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Uniwares
Tomato Guru
Portugal
2322 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 09 2004 : 5:08:07 PM
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The completion/suggestion/whatever lists which pop up in various places are yet far from being perfect and do not always what we expect.
It would be really great to actually know which type of list VAX is popping up (in the beta) so we can at least tell you what was/is/will be popping up. I would suggest to show this in the status bar which is unused at the moment of a popup anyway. |
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LarryLeonard
Tomato Guru
USA
1041 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2004 : 5:53:59 PM
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Now that is a truly great idea... I've been wanting the same thing myself for weeks but haven't been able to articulate it exactly. There's been a lot of times that I'm typing along, and something (autocomplete? suggest snippets of code? autotext? member listboxes?) drops down and I can't actually describe which feature it is that I'm talking about.
I would also suggest leaving it on the status bar in the released version, not just the Beta - it would help users (like me) learn the difference between "autocomplete" and "autotext", for example, which could only make your life easier!
(Oh, and could you do the same thing for tooltips? There's about a dozen features that make those pop, too.)
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support
Whole Tomato Software
5566 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2004 : 8:05:26 PM
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This is a good topic for us. We wondered during design of VA X whether to make listboxes similar or different. The former is easier on the eyes; the latter might be easier on the brain.
There are three types of listboxes: member, completion and suggestion.
Member listboxes appear when you type an object name followed by -> or dot. You see the list of methods and variables available to the object.
Completion listboxes appear when you type the prefix of a symbol and press Ctrl+Space. You see a list of symbols valid in the context that begin with the characters you typed. While completion listboxes look and appear like member listboxes, they are available any time and contain more than just methods and variables.
A suggestion listbox appears when you type the first letter or first few letters of a symbol. Visual Assist X guesses the remaining characters and presents its best guess. In many cases, Visual Assist X might suggest more than one guess. Simply press Tab or Return to accept the first suggestion, or scroll to select a different suggestion. Guesses change as you type more characters. Only suggestions valid for the current context are ever suggested.
Suggestion listboxes are very similar to completion listboxes. One difference is suggestion listboxes appear automatically; completion listboxes appear only when you force them to appear. Another difference, this one visual, is that the background of the icon in a suggestion listbox is colored like the selection.
Content of suggestion listboxes always differs from content of completion listboxes. The former contains one or a few entries, often from varied sources. An entry from a suggestion listbox might be a recently typed symbol, a previously entered argument to a method, or a snippet from a previous line of code.
Completion listboxes, on the other hand, contain all known completions of a symbol. They are inclusive of valid values, and exclude anything not valid in the context. Most suggestions appear in a completion listbox.
If a suggestion listbox is visible, you can press Ctrl+Space to make a completion listbox appear. You also have the option of scrolling beyond the suggestions to generate a completion listbox. If only one suggestion is visible, a single Up or Down Arrow opens a completion listbox. If more than one is visible, a single Up Arrow does the same, or scrolling beyond the last suggestion.
You can configure Visual Assist X so it includes snippets of code in your suggestions. These snippets are taken from surrounding lines. You must accept these suggestions with Tab or Return, ie you cannot accept them with other characters.
You can accellerate the entry of small but commonly used symbols and code snippets with Autotext. This feature is very similar to the Autotext feature of Microsoft Word which expands dates and days of the week. In the IDE, Autotext entries appear in suggestion listboxes when you type their abbreviations. You create the list of Autotext abbreviations and their expanded values.
Autotext that expands T to TRUE and F to FALSE are typical, and are included in a default file of Autotext entries. You create other entries for your coding style.
Expanded values may contain special characters which insert the date, filename, etc., and place the text caret after expansion.
Autotext has precedence over any other suggestion. Expansion is consistent whenever an abbreviation is typed.
If you have an Autotext entry to expand T to TRUE, typing T and Tab inserts TRUE under all circumstances. Tab does not generate a list of possible completions, ie symbols beginning with T. With this precedence, you can use and accept Autotext without glancing at the content of suggestion listboxes.
Autotext is case sensitive. Typing lower case t does not expand if you have an Autotext entry for T only. You should have an entry for t if you want to expand the lowercase letter as well. For this reason, the default Autotext file has an entry to expand t to true as well as T to TRUE.
If you type the prefix of an Autotext abbreviation, a suggestion listbox might contain its expansion. For example, if you have an Autotext entry for switch, a suggestion listbox with its expansion might appear after typing sw. Press Tab or Return to accept. If you type the entire abbreviation, ie switch, the suggestion listbox is guaranteed to appear.
The icon for Autotext in a suggestion listbox is the icon for "Insert Code Template" in the VA X toolbar. It is a set of parentheses with an asterisk.
Pay attention to the background of icons in listboxes. If dark, you are looking at a suggestion listbox. Press Ctrl+Space or Up Arrow to get a completion listbox. |
Whole Tomato Software, Inc. |
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Uniwares
Tomato Guru
Portugal
2322 Posts |
Posted - Jan 09 2004 : 10:17:15 PM
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Now this is a thorough explanation. Thanks. You should make that one sticky.
Anyway, while this lists are natural to you it is not for probably most of us. When I see something happening that is not right, I do not go to your explanation to read which list it might be. Sorry, I have enough to do with knowing my own code.
So I asked for something more simple for an occupied (sometimes stupid) mind. |
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Cezariusz
Tomato Guru
Poland
244 Posts |
Posted - Jan 10 2004 : 06:12:16 AM
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I've been missing this kind of complete explanation since the beginning of VA X testing. For example I thought typing more characters will make VA's suggestions more accurate, now I know why it isn't always true. Typing T always gives you TRUE, but typing TR might give something else - quite useful if only you know what's going on.
And I agree with Uniwares - while it's very thorough, I'm likely to forget most of it, because differences are very subtle (like various icon backgrounds, different selection color, etc.).
I would even opt for a common pop-up with a title, listbox and a set of icons to narrow contents and changing options for the particular pop-up type. Something like (sorry for lineart):
+------------------------------+
| Popup type (eg. Suggestions) |
+------------------------------+
| Listbox with entries |
| Suggestion 2 |
| Suggestion 3 |
| ... |
+------------------------------+
| [x] [x] [x] [x] [Settings] |
+------------------------------+
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Cezariusz Marek
https://midicat.net/ |
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LarryLeonard
Tomato Guru
USA
1041 Posts |
Posted - Jan 12 2004 : 10:21:36 AM
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quote:
Pay attention to the background of icons in listboxes. If dark, you are looking at a suggestion listbox. Press Ctrl+Space or Up Arrow to get a completion listbox.
This doesn't work too well for those of using a black background, who can't use the syntax coloring in listboxes (Topic 973)...
Also, I still think displaying it on the Status Bar (or on the title bar, as Cezariusz suggested) is a wonderfully "win-win" idea. Uniwares is totally on target here: what is blindindly obvious to you guys, as the developers, is mostly a dimly-understood jumble of vaguely-differentiated, albeit cool, features in our minds, as users. Expecting the average customer to notice subtle differences in background is asking too much, I would say.
Excellent explanation, though - I hope it finds its way into the online help!
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Edited by - LarryLeonard on Jan 12 2004 10:25:04 AM |
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support
Whole Tomato Software
5566 Posts |
Posted - Feb 02 2004 : 8:41:49 PM
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| Suggestion listboxes contain tomato icons in build 1215. Press Ctrl+Space or Up Arrow to force open a completion listbox. |
Whole Tomato Software, Inc. |
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