Hi,

I know about code completion in the IDE and it works perfectly! However, to invoke it I need to press CRTL-space every time which is somewhat cumbersome. Is there a setting in the IDE that would invoke completion automatically on keypress?

An example in sublime:
https://packagecontrol.io/readmes/img/7817a05605c38e4d70852b0552f2656251ae12cf.gif

TIA!

Regards, Darius
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It can auto invoke after you enter a dot "form1."
But otherwise not.

See https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=33054

This patch seems to realize exactly the behavior I described. However, I tried applying it and about one third to half of it failed as it is fairly old. There are really not many visual leads for me in the current code to position the changes, so I guess that I won't be able to create a new updated patch, based on the existing patch.

There must be good reasons why this feature is not yet implemented, but for me (Iḿ sure others as well, as all major IDE's support it by default) this will boost productivity when working with Lazarus.

On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 10:55 PM Martin Frb via lazarus <

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I have found that in order to get a list of available methods and properties of an identifier to select from you have to stop for a second or two after typing in its name until the IDE sort of "selects" the identifier (it will get a grayish background). Then when you hit the period the list appears.

But if you type the period immediately after the object name nothing happens....

Hi!

Attached a (still) naive patch that implements automatic completion upon keypress. It's already giving me a big boost in productivity so I thought I might share it here. It would be good to make the identifier invocation a bit smarter. For instance I would like to prevent invocation in case the word is part of a string or comment. Also it should auto hide after the first character gets deleted by backspace. Any tips or hints how to use the codetools to get the required information is appreciated!

Rgds, Darius Blaszyk

On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 10:55 PM Martin Frb via lazarus <

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Now with attachment! 😀

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Index: ide/editoroptions.pp
===================================================================
--- ide/editoroptions.pp (revision 61726)
+++ ide/editoroptions.pp (working copy)
@@ -1406,6 +1406,7 @@
   TEditorOptions = class(TIDEEditorOptions)
   private
     FBlockTabIndent: Integer;
+    fAutoShowCompletion: Boolean;
     FCompletionLongLineHintInMSec: Integer;
     FCompletionLongLineHintType: TSynCompletionLongHintType;
     FMiddleTabClickClosesOthersModifier: TShiftState;
@@ -1702,6 +1703,8 @@
       write FAutoRemoveEmptyMethods default False;
     property CompletionLongLineHintInMSec: Integer
              read FCompletionLongLineHintInMSec write
FCompletionLongLineHintInMSec;
+    property AutoShowCompletion: Boolean
+             read fAutoShowCompletion write fAutoShowCompletion;
   published
     property CompletionLongLineHintType: TSynCompletionLongHintType
              read FCompletionLongLineHintType write
FCompletionLongLineHintType
@@ -5006,6 +5009,11 @@
       XMLConfig.GetValue('EditorOptions/CodeTools/AutoRemoveEmptyMethods',
False);
     FCompletionLongLineHintInMSec :=
 XMLConfig.GetValue('EditorOptions/CodeTools/CompletionLongLineHintInMSec',
0);
+
+    fAutoShowCompletion :=
+      XMLConfig.GetValue('EditorOptions/CodeTools/AutoShowCompletion',
False);
+    DebugLn('TEditorOptions: Load Editor option AutoShowCompletion %s',
[BoolToStr(fAutoShowCompletion, True)]);
+
     FCompletionLongLineHintType := DefaultCompletionLongLineHintType;

XMLConfig.ReadObject('EditorOptions/CodeTools/CompletionLongLineHintType',

                          Self, Self, 'CompletionLongLineHintType');

@@ -5207,6 +5215,13 @@
XMLConfig.SetDeleteValue(
'EditorOptions/CodeTools/CompletionLongLineHintInMSec',

       FCompletionLongLineHintInMSec, 0);

+
+ DebugLn('TEditorOptions: Write Editor option AutoShowCompletion %s', [BoolToStr(fAutoShowCompletion, True)]);
+ XMLConfig.SetDeleteValue(
+ 'EditorOptions/CodeTools/AutoShowCompletion',
+ fAutoShowCompletion, False);
+
+

 XMLConfig.WriteObject('EditorOptions/CodeTools/CompletionLongLineHintType',
                          Self, nil, 'CompletionLongLineHintType');

