Emulation is the process of imitating another program. SlickEdit® Core provides emulations of key bindings for 14 editors so that you can use the style to which you are accustomed, making your coding experience as efficient as possible.
The Key Bindings option screen allows you see what keys or key sequences are bound to what commands. Emulation charts are also available in the Help system and as printable PDF documents in the docs subdirectory of [EclipseInstallDir]/plugins/com.slickedit.windows.libs_[VERSION]/slickedit. See Key and Mouse Bindings for more information.
This section describes each emulation mode and any special notes. For a list of key bindings that open the SlickEdit® Core command line in each emulation, see Activating the Command Line.
BBEdit
Brief - This emulation relies heavily on Alt key bindings. In addition to Brief emulation support, SlickEdit Core also supports Brief regular expressions. See Brief Regular Expressions for more information.
CodeWarrior
CodeWright
CUA - CUA is an acronym for Common User Interface, a standard set of user interface guidelines similar to those used in Microsoft products. This is the default emulation mode used by SlickEdit Core.
Eclipse
Epsilon - This emulation relies heavily on Ctrl+X and Escape (meta) key bindings.
GNU Emacs - This emulation relies heavily on Ctrl+X and Escape (meta) key bindings. It does not include an Emacs Lisp emulator.
ISPF - Support is included for ISPF prefix line commands, the ISPF command line, rulers, line numbering, and some XEDIT extensions. In addition to the ISPF emulation charts, additional documentation about using this emulation is available (see Using the ISPF and XEDIT Emulations).
SlickEdit® Core (Text Mode edition)
Vim - The Vim emulation contains special keys and key sequences that are case-sensitive. A plus (+) sign separates the simultaneous key presses and a comma (,) indicates sequential key presses. For example, the key binding Ctrl+w,W, which moves the cursor to the window above, indicates to press at the same time, the Ctrl key and lowercase w, release, then immediately press Shift plus w to enter the uppercase W. Another example is the key binding gP, which pastes the text before the cursor. Press the G key (to enter a lowercase g), release, then press Shift plus p at the same time (to enter the uppercase P).
Tip
SlickEdit Core supports the vimtutor command. This opens a practice file in the editor that you can actually edit as you learn Vim commands. See Vim Tutorial for more information.
Visual C++ 6
Visual Studio default - The key bindings provided for the Visual Studio default emulation are not the same as the key bindings used in Visual C++, but there might be some overlap. If Microsoft Visual Studio does not provide a default key binding for a particular SlickEdit Core command, the corresponding Visual C++ key binding is used.
Xcode
After SlickEdit® Core is installed, you are prompted to choose an emulation. CUA is the default emulation mode for SlickEdit Core. Key bindings and shortcuts mentioned in our documentation are based on this emulation. You can change emulation modes at any time by using the Emulation Options. To access these options, from the main menu, click Window → SlickEdit Preferences, expand Keyboard in the tree, and select Emulation.
Custom key/mouse bindings for the current emulation are always saved before switching emulations. This ensures that when you return to the original emulation those bindings are automatically available. For example, if you have created and saved custom bindings in the CUA emulation, and then switch to Vim, switching back to CUA will make your custom bindings for CUA available again.
To remove custom key bindings for an emulation, resetting to the defaults, click the Restore to default key bindings button on the Emulation options page.
See Managing Bindings for more information on working with custom bindings.
When/if you switch emulations, the key bindings that are assigned to commands change according to the emulation chosen. You can use the Key Bindings option screen to look up what command is bound to what key or key sequence (or vice-versa), or you can use the SlickEdit® Core menu and command line to determine these items. See Key and Mouse Bindings and Using the Command Line to View Key Binding Associations for more information.
SlickEdit Core provides an emulation mode for the Vim text editor. If you want to learn Vim, you can use the vimtutor command. Most Vim installations come with this command, which displays a special "learn-by-doing" practice file in the editor that you can can actually edit as you learn how to use the Vim commands. This file has been customized for SlickEdit Core users.
To use the command, open the SlickEdit command line, then type vimtutor and press Enter. The practice file is displayed in the editor. Each time you use the command, SlickEdit Core creates a fresh copy of this file.
Note
You will be prompted to switch to the Vim emulation when you invoke the command if the editor is set to a different emulation. See Changing Emulations for more information.
When in the Vim emulation, you can open the SlickEdit Core command line with Ctrl+A, or in any emulation, by clicking in the message area with the mouse. See Activating the Command Line for more information.