MAXScript Editor - Defining Custom Keyboard Shortcuts

The Tabbed MAXScript Editor introduced in 3ds Max 2008 lets you define your own custom keyboard shortcuts in addition to the hard-coded shortcuts listed in the topic MAXScript Editor - Keyboard Shortcuts

Definition:

Custom keyboard shortcuts can be defined in the file MXS_Editor.properties which is easily accessible via the Tools > Open Global Options File menu item. See MAXScript Editor - Properties File Settings for all options.

Scroll down and locate the section remarked as

# User defined key commands

This section contains some existing keyboard shortcut definitions.

The definition starts with

user.shortcuts=\

and is a '|' delimited list of keys and the commands they produce.

To place each command on a new line, add a backslash \ at the end of each line.

FOR EXAMPLE,

user.shortcuts=\
Ctrl+Shift+V|IDM_PASTEANDDOWN|\
Ctrl+PageUp|IDM_PREVFILE|\
Ctrl+PageDown|IDM_NEXTFILE|

The commands are either strings or numeric IDs - see List of Editor Key Commands and List of Editor Menu Commands.

Numeric IDs above 2000 are Scintilla commands and are sent to the focussed pane.
Named IDs and numeric IDs below 2000 are SciTE menu commands.
The modifier keys are Ctrl, Shift, and Alt
The named keys are Left, Right, Up, Down, Insert, End, Home, Enter, Space, Tab, KeypadPlus, KeypadMinus, KeypadMultiply, KeypadDivide, Escape, Delete, PageUp, PageDown, Slash, Question, Equal, Win.

NOTE:Changes to user-defined keyboard shortcut definitions will become active only after a restart of 3ds Max!

Adding a new user-defined keyboard shortcut

Let’s assume you want to add a keyboard shortcut for the editor feature "Clear All Bookmarks". This feature is listed in the Search menu but does not have a keyboard shortcut assigned.

Locate in the List of Named IDs the one called "IDM_BOOKMARK_CLEARALL". Since all existing Bookmark-related shortcuts use the Function Key F2 , let's assign the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+SHIFT+F2 to the Clear All Bookmarks feature by adding to the user.shortcuts definition in the MXS_Editor.properties file:

user.shortcuts=\
Ctrl+Shift+V|IDM_PASTEANDDOWN|\
Ctrl+PageUp|IDM_PREVFILE|\
Ctrl+PageDown|IDM_NEXTFILE|\ Ctrl+Shift+F2|IDM_BOOKMARK_CLEARALL|

Press CTRL+S to save the MXS_Editor.properties file.
Restart 3ds Max.
Open the Editor, load a script file and set several bookmarks using Ctrl+F2.
Hold down Ctrl and SHIFT and press F2 - all bookmarks will be cleared!

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