Re: Better alternative to completing-read-multiple

[Thierry Volpiatto <thievol@posteo.net>]

Ilya Chernyshov <ichernyshovvv@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello
>
> In completing-read-multiple, the resulting list of chosen strings is made
> by splitting the input string with crm-separator regular expression variable.
>
> This approach is not suitable for a list of candidates where a candidate
> string might contain a character that is currently treated as a
> separator.  Imagine a situation where you read a list of Org headings
> from user.  In an Org heading you can have any character including the
> default separator ",".  Changing the value of crm-separator locally is
> not a solution here.
>
> A much better solution could be a completion command where a chosen
> candidate is appended to a list (displayed in the prompt) when a user
> presses RET and then returned when a user presses something like
> C-RET.  Already chosen candidates could be erased via C-<backspace>

You can provide this feature to Helm users:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defvar helm-comp-read-use-marked)
(let ((lst '(a b c d e)))
  (if (boundp 'helm-comp-read-use-marked)
      (let ((helm-comp-read-use-marked t))
        (completing-read "test: " lst))
    (completing-read-multiple "test: " lst)))
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

The completing-read will return a list of marked candidates, if Helm is
not available fallback to CRM.

> This functionality definitely could be helpful at least in org, org-ql packages
> (for completion over org headings).
>
> I am not an Elisp expert, but here's some drafts.  If you are interested,
> please comment.
>
> Test the function:
>
> (ic-completing-read-multiple "Prompt: " '("first" "second" "third"))
>
>

-- 
Thierry