The multi-document interface of Microsoft offers for this task the commands Next (Document) Window with standard hotkey Ctrl+F6 and Previous (Document) Window Ctrl+Shift+F6. All Windows applications using Microsoft's MDI support this method.

A detailed step by step description how these 2 commands of MDI works. Let's assume you have 10 files open.

• The active file is file 2. You want to switch to file 8.
• You need to do this the first time with mouse clicking on file tab of file 8.
  Or you open menu Windows (by key) and press the key of the document window listed at bottom you want to jump to. Usually there are only the last 4 document windows listed, either in order of the file tabs (special feature of UltraEdit) or in recent used order (MDI default enabled by checking configuration setting Old-style window list at Advanced - Configuration - Application Layout - Advanced).
  There is also the command Windows in menu Window listing all document windows for activating or closing. That's also a standard feature of Microsoft's MDI and in UltraEdit a hotkey or chord can be assigned to the WindowListWindows command too.
  And another document window can be activated also directly via Open list in File Tree View.
• Switching back to file 2 can be done with Ctrl+F6.
  That's confusing, I know that. Command Next Window moves back to previous document. It is easier to understand this behavior by enabling Old-style window list and looking on list at bottom of menu Window to better understand this behavior as designed by Microsoft. The document window of the file active before current active file is at top of the list of document windows. The command Next Window activates the document windows in this list from top to bottom. The command Previous Window activates the document windows in reverse order from bottom to top. In my point of view it would be more intuitive that Ctrl+F6 is assigned to command Previous Window and Ctrl+Shift+F6 to command Next Window. That can be done in UltraEdit. But be aware that doing this in UE could confuse you if you use these two hotkeys in other applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, Adobe Reader or browser too.
• Now you want to switch again to file 8. This time Ctrl+Shift+F6 must be used and not Ctrl+F6.
• To switch back to file 2 it is needed to use again Ctrl+F6.
• To switch back to file 8 it is needed to use again Ctrl+Shift+F6.

In other words you can switch between the 2 last activated document files by using alternately Ctrl+F6 and Ctrl+Shift+F6.

Why has Microsoft in MDI managed the document window list not like the application list so always the same command can be used to switch between 2 document windows? Sorry, I don't know.

More thread archeology. I'm running UE 21.30 and can't believe that Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab cannot be assigned to switch between tabs. (I could have sworn I used to switch between tabs using those keys, though.)

I use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab in every other application... Every browser I use, Directory Opus, WebSite-Watcher, and everything in between. All of these apps either use Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab by default, or they allow the keys to be configured accordingly.

Why not allow Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to be used, and let users choose which tab order method is used?

Everyone wrote:Why not allow Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to be used, and let users choose which tab order method is used?

Mofi wrote:This is different to behavior in browsers as written several times in this topic as in browsers Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab switch in file tab order forward and backward.

Just to add a clarifying point: Browsers don't only take Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to switch in file tab order. As "Everyone" alluded to, browsers often let you configure exactly what order these keys use, particularly when using a browser add-on like Tab Mix Plus, which is hugely popular in Firefox.

With Tab Mix Plus in Firefox, Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab can be configured to behave just like Alt-Tab and Alt-Shift-Tab do in Windows; that is, switch in most recently used order, and temporarily hover a list of all apps in such order, with Alt-Tab-Tab-Tab going to the third-most-recently-used app while displaying a big list on the screen before I release Alt, with no need to bring the first- and second-most-recently-used apps to the front or into focus. In Firefox with Tab Mix Plus and with the options I've chosen to set, it's exactly the same - the big list stays up until I release Ctrl. (And when I specifically want to go to the tab just to the left or right, ignoring recent order, I use Ctrl-PgUp and Ctrl-PgDown instead.)

So, we should focus on making the clear request regarding the kinds of behaviors we're interested in, and the full configurability of such, in hopes that IDM will implement it.

One of the reasons that it's useful to have missing feature, with a preview of tabs and their order before you release ctrl (as happens in Firefox Ctrl-tab and Windows Alt-tab), is that you can jump, say, the 3rd most recently used tab to the front, without affecting the 2nd most recently used tab. I.e.:

Assume order is A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Ctrl-Tab

Now order is B-A-C-D-E-F-G

Ctrl-Tab

Now order is back to A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Ctrl-Tab-Tab-Tab

Now order is D-A-B-C-E-F-G. D got pulled to front without affecting any other order.

Ctrl-Tab

Now order is A-D-B-C-E-F-G

And now I can flip back and forth between A and D as much as I want with Ctrl-Tab.

With Ctrl-F6-style tab switching, you can't pull D up to the front like that, without changing the order of everything along the way. I.e.:

A-B-C-D-E-F-G

Ctrl-F6, Ctrl-F6, Ctrl-F6

Now order is D-C-B-A-E-F-G

So A is moved far away in order to get to D. To get back to A I have to Shift-Ctrl-F6 3 times...which pushes D back 3 places.

So, there's three ways:

1. Ctrl-F6 / Ctrl-Shift-F6 style
   (one at a time, order of most recently used, every press changes order)
2. Alt-up / Alt-down style (in my browser this is Ctrl-Pgup / Ctrl-Pgdown)
   (one at a time, order of tab placement, order doesn't change)
3. Alt-tab{-tab...} / Alt-shift-tab{-tab...} style
   (goes to nth most recently used depending on number of tab presses before releasing modifier key, changes order of selected tab upon release)

It sounds like UtraEdit supports the first two ways, and not the third way.

Separate issue is that UE doesn't allow you to reassign meaning of Ctrl-Tab/Ctrl-Shift-Tab. But that still wouldn't provide access to the third way.

I want to be able to configure Ctrl-(Shift)-Tab to move between tabs in a linear fashion. My customized keystrokes are shown below. Configuring Ctrl-(Shift)-Tab is not available. I would like that. So it is the same keystrokes as many other applications that I use.

Ctrl+PGDN ... Previous file tab
Ctrl+PGUP ... Next file tab