Learn how to change the keyboard shortcut mappings in Dreamweaver.
Dreamweaver includes many keyboard shortcuts to Dreamweaver features. The default keyboard shortcuts are listed in the menus.xml file and are created for the U.S. keyboard. Due to the number of shortcuts provided in Dreamweaver, certain nonalphanumeric shortcuts (characters other than a-z or 0-9) require remapping for international keyboards. For this purpose, Dreamweaver comes with several XML files that define keyboard shortcut mappings for international keyboards. These XML files are located in the Configuration\Menus\Adaptive Sets folder. When Dreamweaver detects an international keyboard connected to the computer, it automatically resets the keyboard shortcuts to the mappings file for that keyboard. If the appropriate file is not available for the keyboard layout, Dreamweaver removes any shortcuts that do not work on that keyboard layout.
The keyboard shortcut mappings files are named using a two-letter language code of the keyboard layout they represent. For example, the file for the German keyboard layout is de.xml. If a language has different keyboard layouts for different countries, the mappings file uses the two-letter language code followed by a dash (“-”) and a two-letter country code as its filename. For example, fr-ca.xml is the filename for the Canadian French keyboard layout. The two-letter language codes are defined in ISO 639 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_639_codes) and the country codes are defined in ISO 3166 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1_alpha-2).
When the active keyboard language setting changes in your computer, Dreamweaver checks whether an appropriate keyboard shortcut mappings file exists for that keyboard’s country and language. Dreamweaver checks for a country-specific mappings file first, and then, if the file does not exist, Dreamweaver checks for a file for that language. For example, if you have connected a Canadian French keyboard to your computer, Dreamweaver first looks for fr-ca.xml for Canadian French keyboard layout. If it does not exist, Dreamweaver looks for fr.xml. The following table lists the mappings files provided with Dreamweaver.
Filename |
Windows platform |
Macintosh platform |
|---|---|---|
ca.xml |
Catalan |
Catalan Spanish |
de.xml |
German (Germany, Austria) |
Austrian, German |
de-ch.xml |
German (Switzerland) |
Swiss German |
es.xml |
Spanish (International Sort) Spanish (Traditional Sort) |
Spanish - ISO |
fr.xml |
French (France) |
French |
fr-ca.xml |
French (Canada) |
Canadian - CSA |
fr-ch.xml |
French (Switzerland) |
Swiss French |
it.xml |
Italian (Italy) Italian (Switzerland) |
Italian - Pro |
it-mac.xml |
N/A |
Italian |
ja.xml |
Japanese |
Japanese |
nl-be.xml |
Dutch (Belgium) French (Belgium) |
Belgian |
zh-cn.xml |
Chinese (PRC) Chinese (Singapore) |
Simplified Chinese |
If you are using a keyboard layout other than the ones provided by Dreamweaver, you can create a mappings file for your specific keyboard and place it in the Configuration\Menus\Adaptive Sets folder.
Make a copy of one of the keyboard mappings files in the Configuration\Menus\Adaptive Sets folder, and name the file using the appropriate 2-letter language name for your keyboard layout with .xml extension.
When making a copy of an existing file, copy a keyboard mappings file that is close to your keyboard layout. For example, if you create a keyboard mappings file for the Swedish keyboard, you can copy the de.xml. The Swedish keyboard layout is similar to the German keyboard layout.
Move the new keyboard mappings file you created to a folder other than the Configuration\Menus\Adaptive Sets folder.
Open the keyboard mappings file in Dreamweaver.
Remove or add shortcut tags for your keyboard layout.
To decide which keyboard shortcut tags you want to modify, you can compare the shortcuts set for the U.S. keyboard with those set for your language.
After making your changes to the keyboard shortcuts, save the file and move it back to the Configuration\Menus\Adaptive Sets folder.
Switch the active keyboard language setting of your computer to your language, if it is not already set. The active language is set through the operating system of your computer. For example, in Windows you can select the language through the Control Panels.
Start the Dreamweaver Keyboard Shortcut Editor by clicking Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
Click the Export Set as HTML button in the upper right of the dialog box.
The Save As HTML file dialog appears prompting you to enter a name for the keyboard shortcut summary file of your current keyboard layout.
After saving the summary file, dismiss the Keyboard Shortcut Editor dialog box.
Switch the keyboard layout to the U.S. keyboard using your computer’s operating system.
Start the Dreamweaver Keyboard Shortcut Editor by clicking Edit > Keyboard Shortcuts.
Click the Export Set as an HTML file button in the dialog.
After saving the summary file, close the Keyboard Shortcut Editor dialog box.
Now, you can print the two keyboard shortcut summary files and compare them to see all the shortcuts that Dreamweaver removed for your language keyboard layout. You have to reassign the removed shortcuts with new shortcuts using keys available only on your keyboard layout.
With the information you get from comparing the two files, you can update your keyboard layout mappings file by adding or removing shortcut tags for each shortcut that you want to reassign.
The following example shows the format of the French keyboard mappings file (fr.xml):
<shortcutset language="French"> <shortcut key="Cmd+[" newkey="Cmd+ù"/> <shortcut key="Cmd+]" newkey="Cmd+)"/> <shortcut platform="win" key="Cmd+Shift+>" newkey="Cmd+Opt+Shift+,"/> <shortcut platform="mac" key="Cmd+Shift+>" newkey="Cmd+<"/> <shortcut platform="win" key="Cmd+Shift+<" newkey="Cmd+Shift+,"/> <shortcut key="Cmd+'" newkey="Cmd+Shift+=" /> ... </shortcutset>
The syntax for the keyboard layout XML file:
<shortcutset language="language_name"> <shortcut key="key_combination" newkey="key_combination"/> <shortcut platform="op_system" key="key_combination" newkey="key_combination"/> </shortcutset>
Where:
language_name is the language of the keyboard, such as French, Spanish, German, etc.
key_combination is the keyboard shortcut, such as Cmd+[, Cmd+Shift+>, Ctrl+$.
key specifies the keyboard shortcut to be replaced.
newkey specifies the keyboard shortcut to replace the key.
platform=op_system is the system for which the shortcut applies. Specify either win or mac. If no platform is specified, the shortcut applies to both platforms.
