bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

[wilnerthomas--- via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

Using  "M-x COMMAND TAB"  to display minibuffer commands, one gets a 
temporary Completions Buffer that says

Click on a completion to select it

Consequently, one cannot complete or go through the possibilities in the minibuffer, 
but am being forced to either switch to it with "C-x o" a couple of times, or having
 to use the mouse.

An effective way that improves the frequent minibuffer activity (e.g. icomplete lets user
select a completion without having to smitch windows), emacs can automatically switch
to the completions buffer so one can get to a possible selection using the arrow keys.

bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 03:18:58 +0200 (CEST)
> From: wilnerthomas--- via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> 
> 
> Using  "M-x COMMAND TAB"  to display minibuffer commands, one gets a 
> temporary Completions Buffer that says
> 
> Click on a completion to select it
> 
> Consequently, one cannot complete or go through the possibilities in the minibuffer, 
> but am being forced to either switch to it with "C-x o" a couple of times, or having
>  to use the mouse.

You don't need to switch or use the mouse.  You can instead:

  . keep typing TAB to scroll through the full list of completion
    candidates (if the full list takes more than a single window to
    show), or
  . type more text in the minibuffer, then press TAB again, to narrow
    the list of candidates -- the next letter which will narrow the
    list is displayed in bold in the list of the candidates, or
  . in Emacs 29, you can type M-<UP> and M-<DOWN> arrow keys to select
    the candidates

> An effective way that improves the frequent minibuffer activity (e.g. icomplete lets user
> select a completion without having to smitch windows), emacs can automatically switch
> to the completions buffer so one can get to a possible selection using the arrow keys.

In Emacs 29, there's a new variable 'completion-auto-select', which
does precisely that.

bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

[uzibalqa via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

------- Original Message -------
On Friday, August 26th, 2022 at 6:09 AM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:


> > Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 03:18:58 +0200 (CEST)
> > From: wilnerthomas--- via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
> > the Swiss army knife of text editors" bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
> > 
> > Using "M-x COMMAND TAB" to display minibuffer commands, one gets a
> > temporary Completions Buffer that says
> > 
> > Click on a completion to select it
> > 
> > Consequently, one cannot complete or go through the possibilities in the minibuffer,
> > but am being forced to either switch to it with "C-x o" a couple of times, or having
> > to use the mouse.
> 
> 
> You don't need to switch or use the mouse. You can instead:
> 
> . keep typing TAB to scroll through the full list of completion
> candidates (if the full list takes more than a single window to
> show), or

Yes, but one cannot select any of them, but just see them getting displayed.

> . type more text in the minibuffer, then press TAB again, to narrow
> the list of candidates -- the next letter which will narrow the
> list is displayed in bold in the list of the candidates, or

Yes, but that requires me writing out the entire command.

> . in Emacs 29, you can type M-<UP> and M-<DOWN> arrow keys to select
> 
> the candidates

So I get to see one by one in the minibuffer itself before hitting RET?
 
> > An effective way that improves the frequent minibuffer activity (e.g. icomplete lets user
> > select a completion without having to smitch windows), emacs can automatically switch
> > to the completions buffer so one can get to a possible selection using the arrow keys.
> 
> 
> In Emacs 29, there's a new variable 'completion-auto-select', which
> does precisely that.

Sounds sufficient.

bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 06:21:37 +0000
> From: uzibalqa <uzibalqa@proton.me>
> Cc: wilnerthomas@tutanota.com, 57423@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > . in Emacs 29, you can type M-<UP> and M-<DOWN> arrow keys to select
> > 
> > the candidates
> 
> So I get to see one by one in the minibuffer itself before hitting RET?

Yes.

> > > An effective way that improves the frequent minibuffer activity (e.g. icomplete lets user
> > > select a completion without having to smitch windows), emacs can automatically switch
> > > to the completions buffer so one can get to a possible selection using the arrow keys.
> > 
> > 
> > In Emacs 29, there's a new variable 'completion-auto-select', which
> > does precisely that.
> 
> Sounds sufficient.

So can this bug be closed as resolved?

bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

[uzibalqa via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

------- Original Message -------
On Friday, August 26th, 2022 at 7:01 AM, Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:


> > Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 06:21:37 +0000
> > From: uzibalqa uzibalqa@proton.me
> > Cc: wilnerthomas@tutanota.com, 57423@debbugs.gnu.org
> > 
> > > . in Emacs 29, you can type M-<UP> and M-<DOWN> arrow keys to select
> > > 
> > > the candidates
> > 
> > So I get to see one by one in the minibuffer itself before hitting RET?
> 
> 
> Yes.
> 
> > > > An effective way that improves the frequent minibuffer activity (e.g. icomplete lets user
> > > > select a completion without having to smitch windows), emacs can automatically switch
> > > > to the completions buffer so one can get to a possible selection using the arrow keys.
> > > 
> > > In Emacs 29, there's a new variable 'completion-auto-select', which
> > > does precisely that.
> > 
> > Sounds sufficient.
> 
> 
> So can this bug be closed as resolved?

Yes

bug#57423: Completions Buffer requiring window switching or mouse activity

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2022 07:15:29 +0000
> From: uzibalqa <uzibalqa@proton.me>
> Cc: wilnerthomas@tutanota.com, 57423@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > > > In Emacs 29, there's a new variable 'completion-auto-select', which
> > > > does precisely that.
> > > 
> > > Sounds sufficient.
> > 
> > 
> > So can this bug be closed as resolved?
> 
> Yes

Thanks, closing.