Customization Blog Series: Designing a Ribbon Group Pop-up - Blog 1 of 2

Introduction to Ribbon Group Pop-ups and Keytips

A ribbon group pop-up is a quick menu of tools and shortcuts for speedy access in MicroStation. It is a convenient way to access some of the most commonly used tools without having to switch workflows or tabs. A ribbon group pop-up can be invoked using an assigned keyboard shortcut and is displayed at the cursor point.
The keyboard shortcut for accessing the default ribbon group pop-up is the <Space> key.

The first row in the ribbon group pop-up contains shortcuts to ribbon groups in the Home Tab. Selecting any of these shortcuts, invokes the respective ribbon group. For example, if you select the icon for Attributes, the Attributes group pops up. The second row contains the most commonly used tools such as Element Selection, Move, Copy, Rotate, Scale, etc. The third row contains shortcuts to frequently used ribbon groups. Each item in the pop-up has a shortcut key which highlights when you hover the cursor over the icon. Pressing the respective shortcut key activates the respective tool or group.

In addition to ribbon group pop-ups, there are keyboard shortcuts <Q> and <[> which open a quick tools menu. Based on your preference of the left or right side of the keyboard, either of the two can be used.

   

The tools menu displays a shortcut for the respective tool. For example, you can press <QT> or <[U> to start the Scale tool.

There is a separate ribbon group pop-up for the View tools, which displays the frequently used tools from the View tab. It is displayed when you press <Shift> and right click in the view window.

 Keytips

Another convenient way to access a workflow, tab or tool in the ribbon is with the help of Keytips. Keytips and Tab Keytips are helpful in navigating the ribbon with the help of keyboard. These are short keyboard tips that indicate which key to press to access a tool or a tab in the ribbon.

To invoke keytips, press F2 on the keyboard and the keytips are displayed in the ribbon. Keytips are available for accessing a workflow, any command from the quick access toolbar or a ribbon tab from the active workflow.

To access the Tab keytips, press F3. Tab keytips are used to access the tools in the active tab of the active workflow.

For example, to access the Place Line tool, first press F3, then press PL and then 2.

Thus, there are a variety of ways to quickly access various tools and commands in MicroStation. In the next blog we will learn to create and customize a ribbon group pop-up.