What is the accelerator key, shortcut key and hot key?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mawenb
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M

mawenb

Hi All,

What is the accelerator key, shortcut key, hot key and mnemonic key on
a form?
I'm confused by these concept, who can explain them?

If I have a "&Open Ctrl + O" menu item and a button, whose text is
"&Clear".
So what is Alt + O, Ctrl+ O and Alt+C?
 
What is the accelerator key, shortcut key, hot key and mnemonic key on
a form?
Click to expand...

Keyboard accelerators are typically used together with menus. They are
shown on the right edge of the menu item, such as "Save Ctrl+S".

Shortcut is IMO a more general term that covers keyboard accelerators,
hotkeys and mnemonics.

Hotkeys are often used to bring a form/application into the front if a
certain key or sequence of keys is pressed.

Mnemonics are the underlined characters in menus' and controls' captions,
such as "&Save". They are accessible via pressing the Alt key and the
mnemonic or by simply pressing the mnemonic, depending on the exact
situation.
I'm confused by these concept, who can explain them?

If I have a "&Open Ctrl + O" menu item and a button, whose text is
"&Clear".
So what is Alt + O, Ctrl+ O and Alt+C?
Click to expand...

The first is a mnemonic, the second an accelerator, and the third is a
mnemonic too.

I may be wrong because the terms are often used as synonyms, although each
of them has a specific meaning.
 
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