Keyboard Navigation in VEXcode IQ on Mac (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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks for building and controlling VEX IQ robots, designed for educational use and beginner robotics enthusiasts.

To enable keyboard navigation, press the shift + control + 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 + control + k again.

Add a Block from the Toolbar

Screenshot of a VEXcode IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks for building and controlling VEX IQ robots, aimed at educational users and beginners in robotics.

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.

Screenshot of VEXcode IQ Blocks interface showing programming blocks and workspace, illustrating a tutorial for VEX IQ Robotics platform, aimed at educators and students learning robotics concepts.

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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks programming tutorial, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions for educational robotics projects.

3. Press D, then press S until you reach the desired Block.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building robotic projects, aimed at educational purposes for beginners in robotics.

4. Press return 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:

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building educational robotics projects, aimed at beginners and educators in the VEX IQ Robotics platform.

1. Press A to select the stack.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building educational robotics projects, designed for beginners and educators in the VEX IQ ecosystem.

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

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions for educational robotics projects.

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.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks programming tutorial, showcasing various coding blocks and their functions, aimed at helping beginners understand programming concepts for the VEX IQ Robotics platform.

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

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functionalities for educational robotics projects.

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

Attach a Block to a Stack

Screenshot of the VEX IQ Blocks Tutorials interface, showcasing various programming blocks and options for users to learn and create robotics projects using the VEX IQ platform.

1. Press D to go into the stack.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks used for coding VEX IQ robots, with examples and instructions to help educators and students learn robotics concepts effectively.

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

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

Screenshot of VEXcode IQ Blocks interface showcasing various programming blocks for the VEX IQ Robotics platform, illustrating tools and resources available for educational robotics projects and tutorials.

3. Press A to return to Block selection.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks for robotics education, designed for beginners and educators to enhance understanding of VEX IQ components and coding concepts.

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

Screenshot of VEXcode IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and options for users to create and control VEX IQ robots, relevant to the Blocks Tutorials section in the VEX IQ knowledge base.

5. Press i to attach the block.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and features for educational robotics, designed to assist beginners in learning coding concepts and building projects with the VEX IQ platform.

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 return on any block in the Toolbox will attach it at that point.

Screenshot of a VEXcode IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks for VEX IQ Robotics, designed for educational use and beginner robotics enthusiasts, highlighting features for building and programming robots.

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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks programming tutorial, showcasing a visual programming interface with various coding blocks, designed to help educators and students learn robotics concepts using the VEX IQ platform.

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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building and controlling robots, aimed at helping educators and students learn robotics concepts using the VEX IQ platform.

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

Edit Block Parameters

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building and controlling VEX IQ robots, aimed at educators and students learning robotics concepts.

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

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions, designed to assist educators and students in learning robotics concepts through visual programming.

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

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions for educational robotics projects.

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 the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various coding blocks and their functions for educational robotics projects, as part of the Blocks Tutorials section in the VEX IQ knowledge base.

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

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions for educational robotics projects.

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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building robotics projects, designed for educational use by beginners and educators in the VEX IQ Robotics platform.

3. Press S to select the text field.

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various blocks and their functions for educational robotics programming tutorials.

4. Press D to select the text.

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and coding options for building and controlling VEX IQ robots, designed for educational purposes and beginner robotics enthusiasts.

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

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions for educational robotics projects.

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

Edit Text Inside a Comment Block

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ robotics system components and their connections, used in Blocks Tutorials for educational purposes in robotics programming and building.

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

Screenshot of VEXcode IQ Blocks interface, showcasing programming blocks for VEX IQ robotics projects, illustrating options for building and programming robots in educational settings.

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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building and controlling VEX IQ robots, aimed at educational purposes and beginner robotics enthusiasts.

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

Note: Pressing return 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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for educational robotics projects, aimed at beginners and educators in the VEX IQ ecosystem.

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 return will enable the "and don't wait" option. Pressing return again will disable it.

Attach Blocks Inside of Other Blocks

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks and options for building and controlling VEX IQ robots, designed for educational purposes and beginner robotics enthusiasts.

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 the VEX IQ Blocks programming interface, showcasing various programming blocks and their functions, designed to aid educators and students in learning robotics concepts within the VEX IQ platform.

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

Screenshot of a VEX IQ Blocks tutorial interface, showcasing programming blocks for educational robotics, aimed at beginners and educators to enhance understanding of VEX IQ system functionalities and project development.

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

Start and Stop the Project

Diagram illustrating the VEX IQ Robotics platform components and programming concepts, featured in the Blocks Tutorials section of the VEX IQ knowledge base, aimed at educating beginners in robotics and enhancing their understanding of the VEX IQ system.

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

  • + return will start the project.
  • + e will stop a running project.
  • + 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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