General Information on the Expecco User interface

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Personal Settings[Bearbeiten]

Many aspects of the UI can be adjusted to your personal style via the settings dialog ("Extras" - "Settings"). Setting parameters are stored in a file in your home folder "~/.expecco/.expeccoPreferences", where "~" stands for your home folder. The home folder is typically "/home/<yourName>" on Linux systems, "/Users/<yourName>" on macOS, and "c:\users\<yourName>\Documents" on MS-Windows systems.

The entry tab of the settings dialog shows the name of your settings file and provides a link to inspect its contents.

The settings file contains mostly UI-related parameters, but a few attributes which affect the execution are also stored there (for example, debugging flags, which control if a debugger should be opened in case of errors). It is possible to use different settings files by giving the "--settings" command line argument. To create a different settings file, use the "Save As..." menu item in the settings dialog.

Keyboard Focus[Bearbeiten]

The keyboard focus window is the (sub-) window, which processes your keyboard input. Unless explicitly set via the "Extras"-"Settings"-"Look & Feel" dialog, the default behavior is initially set according to the operating system's usual default behavior. This is different between Unix and MS-Windows systems:

- in Unix/Linux, the keyboard focus usually follows the mouse. I.e. you do not need to click into a window to change the focus. Just move the mouse pointer over or into that window.

- in Windows, the focus remains in a window, until some other window is clicked.

In most cases, this default setting corresponds to the user's expectations. However, if you prefer the other style, change this in the above mentioned settings dialog (eg. if you are used to one style, but you have to deal with the other system type).

Most Useful Keyboard Shortcuts[Bearbeiten]

  • Ctrl-c (Copy)
  • Ctrl-x (Cut)
  • Ctrl-v (Paste)
  • Ctrl-z (Undo)
  • Ctrl-y (Redo)
  • Ctrl-g (Goto Line)
  • Ctrl-f (Find)


  • Ctrl-+ (Zoom In)
  • Ctrl-- (Zoom Out)
  • Ctrl-Shift-+ (Zoom In All)
  • Ctrl-Shift-- (Zoom Out All)

  The following shortcuts work in the diagram editor:

  • Ctrl-n (New Step)
  • Ctrl-e (Freeze Pin with Environment Variable)
  • Ctrl-p (Toggle Pin's is-Parameter Attribute)

A full list is found in: "Common Keyboard Shortcuts". Shortcuts of individual editors are found in the corresponding editor's description.

Click vs. Press[Bearbeiten]

Some UI components behave differently between click and press. In this context, "click" means: "a short click with immediate release of the mouse button", whereas "press" means: "press and keep the mouse button pressed".

The tree view on the left (where you select the action being edited), is one, which does differentiate between click and press. If "clicked", it will select the element and present corresponding editors on the right. If "pressed", it waits for the release. If there is a mouse-movement before you release the button, it will initiate a "drag & drop" operation, to either move the selected element(s) within the tree, or to instantiate the element(s) inside the diagram editor. Thus, to create a new step in the diagram editor, "press-and-move" an element from the tree into the diagram.

Sometimes this behavior is inconvenient or difficult to handle (e.g. when the tree needs scrolling, or if you do not have a mouse but a trackpad, which is harder to control). In this case, use one of the two "separate tree for drag & drop" buttons. The first opens a separate "hovering" window, which stays on top and can be positioned anywhere on the screen. The second splits the tree into a top part for selection, and a bottom part for drag and drop. Each of the two can then be scrolled individually (see more below).

Navigation Tree / Drag & Drop vs. Selection[Bearbeiten]

The navigation tree (on the left) serves two operations:

  • to select the element to be edited (show & manipulated in the right section)
  • to serve as a drag & drop source to move elements into a test-plan, a diagram or another position in the navigation tree.

This was done to make best use of limited screen space, but is sometimes a little annoying, if you loose the selection. To make drag & drop easier (and save from changing the selection), the navigation tree offers "tear-off" and "split" toolbar buttons. Both will open an extra navigation tree which will ONLY serve as a drag & drop source. Either as a separate floating window (hovering above the expecco UI) or as a split-tree below the original navigation tree. (see more above)



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