Keyboard Navigation in VEXcode V5 on Windows (Experimental)

VEXcode offers a keyboard-only mode for creating and editing Blocks projects. This guide covers the essential keyboard commands for navigating the interface, manipulating blocks, and adjusting parameters in VEXcode.

The keyboard-only mode is currently in its experimental phase. Users may encounter occasional inconsistencies as our development team actively refines and enhances this feature.

Current Blocks not compatible with the keyboard-only mode:

  • Switch Blocks
  • New Variables or My Blocks can not be created with the keyboard-only mode.

Enable Keyboard Navigation

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics tutorials, showcasing various block types and their connections for programming tasks.

To enable keyboard navigation, press the Shift + Ctrl + k keys at the same time. When keyboard navigation is enabled, the Block that's highest on the workspace will be highlighted.

To disable keyboard navigation, press Shift + Ctrl + k again.

Add a Block from the Toolbar

Diagram illustrating various blocks used in V5 robotics, showcasing their functions and connections for educational purposes in the Blocks Tutorials section.

1. Press T on the keyboard, then press S to open the Toolbox. Use S to scroll down and W to scroll up through the Block categories in the Toolbox.

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing various block types and their connections for programming tutorials.

2. Navigate to the section containing the Block you want to add to the workspace.

Diagram illustrating the various types of blocks in V5 robotics, showcasing their functions and connections, as part of the Blocks Tutorials section in the V5 Category Description.

3. Press D to move from the Toolbox scroll bar to the Blocks. Then press S until you reach the desired Block.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics programming, showcasing their functions and connections for educational purposes in the Blocks Tutorials section.

4. Press Enter to add the Block to the workspace.

Change Where Blocks are Added on the Workspace

The location where Blocks are added to the workspace can be changed by doing the following:

Diagram illustrating various block components and their functions in VEX V5 robotics, used in the Blocks Tutorials section to aid understanding of programming concepts.

1. Press A to select the stack.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics tutorials, showcasing their connections and functionalities for educational purposes.

2. Press A again to go to the cursor select.

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks for programming tutorials, showcasing various block types and their connections, designed to enhance understanding of VEX robotics programming.

3. Hold Shift and use WASD (W and S move up and down, A and D move left and right) to move the cursor to where you want the new Block to be added.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing their functions and connections for educational purposes in blocks tutorials.

4. Press Enter to save the cursor's current location.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing their functions and connections in a tutorial format for enhanced understanding of programming concepts.

5. Use the steps from above to scroll through the Toolbox and add a Block to the workspace.

Attach a Block to a Stack

Diagram illustrating V5 Blocks tutorials, showcasing various block types and their connections in a visual format, designed to aid users in understanding block programming concepts.

1. Press D to go into the stack.

Diagram illustrating the various types of blocks in V5 robotics, showcasing their functions and connections for educational purposes in the Blocks Tutorials section.

2. Press W and S to move up and down through the Blocks until you reach the desired attach point. Press Enter to save the attach point.

A blue line will appear in the stack to show where the attach point was saved.

Diagram illustrating the various block types and their functions in VEX V5 robotics, as part of the Blocks Tutorials section.

3. Press A to return to Block selection.

Diagram illustrating V5 block components and their functionalities in the context of VEX robotics, as part of the Blocks Tutorials section.

4. Use W and S to navigate to the Block you want to attach.

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing various block types and their connections in a tutorial format for educational purposes.

5. Press i to attach the block.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks and their functions in robotics programming, as part of the V5 Category Description in the Blocks Tutorials section.

You can select an attach point and attach a Block directly from the Toolbox. Follow the steps above to mark an insertion point. Once marked, pressing Enter on any block in the Toolbox will attach it at that point.

Diagram illustrating V5 block components and their functionalities in the Blocks Tutorials section of the VEX Knowledge Base.

If the selected Block is incompatible with the marked attach point, the attach point will be discarded. Instead, the Block will be added to the workspace at its default location.

