AutoHotKey

I hate having to switch from keyboard to mouse, mouse to keyboard, so my preference is to use keyboard shortcuts whenever they are available.   When they are not natively available I’m currently using AutoHotKey to create my own.

The main application I’m using AutoHotKey with is Sparx EA, and created my first AutoHotKey Macro to simplify extracting statements from source documents to improve traceability, and also give me a standard set of shortcut keys for creating new elements.

My AutoHotKey Macro has been updated to support Sparx EA 13, and no longer supports previous versions.

Installing and configuring the Macro

1. Download and install the latest version of AutoHotKey
2. Download my AutoHotKey Macro for EA 13
3. Place it in your My Documents folder and rename the file to AutoHotKey.ahk (remove the .txt)
   • or copy and paste it’s contents to any existing AutoHotKey macro you have
4. Run AutoHotKey (strongly suggest adding AutoHotKey to your startup menu)
5. Open Sparx EA
6. Select a Package in your Package Browser and press [Ctrl + 1] on your number pad
7. You will see the Dialog “The requested Element was not found”
8. Pressing “OK” will cause AutoHotKey to loop through different  Toolsets of Elements that your configuration of Sparx EA supports, recording their positions in the menu.   Once this is completed a file AutoHotKeyEA.config will be created in your My Documents folder.  (*Note: You should NOT need to configure AutoHotKey again UNLESS you change what Toolsets you have active/installed)
9. You should now be able to use my AutoHotKey Macro.
10. Again, Select a Package in your and press [Ctrl + 1] on your number pad,
    • you should now see the New Element Dialog Box open,
    • the Requirements Toolset should be selected,
    • and the fields filled in for a Business Requirement
11. You can now type in the name of the new Business Requirement, or hit cancel.

Default HotKeys

The Ctrl Key plus a Key listed in the table below.