[svn.haxx.se] · SVN Dev · SVN Users · SVN Org · TSVN Dev · TSVN Users · Subclipse Dev · Subclipse Users · this month's index

Re: [TSVN] tab key for autocomplete

From: Simon Large <simon_at_skirridsystems.co.uk>
Date: 2005-10-12 10:31:06 CEST

Lübbe Onken wrote:
> Toby Johnson wrote:
>
>> Is the key used for autocomplete customizable, or is this a
>> Scintilla issue? I ask because every other program I have used
>> allows TAB for autocomplete instead of ENTER,
>
> I'm working with Delphi most of the time and the expansion keys there
> are <Enter> or <Space>, not <Tab>, which works great.
>
>> and it'd be great if TSVN allowed this as well.
>
> Let me add a me too. But maybe this issue cannot be resolved easily.
>
> <Enter> annoys me all the time. Worst case for me is
> <Space><Backspace><Enter> when TortoiseSVN expands something that I
> don't want to have at the end of a line :-)

I am not sure either what the expansion key should be, but I don't like
Enter either for the same reason. If the last word on a line happens to
end in a word in the expansion list, the only way to complete the
sentence is to press a non-matching character, then Enter, then go back
and delete the non-matching character. Example:

Log:
... to improve the print.
Also barred foos.

My expansion list contains 'print.c' so to finish the first line I have
to type:

... to improve the printz.<Enter><Up><End><Left><Delete><Down>
Also barred foos.

> Funny to notice that in a development environment (Delphi), keyword
> expansion using <Space> or <Enter> feels natural, because you can
> continue typing "in a flow", but in a text environment (TortoiseSVN)
> it feels awkward. OTOH once you start to use the arrow keys to select
> one from several matching entries, <Enter> is the natural choice
> again, but <Tab> would do the job as well.
>
> I don't know if using <Tab> for autocomplete in the edit box would
> prevent jumping to the dialog's next GUI item.

When I am using an editor I never expect <Tab> to jump to the next
field. Usually it means to put a <Tab> in the text. Unfortunately the
log message is in the grey area between an edit box and an editor.
Really it is an editor, but maybe people don't think of it like that.

> Thoughts, no answers, but I think using <Tab> instead of <Enter>
> would be the better choice.

Whichever key is used, it should not be one that you normally use when
typing. If I type a sentence, I expect exactly what I type to appear in
the box. Using Ctrl-Space, Ctrl-Enter, Ctrl-Tab would be OK for me.

Another way might be to pop up the list but with no items selected. Use
an arrow key to select an item, and then Enter works to insert the item.

UltraEdit uses a different method, which is to type the start of the
word first, and use Ctrl-space to pop up the auto-complete list. The
list does not come up until you ask for it. Not sure if that would be a
popular choice though.

Simon

-- 
        ___
   oo  // \\      "De Chelonian Mobile"
  (_,\/ \_/ \     TortoiseSVN
    \ \_/_\_/>    The coolest Interface to (Sub)Version Control
    /_/   \_\     http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscribe@tortoisesvn.tigris.org
For additional commands, e-mail: dev-help@tortoisesvn.tigris.org
Received on Wed Oct 12 10:31:33 2005

This is an archived mail posted to the TortoiseSVN Dev mailing list.

This site is subject to the Apache Privacy Policy and the Apache Public Forum Archive Policy.