Detach Blocks from a Stack

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics tutorials, showcasing various block types and their functions, designed to aid users in understanding programming concepts for VEX robotics.

1. Select the Block in the stack that you want to detach.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics programming, showcasing their functions and connections in a tutorial format for understanding V5 category components.

2. Press X to detach the Block and any attached Blocks beneath it.

Edit Block Parameters

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks tutorial concepts, including various block types and their connections, designed to support understanding of VEX robotics programming.

1. Press D to enter the block and access its first parameter.

Diagram illustrating V5 block components and their functions in the VEX robotics system, used in the Blocks Tutorials section to enhance understanding of programming concepts.

2. Use W and S to navigate through the block's parameters.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics programming, showcasing their functions and connections in a tutorial format for better understanding of V5 Category Description.

3. Press T on the keyboard, then press S to open the Toolbox. Use S to scroll down and W to scroll up through the Toolbox.

Edit Text Inside a Non-Comment Block

Diagram illustrating V5 Blocks tutorials, showcasing various block types and their functionalities in VEX robotics programming.

1. To edit text inside of a Block, navigate to the circular highlight to the left of the text field.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks and their functionalities for robotics programming, featured in the V5 Category Description under the Blocks Tutorials section.

2. Press D to go inside the text field parameter.

Diagram illustrating V5 block components and their functions in the context of V5 Blocks Tutorials, showcasing various block types and their connections for educational purposes.

3. Press S to select the text field.

Illustration of VEX V5 blocks used in programming tutorials, showcasing various block types and their connections for educational purposes in robotics.

4. Press D to select the text.

Diagram illustrating V5 block components and their connections, used in the Blocks Tutorials section of the V5 Category Description.

5. Press Enter to start typing in the field. Once you are finished, press Esc to deselect the text field.

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing various components and their connections, as part of the Blocks Tutorials section in the V5 Category Description.

6. Press A twice to go back to the parameter select.

Edit Text Inside a Comment Block

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks and their functionalities, used in the context of V5 Category Description under Blocks Tutorials, showcasing various block types and connections for educational purposes.

1. Once the stack that the Comment Block is inside is selected, press D to select the Comment Block. 

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks and their functionalities, used in the context of V5 Category Description and Blocks Tutorials, showcasing various components and connections for educational purposes.

2. Press D again to select the Comment Block's text field.

Diagram illustrating V5 block components and their functions, used in the context of V5 Category Description and Blocks Tutorials, showcasing various block types and connections for educational purposes.

3. Press Enter to start typing and press Esc once you are finished to save what was written.

Note: Pressing Enter to type inside a Comment Block will delete all text that was previously in the text field.

Add "and don't wait" to the End of a Block

Illustration of various V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing their functions and connections in a tutorial format for educational purposes.

For any Block that has the "and don't wait" option (the arrow) at the end of it, go into the Block's parameters and navigate the parameters until the highlight disappears. Pressing Enter will enable the "and don't wait" option. Pressing Enter again will disable it.

Attach Blocks Inside of Other Blocks

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics tutorials, showcasing various block types and their connections for programming tasks.

1. Press D to go inside the Block's parameters and use or W to navigate through the Block's parameters until a highlighted circle beside the parameter you want to fill with the Block appears.

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics, showcasing their functions and connections for educational tutorials.

2. Press Enter to save that parameter as the attach point.

Diagram illustrating V5 blocks used in robotics tutorials, showcasing various components and their connections for educational purposes.

3. Using the steps above, navigate through the Toolbar to select the Block you want to insert into the parameter. Press Enter on the Block to insert it.

Start and Stop the Project

Diagram illustrating various V5 blocks used in robotics tutorials, showcasing their connections and functions for educational purposes.

Once you are finished coding your project, you can use keyboard shortcuts to activate the project:

  • Ctrl + Enter will start the project.
  • Ctrl + e will stop a running project.
  • Ctrl + h will open the help documentation for Blocks.

For more information, help, and tips, check out the many resources at VEX Professional Development Plus

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