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List:       kde-usability
Subject:    Adding KDE-wide text autocompletion  (emacs, M-/ , dabbrev-expand)?
From:       Maurizio Colucci <seguso.forever () tin ! it>
Date:       2004-07-19 20:09:36
Message-ID: 200407192209.44990.seguso.forever () tin ! it
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Hello,

Altough a die-hard emacs user, many times I tried to use editors like kwrite, 
kate, kdevelop, eric3, etc. Unfortunately there is one thing in emacs I 
cannot do without: the autocompletion feature (M-/). I think it's called 
dabbrev-expand in emacs. 

Actually, this feature is so important I have wondered how can programmers 
actually use kdevelop/kwrite. And imagine having it in kmail, knode!

------

In case someone is interested in implementing it, here are some errors to 
avoid:

1) Suppose I type one letter, or a sequence of letters, then press M-/. Then, 
the completions should be ordered by DISTANCE, not alphabetically (like eric3 
does). This is crucial (ask me why if you are interested.).

Example:

Imagine we press M-/ when the cursor is in position | in the following buffer:

hbbbbbbb
hddddddd
h|
hccccccccc
haaaaaaaaa

Then, the completions should appear in this order:
[ hdddddd, hcccccccc, hbbbbbbb, haaaaaa]

that is, not ordered by name, but by distance (and if two words have the same 
distance, you prefer the one above).

2) To make the usage of completions more intuitive, you may think of using an 
openoffice-like or eric3-like approach, i.e. a popup list. But IMHO this is 
not a good idea, because the list would popup only when I have typed a 
letter; but in emacs you can press M-/ also when you haven't typed any 
letter! In that case, the meaning of M-/ changes completely:

Example: suppose the cursor is in position | in the following buffer:

aa ddd aa bbb ccc aa |

and I press M-/. Then the program should insert "bbb", i.e the nearest word 
that follows "aa". If I press M-/ again, it should delete the "bbb" just 
added, and insert "ddd" --- that is the next nearest word that follows "aa". 
And so on.

Comments?

Mau

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