Index: ide/frames/editor_codetools_options.lfm
=================================================================== --- ide/frames/editor_codetools_options.lfm (revision 61726) +++ ide/frames/editor_codetools_options.lfm (working copy) @@ -16,10 +16,10 @@
AnchorSideLeft.Control = AutoCompletionDelayLabel
AnchorSideLeft.Side = asrBottom
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoCompletionDelayLabel
- Left = 172
- Height = 15
- Top = 156
- Width = 83
+ Left = 212
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 168
+ Width = 107
BorderSpacing.Left = 20
Caption = 'AutoDelayLabel'
ParentColor = False
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@
AnchorSideRight.Side = asrBottom
Left = 0
Height = 3
- Top = 56
+ Top = 60
Width = 634
Anchors = [akTop, akLeft, akRight]
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@
AnchorSideLeft.Control = Owner
AnchorSideTop.Control = Owner
Left = 6
- Height = 19
+ Height = 21
Top = 6
- Width = 210
+ Width = 263
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoRemoveEmptyMethodsOnSave'
@@ -55,9 +55,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoDisplayFuncProtoCheckBox AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 19
- Top = 87
- Width = 198
+ Height = 21
+ Top = 93
+ Width = 245
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoToolTipSymbToolsCheckBox'
@@ -68,9 +68,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoRemoveEmptyMethodsOnSave AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 19
- Top = 31
- Width = 179
+ Height = 21
+ Top = 33
+ Width = 225
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoCompleteBlockCheckBox'
@@ -81,9 +81,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoToolTipSymbToolsCheckBox AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 19
- Top = 112
- Width = 182
+ Height = 21
+ Top = 120
+ Width = 230
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoToolTipExprEvalCheckBox'
@@ -96,8 +96,8 @@
AnchorSideRight.Control = Owner
AnchorSideRight.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 30
- Top = 172
+ Height = 39
+ Top = 186
Width = 622
Frequency = 250
Max = 4000
@@ -116,9 +116,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = DbgToolTipAutoCastClass
AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 15
- Top = 156
- Width = 146
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 168
+ Width = 186
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoCompletionDelayLabel'
@@ -131,8 +131,8 @@
AnchorSideRight.Control = Owner
AnchorSideRight.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 30
- Top = 276
+ Height = 39
+ Top = 312
Width = 622
Frequency = 250
Max = 4000
@@ -150,9 +150,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoHintDelayTrackBar
AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 15
- Top = 260
- Width = 148
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 294
+ Width = 188
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'CompletionDropDownLabel'
@@ -162,10 +162,10 @@
AnchorSideLeft.Control = CompletionDropDownLabel
AnchorSideLeft.Side = asrBottom
AnchorSideTop.Control = CompletionDropDownLabel
- Left = 174
- Height = 15
- Top = 260
- Width = 177
+ Left = 214
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 294
+ Width = 225
BorderSpacing.Left = 20
Caption = 'CompletionDropDownDelayLabel'
ParentColor = False
@@ -177,12 +177,12 @@
AnchorSideBottom.Control = Owner
AnchorSideBottom.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 23
- Top = 308
+ Height = 29
+ Top = 353
Width = 220
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 2
- ItemHeight = 15
+ ItemHeight = 0
Style = csDropDownList
TabOrder = 7

   end

@@ -192,9 +192,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = CompletionDropDownHint
AnchorSideTop.Side = asrCenter
Left = 232
- Height = 15
- Top = 312
- Width = 171
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 359
+ Width = 216
BorderSpacing.Around = 6
Caption = 'CompletionDropDownHintLabel'
ParentColor = False
@@ -204,9 +204,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoToolTipExprEvalCheckBox AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 26
- Height = 19
- Top = 131
- Width = 159
+ Height = 21
+ Top = 141
+ Width = 198
BorderSpacing.Left = 20
Caption = 'DbgToolTipAutoCastClass'
TabOrder = 8
@@ -215,9 +215,9 @@
AnchorSideLeft.Control = Owner
AnchorSideTop.Control = ToolTipBevel
Left = 6
- Height = 19
- Top = 62
- Width = 191
+ Height = 21
+ Top = 66
+ Width = 241
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoDisplayFuncProtoCheckBox'
@@ -228,9 +228,9 @@
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoCompletionDelayTrackBar AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 15
- Top = 208
- Width = 106
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 231
+ Width = 135
BorderSpacing.Left = 6
BorderSpacing.Top = 6
Caption = 'AutoHintDelayLabel'
@@ -243,8 +243,8 @@
AnchorSideRight.Control = Owner
AnchorSideRight.Side = asrBottom
Left = 6
- Height = 30
- Top = 224
+ Height = 39
+ Top = 249
Width = 622
Frequency = 250
Max = 4000
@@ -262,12 +262,25 @@
AnchorSideLeft.Control = AutoHintDelayLabel
AnchorSideLeft.Side = asrBottom
AnchorSideTop.Control = AutoHintDelayLabel
- Left = 132
- Height = 15
- Top = 208
- Width = 92
+ Left = 161
+ Height = 17
+ Top = 231
+ Width = 117
BorderSpacing.Left = 20
Caption = 'AutoHDelayLabel'
ParentColor = False

   end

+ object AutoShowCompletionDropDown: TCheckBox
+ AnchorSideLeft.Control = Owner
+ AnchorSideTop.Control = CompletionDropDownHint
+ AnchorSideTop.Side = asrBottom
+ Left = 6
+ Height = 21
+ Top = 388
+ Width = 243
+ BorderSpacing.Left = 6
+ BorderSpacing.Top = 6
+ Caption = 'AutoShowCompletionDropDown'
+ TabOrder = 10
+ end
end
Index: ide/frames/editor_codetools_options.pas
=================================================================== --- ide/frames/editor_codetools_options.pas (revision 61726) +++ ide/frames/editor_codetools_options.pas (working copy) @@ -45,6 +45,8 @@

