Studio Pro Overview

Last modified: April 18, 2024

1 Introduction

Mendix Studio Pro is a tool for creating, viewing, and editing your Mendix applications.

One Studio Pro instance can have only one app open at a time, but you can open two Studio Pro instances when necessary.

This document describes the user interface of Mendix Studio Pro:

Studio Pro Diagram

2 Top Bar

The Studio Pro top bar contains the following items:

In the Studio Pro top bar, you can see several menus, such as Switch-to menu, Edit, View, and Version Control. Each menu contains menu items that allow you to perform various actions, for example, to create a deployment package, set preferences, or view the Errors pane.

For more information on menus, see Menus.

2.2 Run and View App

You can deploy your app by clicking the Publish or Run Locally ( ) buttons. To view your deployed app, click View App.

View and Publish buttons

For more information on deployment in Mendix, see Deployment.

For more information on deploying your app and versioning it, see the Versioning an App Deployed to the Cloud section in Using Version Control in Studio Pro.

You can find links to the Developer Portal and Marketplace in the upper-right corner of Studio Pro.

Your profile picture is displayed next to them if you are signed in. When you click the profile picture, the drop-down menu is displayed with your full name and email, as well as links to your user profile, My Apps screen, and signing out option.

3 App Structure (App Explorer)

An app consists of individual files (documents) and settings that are grouped in folders and modules. The complete structure of your app can be viewed in the App Explorer.

4 Working Area

A working area is a current document tab that you work in. The working area and its settings differs depending on the editor (for example, pages, microflows, domain model editors) and type of the document.

4.1 Document Tabs

The documents you view and edit are shown in tabs.

You can have a number of tabs open, just like in a modern web browser. They can be closed, reordered, and shown side by side.

Each document has its own save state, history, and future, so undo and redo actions are unlimited.

5 Dockable Panes

Dockable panes can be positioned around the working area and contain various elements and settings:

Properties Pane Example

For example, you can view list of errors or run MxAssist Best Practice bot, configure properties of a specific document or an element, view toolbox. For more information on panes and their layout, see View Menu.

6 Status Bar

At the bottom of the Studio Pro main window pane is a status bar. On the left is the current status of Studio Pro:

Status Bar Example

On the right is the currently selected language. If you have set up multiple languages in your app you can change the currently selected language by clicking here. For more information see Language Menu.

7 Shortcut Keys

This section summarizes the shortcut keys available in Studio Pro. It is divided into sections which indicate where you can use the keys.

7.1 General Shortcut Keys

These keys are available in multiple places within Studio Pro and work generically.

7.1.1 Panes and Editors

These keys are active within the Dockable Panes and editors, such as the Domain Model, Pages, Workflows, Microflows, or the Navigation editor.

7.1.1.1 All Panes and Editors

You can navigate between Studio Pro panes (for example, the domain model editor or the Errors pane) using Ctrl + (Shift) + Tab. This opens a selection dialog where you can choose a pane using the mouse, Ctrl + arrow keys, or Ctrl + (Shift) + Tab. You are taken to the selected pane when you click the main mouse button or release the Ctrl key.

There are alternative ways to navigate between tabs within panes:

Key Description
Ctrl + 1 - 0 Switch to tab at selected tab position in the current window.
Ctrl + PgUp / PgDn Switch to next/previous tab in active pane.

Most menu items also have shortcut keys assigned to them that can be used in all panes. These are shown in the menus, listed in the Menu Shortcut Keys section, below, and also listed on the documentation page for each menu under Menus.

7.1.1.2 Editors Only

The following key combinations work in the editors, such as the Domain Model, Pages, Workflows, Microflow, or Navigation editor.

Key Description
Ctrl + C Copy the selected element to the clipboard.
Ctrl + V Paste the contents of the clipboard in the current editor.
Ctrl + X Move the selected element to the clipboard.
Ctrl + Y Redo the last undone action in an editor pane.
Ctrl + Z Undo the last action in an editor pane.
Alt+(Shift)+ Tab Navigate between open editors (opens pane navigation dialog where editors are called active files).
Ctrl + Mouse scroll wheel Zooms in or out.
Ctrl+(Shift)+ - Zooms in or out.
Shift + Mouse scroll wheel Scrolls left or right. Works as if you were using the horizontal scroll bar.
Ctrl + Shift + C Copy the inline styles, classes, and design properties of a widget.
Ctrl + Shift + V Paste the widget styling onto another selected widget.
7.1.1.3 Panes Only

The following key combinations work in the panes of Studio Pro:

Key Description
Ctrl+(Shift) +F7 Navigate between panes (opens pane navigation dialog where panes are called active tool windows).

