Access Database Design & Programming, 3rd Edition

Chapter 9. The Visual Basic Editor, Part II

In this chapter, we conclude our discussion of the Visual Basic Editor. Again, I remind the reader that she may want to read quickly through this chapter and refer to it later as needed.

Navigating the IDE

If you prefer the keyboard to the mouse (as I do), then you may want to use keyboard shortcuts. Here are some tips.

General Navigation

The following keyboard shortcuts are used for navigating the IDE:

F7	Go to the Code window.
F4	Go to the Properties window.
Ctrl-R	Go to the Project window.
Ctrl-G	Go to the Immediate window.
Alt+F11	Toggle between Access and VB IDE.

Navigating the code window at design time

Within the code window, the following keystrokes are very useful:

F1	Help on the item under the cursor.
Shift+F2	Go to the definition of the item under the cursor. (If the cursor is over a call to a function or subroutine, hitting Shift+F2 sends you to the definition of that procedure.)
Control+ Shift+F2	Return to the last position where editing took place.

Tracing code

The following keystrokes are useful when tracing through code (discussed later):

F8	Step into
Shift+F8	Step over
Ctrl+Shift+F8	Step out
Ctrl+F8	Run to cursor
F5	Run
Ctrl+Break	Break
Shift+F9	Quick watch
F9	Toggle breakpoint
Ctrl+Shift+F9	Clear all breakpoints

Bookmarks

It is also possible to insert bookmarks within code. A bookmark marks a location to which we can return easily. To insert a bookmark, or to move to the next or previous bookmark, use the Bookmarks submenu of the Edit menu. The presence of ...