The Sourcetrail 2020.1 release introduces Keyboard-based Navigation for the graph and code views. Additionally, the new release simplifies the Project Setup by removing steps in the Source Group setup and offers an AppImage package for Linux.

Sourcetrail's user interface with keyboard focus in the graph view.

This is our first major release since our switch to Open-Source. We want to thank everyone that helped us improve Sourcetrail with their contribution or by becoming a Patron!

New in this Release:

Keyboard-based Navigation : Added keyboard-based navigation to graph and code views

: Added keyboard-based navigation to graph and code views Project Setup : Removed steps in Source Group setup

: Removed steps in Source Group setup Linux AppImage : Provide AppImage package for Linux with our downloads

: Provide AppImage package for Linux with our downloads Python Indexer Updates : See Changelog

: See Changelog Fixes & Improvements: see Changelog

You can download Sourcetrail 2020.1 here. The full changelog is available here. As usual, going into some more detail, I will now outline the most important updates new in this release.

Keyboard-based Navigation

This has been on the list for years and over time many users provided suggestions as to how this could be implemented in Sourcetrail. We looked at different navigation methods within other editors or graphical navigation tools and went for a rather simple approach that we hope will satisfy both newcomers and experienced users.

This update not only introduced new keyboard shortcuts, but also altered existing ones. We hope that longtime users will be happy about those changes. For a full list of all shortcuts please check our documentation or our Keyboard Shortcuts help dialog (Help -> Keyboard Shortcuts).

This is the biggest update to our user interface in years. We think that it is an essential improvement and hope that you will like it too!

Focus Switching between Views

There is always one view that has the current keyboard focus, which is indicated by a horizontal line at the top of the view. Focus is switched between the views either by interacting with the mouse cursor of by using shortcuts:

Action Shortcut Switch focus between graph and code views Tab Move focus to search view Ctrl + F

Graph View Navigation

The graph indicates which node has the current keyboard focus with a thick border around the node. Initially the active node receives the focus, otherwise the top-most node in the view. The keyboard navigation allows you to move the focus between nodes or edges and subsequently activate them or activate them in a new tab. Nodes with children and bundled nodes can be expanded and collapsed.

Sourcetrail's user interface with keyboard focus in the graph view.

Keyboard navigation in the graph view:

Action Shortcut Move focus within nodes WASD | HJKL | Arrows Move focus within edges Shift + WASD | Shift + HJKL | Shift + Arrows Activate node/edge Enter | E Activate node in new tab Ctrl + Shift + Enter | Ctrl + Shift + E Expand/collapse node Shift + Enter | Shift + E Pan Ctrl + Arrows Zoom in Ctrl + Shift + Up | Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Up Zoom out Ctrl + Shift + Down | Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Down

Code View Navigation

The code view also indicates the current active location with a thick border at that location. Focus can be moved to locations in next/previous lines or within the same line. When holding down the Shift key it’s possible to jump to the locations of currently active references. In snippet mode you can also expand the snippet scope or expand/collapse displayed snippets. Similarly to the graph view, code locations can be activated or activated in a new tab.

Sourcetrail's user interface with keyboard focus in the code view.

Keyboard navigation in the code view:

Action Shortcut Move focus within code WASD | HJKL | Arrows Move focus to closest reference Shift + WASD | Shift + HJKL | Shift + Arrows Activate location Enter | E Activate location in new tab Ctrl + Shift + Enter | Ctrl + Shift + E Expand snippet scope Enter | E Collapse/expand snippet Enter | E Scroll Ctrl + Arrows

Thanks for reading, we hope that you like our progress!

We also want to thank our Patrons for funding our development since our switch to Open-Source!

If you like what we are doing please also support us on Patreon:

Become a Patron

The next milestone on our bug tracker already shows what is planned for our upcoming release.

Don’t forget to download the new release.

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