7.1.2 Dialog Boxes

In most dialog boxes for editing properties, the following shortcut keys can be used:

Key Description
Ctrl + Enter Confirms all changes and closes the dialog box. Works as if the OK button was clicked. This is especially useful if the focus is on a multi-line text box; otherwise, pressing Enter will have the same effect.
Esc Cancels all changes and closes the dialog box. Works as if the Cancel button was clicked.
Ctrl + (Shift) + Tab Switches between tabs in a tabbed dialog box.

In most edit grids (such as the list of attributes in the entity properties), the following shortcut keys can be used:

Key Description
Ctrl + N Creates a new item.
Enter Edits the currently selected item.
Delete Deletes the currently selected item (or items).
↑ / ↓ Selects previous/next item.
Ctrl + ↑ / ↓ Moves selected item (or items) up/down.

7.2 Domain Model Editor Shortcut Keys

The following shortcut keys are available in the domain model editor:

Key Description
F2 Edits the name of the selected entity, attribute, or association.
Ctrl + A Selects all entities.
Ctrl When pressing the Ctrl, you can select additional entities components. Clicking a selected entity while holding Ctrl will deselect it.
Enter Edits the properties of the currently selected entity, attribute, or association in a dialog box.
Esc Clears selection.

7.3 Page Editor Shortcut Keys

The following shortcut keys are available in the page editor:

Key Description
Arrow keys Moves the selection box to the widget or element in the direction of the arrow key. For example, if currently a label is selected and you press the right arrow key, the text box to the right of it becomes selected.
Ctrl + arrow keys Moves the currently selected item up/down or left/right. This works on table columns and rows, tab pages, data grid and data view buttons, search fields, etc.
Enter Edits the properties of the currently selected object in a dialog box.
F2 Edits the caption of a label or button, or the contents of text, inline on the page. You can also just start typing a letter or a digit and the caption will be replaced by what you type.

7.4 Microflow and Nanoflow Editor Shortcut Keys

For an overview of the supported shortcut keys in the microflow and nanoflow editors, see the Keyboard Support section in Microflows. The supported shortcut keys are the same in the microflow, nanoflow, and rule editors.

7.5 Debugger Shortcut Keys

The following shortcut keys are available for the debugger:

Key Description
Alt + F5 Step into – moves the debugger into the sub-microflow/sub-nanoflow or loop.
Alt + F6 Step over – moves the debugger to the next step in the same workflow/microflow/nanoflow.
Alt + F7 Step out – instructs the debugger to leave the sub-microflow/sub-nanoflow or loop.
Alt + F8 Continue – instructs the debugger to continue until it reaches another breakpoint.
Alt + F9 Continue all – instructs the debugger to continue all currently paused microflows/nanoflows until it reaches another breakpoint.

The following shortcut keys are assigned to menu actions that can be used in all panes. These are also shown in the menus and listed on the documentation page for each menu under Menus.

Key Description
F1 Help.
F3 Highlights the next find result in the Find Results pane and open it in an editor.
Shift + F3 Highlights the previous find result in the Find Results pane and open it in an editor.
F4 Synchronizes the app directory.
Ctrl + F4 Exits.
F5 Runs the app locally so you can view the app.
Shift + F5 Stops the currently running app.
Ctrl + F5 Deploys to licensed cloud node.
F6 Deploys for Eclipse.
F7 Creates a deployment package.
F8 Highlights the next error in the Errors pane and open it in an editor.
Shift + F8 Highlights the previous error result in the Errors pane and open it in an editor.
F9 Shows the currently running app in the browser (responsive).
Ctrl + F9 Shows the currently running app in the browser (phone simulation).
Ctrl + Shift + F9 Shows the currently running app in the browser (tablet simulation).
F11 Enables and disable full screen mode.
Shift + F11 Enables and disable distraction free mode.
Ctrl + F Opens search dialog box.
Ctrl + Shift + F Opens advanced search dialog box.
Ctrl + Alt + F Displays usages of the selected object.
Ctrl + G Goes to any document or domain model element.
Ctrl + (Shift) + L Cycles through the configured languages.
Ctrl + N Creates a new document.
Ctrl + Shift + N Creates a new app.
Ctrl + Shift + O Opens an existing app or app package.
Ctrl + S Saves the changes in the currently active document tab.
Ctrl + Shift + S Saves the changes in all open documents.
Ctrl + W Closes the current document.
Ctrl + Shift + W Closes all document tabs.
Delete Deletes the selected element.

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