     AutoHintDelayTrackBar: TTrackBar;
     AutoDisplayFuncProtoCheckBox: TCheckBox;
     AutoHintDelayLabel: TLabel;

+ AutoRemoveEmptyMethodsOnSave1: TCheckBox;
+ AutoShowCompletionDropDown: TCheckBox;

     DbgToolTipAutoCastClass: TCheckBox;
     CompletionDropDownHintLabel: TLabel;
     CompletionDropDownHint: TComboBox;

@@ -105,6 +107,8 @@

   CompletionDropDownHint.Items.Add(lisCompletionLongLineHintTypeRightOnly);

 CompletionDropDownHint.Items.Add(lisCompletionLongLineHintTypeLittleLeft);
   CompletionDropDownHint.Items.Add(lisCompletionLongLineHintTypeFullLeft);
+
+  AutoShowCompletionDropDown.Caption := lisAutoShowCompletion;
 end;
 procedure TEditorCodetoolsOptionsFrame.ReadSettings(AOptions:
TAbstractIDEOptions);
@@ -123,6 +127,7 @@
     CompletionDropDownHintTrackBar.Position :=
CompletionLongLineHintInMSec;
     CompletionDropDownHint.ItemIndex := ord(CompletionLongLineHintType);
+    AutoShowCompletionDropDown.Checked := AutoShowCompletion;
   end;
   AutoCompletionDelayTrackBarChange(nil);
 end;
@@ -142,7 +147,7 @@
     CompletionLongLineHintInMSec :=
CompletionDropDownHintTrackBar.Position;
     CompletionLongLineHintType :=
TSynCompletionLongHintType(CompletionDropDownHint.ItemIndex);
-
+    AutoShowCompletion := AutoShowCompletionDropDown.Checked;
   end;
 end;

Index: ide/lazarusidestrconsts.pas
=================================================================== --- ide/lazarusidestrconsts.pas (revision 61726)
+++ ide/lazarusidestrconsts.pas (working copy)
@@ -2040,6 +2040,7 @@

   lisDelayForCompletionBox = 'Delay for completion box';
   lisDelayForHints = 'Delay for hints';
   lisDelayForCompletionLongLineHint = 'Delay for long line hints in

completion box';
+ lisAutoShowCompletion = 'Automatic code completion';

   lisCompletionLongLineHintType = 'Show long line hints';
   lisCompletionLongLineHintTypeNone = 'Never';
   lisCompletionLongLineHintTypeRightOnly = 'Extend right only';

Index: ide/sourceeditor.pp
=================================================================== --- ide/sourceeditor.pp (revision 61726)
+++ ide/sourceeditor.pp (working copy)
@@ -5743,6 +5743,11 @@

     OnKeyDown(Sender, Key, Shift);

   IDECommandList.PostponeUpdateEvents;
+
+  // very crude invokaion of identifier completion
+  if EditorOpts.AutoShowCompletion then
+    if (chr(Key) in ['a'..'z', 'A'..'Z']) and (Shift  [ssCtrl]) and
(Shift  [ssAlt]) and (Shift  [ssAltGr]) then
+      StartIdentCompletionBox(false,false);
 end;
 procedure TSourceEditor.EditorKeyUp(Sender: TObject; var Key: Word;

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Not 100% sure, have to go through the code again. (Also you can add to https://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=33054 )
Just throwing in a few quick notes.

For string and comments

procedure TSourceEditorManager.OnSourceCompletionTimer(Sender: TObject);   function CheckStartIdentCompletion: boolean;
...
    if
SrcEdit.EditorComponent.GetHighlighterAttriAtRowCol(LogCaret,Token,Attri)     and (Attrinil) and (Attri.StoredName=SYNS_XML_AttrComment) then

auto hide after the first character gets deleted by backspace.

You mean the word becomes empty.
Or the first char typed after the completion did open? (i.e. if the I type Sou and completion only opens then, the hide when I attempt to del part of the Sou?)

In either case, there are various ways I can think of for investigation, and we need to established which one is good.

SourceEditor sees the typed chars in UserCommands (or the other callback). SO it could interfere there.
It could also be added as a callback to (I think that is the one):   TSourceEditCompletion=class(TSynCompletion)

Also what should happen, if during completion, other commands are invoked ctrl-e for search as you type
even ctrl-f
 (those already are an issue....)

----------------------------
If I am not mistaken (only had a very brief look at the patch)

You currently have a global bool option: on/off?
Would it be sensible to have a (separate) time delay.   So if the user types fast, it will not interfere?
I seem to have thought of that as a necessity on the bug report. But since I am not actually using this feature (even if avail), I might be wrong. (Or maybe it was using a timeout, but the existing one...) Equally there might be the (unnecessary) idea, to only trigger if at least n chars of the current word have been typed?

Testing with syncro-edit and multi-caret?
The latter should probably disable it.

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